The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1898-06-03

Orleans. Iowa and vixen fell In. In the
order named The Massachusetts sisnm-
I'D closer and closer 10 the batteries. and
to the anxious watchers On tne other
ships II seemed that she would never open
nrc Whom. however. she had passsi the
hIrb1r entrance by 5O yards, a great
cloud Of white and yellow smoke burst
from the two p-lnch guns In hor after
turrci and TWO SHELLS rose over ug hull.
one ~ them striking the spanish flagship
CrlAtsbal Colon 81 she my 40 anchor and
the ether failing close alongside. The
two Euus on the forward turret were
thrh fired and thrr shells exploded and
thrcs ny great gcysrrs Of spray close ~
tho colon All the shore batteries took
~ ,he challenges and o,gan rapid
nrr On the Mlssachuse;is. bur she WIS
soda beyond iheir range and the hat
trrlas then turned their guns u1 the NV
orleans.
This cruiser had been bid "a pay att@n-
tl1n to the batteries snd 10 draw iheir
nrr as much ~ possible. and she obeycd
Instructions o the letter. Her first shot
: located % large battery on tbs hin above
Msrro. II nrW straight INTO The fori ana
seemed to have caused much damage. ~
a great cloud of dust and debris rose
when the shell burst. A onupie Of more
shots sent part of the walls Of Morrl fiy-
| lDg into the air, and then the New or
leans confined herself to the batteries.
her lire being rapid ard extremely accur-
ate. every shot she hred making trouble
Tor Spain The Iowa like the MaSsachu-
srits. devoted her attention TO the ships
Z lI the harbor Their l5-inch shells made
thc water 1y abou, tnai part sf the
harbor Ia Nflch the Cristnbal Colon lay
4 iku latter. however WAS not seriously
! dnmagyd and kept up her IRE until long
after the American ships were ou, OF
range,
The irOnclads bore down on the karbor
once more. The flagship kept on until less
Than iooO yards from the shore. then her
\ shells again began 10 hrAve .vp the waters
OF Santiago harbor This time the shore
batteries were better served and the
Spanish replied to the warshps' fire In an
energetic fashion, but nearly all the shots
OF he batteries fell short. Then came the
New orleans once mon. her long black
guns doing fearful work and turning up
the ground all ground the batteries In the
most savage manner. The Spaniards
droIped shells close to the iowa rs she
came by for the second Lime. sending a
sirram OF shells into the harhor as she
u,d 50. The Spanish warshinS with the
exception OF the Cristohal Colon, we're
behind the hills and could not see the
enemy who threw the shells around them
with Sich rapidttY that they knew he
was somewhere ON the other side OF the
hill. and then hopefully raised the muz-
zles OF their guns and banged away. Their
fire harmed nothing. and the spanish
ships boCmed and the batteries roarei
long after the American vessels we're en-
tUely out OF range. Not an Americas
vessel was struck and not a sailor in
jured, though fully 30 shots were fired
by the Spanish. the Americans firing not
oytr one-fpUrth that number in return.
Il Is likely the latter part OF the week
viii see morn serious work. The dyna-
mite cruiser Ncsuvius IS coming down
aud an attempt will be made by her to
explode the triple row OF mines extending
across the harbor's mouth With these
out OF the way Commodore Schley will
slh into the harbor for a death grapp,e
With the fleet and batteries.