The Florence tribune., 1898-07-09
cerFsFa's Entire Fleet Destroyed by Commodore sciley.
Thirteen Hundrsd Prisoners Taks, ,u
 clacinG the Admiral.
O'' oae a. San Killed on ou- siac snd Tso Asg.ss6 While the spaniaFds Have Ei1h; siassred
 Killed and tiissIng.

rom thelr advanced position. eo,,as the report at 9 80 sunday morning tto+ Cervera, in the Infauta Maria Te-esa headed his little squadron of seven in ciuding one gunboat, and made . gol. lant dash from the harbor at saptiaro de Cuba. 's'''so
 Tbe'Ameriean battleships. the Brooi,. lyn and oorsair, an improvised torpedo boat destroyer, were ready to receive them. The Americans saw him the moment he started and Immediately commenced the work of destruction For an hour or two they followed the flying Spanish to the westward alonr the shore line, sending shot at,er sbot into their huils, tearing greet holes into their steel sides and covering their decks with the blood of the Killed and wounded. At no time did tae snan- iards show any indication that tbey in. tended to do otherwise than frbt 10 the iast. They showed no signals of surrender even alter the ships com menced to sink, and great clouds of smoke pouring from their sides showed that they were on fire. But they turned and headed for the shore, less than a mile away, and ran them on the beach and rocks, where their destruction was soon completed. The officers and men on board them escaped to the shore as well as they could with the assistance of the boats sent from tho American warships and threw themselved upou the mercy of their captors, who not only extended to them the gracious hand of American ehiValry, but sent them guard to protect them against the mnrderous bands of guerillas who were lurking in the brush on the hill sides, eager to rueh upon and dispAtch the unsrmed, defeated, but valorous foe.
 Admiral Cervera, when he reached the shore after the sinking his ships, surrendered to Lieut.. Morton. It was found that he had been wounded in the arm and he was it once taken to the gorsRir. zrzlsasq.s suI,srItler, IzIeus tenant-Commander Richard Vain wright, who graaped the hand of the gray-bearded admiral and said to him q congratulate you, sir, upon having made as gallant q fight as was ever witnessed on the sea-" Commander Wainwright then put his cabin at the disposal of the Spanish officers.
 At that time the Spanish flagship and four other vessels had been aground and burning for two hours and the only one of the escaping fleet which could not be seen at this point was the cris- tobal Colon. But half dozen curls oi smoke fnr down on the western hori- zon showed the fate awaiting her. The Cristobal Colon was the fastest of the Spanish ships and she soon obtained a lead over the others after leaving the harbor and escaped the effects of the shots which destroyed the other yes. sells. She steamed away Ut great speed with the Oregon, Kew York, Brooklyn and several other ships in pursuit, all of them firing at her constantly and re- ceiving Q fire themselves. For four and one-half hours the Criatobal Colon maintained theunequa1 contest against the big battleships, but at 2o'clock she ran ashore and lowered her colora.
 The entire fleet was then captured. The vessels were the Cristobal Colon, Infanta Maria Teresa, Oquendo and vizcaya, the Furor. Fulton and a little ganboat. The Spanish loss is 500 killed and missing and 1900 prisoners.
 NEw YoEK, July GA naval officer on board the battleship Texas during the fight with Cervera's ships te1e- grapha. "You should have seen the first battleship commissioned in the United States navy, whenshe got down to business in her first sea fight. They used to call the Texas old Hoodoo,' but I guess 'Oid Hoo will be good enough for us after this day.
 "There is a good angel presiding over Capt. Philip, of the Texas. Hardly had he left the bridge to go to the coming tower, when big shell from one of the fleeing spaniards ripped right through the pilot house. It cer- tainly would have killed the man at the wheel, and possibly every officer on the bridge had not the captain given his coming tower order just as he did.
 n0ur own guns were enough to kill aslicat te men. Their din was so Qread- ful that the orders had to be shouted right in the ears Of the messengers. When our I3-inch guns were fired, the shook the immense vessel as if ghe had been toy boat. The was much as if we had been struck with 3 big projectile. Every thing movable was spliotered- All the men near the guns were thrown on their faces.
 After the fight was over Capt