The evening times., 1898-07-04

New York. July i.-WNh a cargo Of su
gar and tobacco the British steamship
Ravensdaie arrived yesterday from San
Juan, Porto Rico. and Spanish SYM
pathizer's version of the engagement be-
tween the auxiliary cruiser st. Paul and
the Spanish. torpedo -bost> destroyer Ter
ror was learned from Capt Lake. His
vessel was In the harbor on the day OF
the fight. June p. having put in three
| days before, .,.... .-.., .,-,.,-
Il was on a hill and saw the whole af-
fair" the skipper said to the reporters.
after he had been repeatedly urged to
tell what he knew Of the engagement.
1T was a fine sight. The flashes from
the guns. the puffs of smoke and the
| bursting of the shells made a grand pic
| ture
why, / never saw such -plucky fight
| as the Terror made. and the firing from
| the ST. Paul was as reckless as any l
ever heard about. She threw shots and
| shells for at least two hours, while the
| daring little torpedo boat steamed as
| close as three-quarters of mile to her
antagonist. Her torpedo tubes could not
carry the range. Fihally, a shot from
the st. Paul struck the Terror on the
port side aEaft her third funnel. 1t
crashed into the engine room. where it
exploded. The chief engineer. who was a
Spaniard, was hit in the head by a piece
of the flying shell as he held the throttle
He was hurled into the machinery and
met his death in that manner The as
sistant engineer had both his legs cut off
by fragments of the shell and died next
day on shore F-t -.4. -''s
The killing of the engineer and the
disabling of his assistant left no one to
work the engines. But for this the Ter
TOR would have made dash to torpedo
the St. Paul. and she would not have
been in port today.
Another of the Americans shot,
struck the Terror's deck. The latter had
hole in her side about feet high and
inches wide, but don't believe her ma
chinery was disabled by the American
fire. Her exhaust pipe was hit, and that
caused her to leak. When / left San Juan
on June Is repairs to the torpedo boat
had nearly been completed, and l guess
she Is now as good as ever There were
no more than two killed and about four
or five wounded on the Terror"
Captain Lakes account of the fight diff
ferS somewhat from the one obtained
from the men on the st. Paul when she
reached port last Friday. They said the
exchange OF shots lasted about half an
hour, and the shot which pierced the Ter
foT plates WIS AT d range OF more tNan
three miles. 1t struck her. they declared,
as she had turned tail.
From an English schooner and a Ger
man steamship which put out from San
Juan the day after the fight the men
learned that-three men had been killed
and eleven wounded on the Terror, and
that her machinery was disabled.
As the Ravensdale steamed out of the
harbor of San Juan the ST. Paul hove her
70. I,y- Ska hsr In
of officers boarded her from a small boat
and examined her papers. The Yosemite
was also in the harbor on blockade duty.
f. Aarons. colored. the ships cook. de-
clared the captain had ordered his men
TO give no information to the Yankees
about the fight. The cook wrote mes
sage. stating that the Terror. the cruis-
er Isabel IL the gunboat Concha. a
troopship. and two small dispatch boats
were in the harbor of San Juan. and that
there were about 5000 Spanish soldiers
in the place. This the cook stuffed in
bottle and threw 1t through a portfolio
as the ST. PauI's boat was leaving the
merchantmen. He could not see whether
it was picked up.
Aarons learned that when an Ameri-
can vessel was seen off San Juan the
port authorities ordered the Terror. the
Isabel II. and the Concha to engage her.
The latter two did not venture far beyond
the fortifcations. but the Terror steam
ed out a couple of miles and began to fire
her bow guns. From what he could learn
ashore, the ST. Paul was five miles from
the Terror when the she'll entered her
engine room. The torpedo boat the cook
said had to be towed back. and two
pumps were kept busy freeing her from
water. She had three holes in her side.
two being around the engine room.
William Harris, Welshman. one of the
Ravensdales firemen, said he went ashore
with another of the crew to witness the
funeral services of the chief engineer of
the Terror. Harris declared that before
they had been ashore very long Capt.
Lake saw them and caused their arrest.
He says they were fined S3 each. which
the captain paid and took out of their
wages.
The Ravensdale brought tnere as pas
sengers Mrs. Josephine Korber, wife of a
German banker. of San Juan her six
children, and her sister. Miss Julia Pal
miere. who left her home in Ponce to
make the trip with her sister. f. l.. Pal
meiri. the brother of the women. met
them at the pier at Forty-second Street,
South Brooklyn. and took them to the
Windsor Hotel.
The Ravensdale tried to enter Guam
tanamo on her outward trip from Phila-
delphia, was informed of the blockade,
ana proceeded 10 Iort ue falN. Tor OT1erS.
According to the crew of the forward
S-inch battery on the auxiliary cruiser St.
Paul, reports of the recent encounter
with the torpedo boar destroyer Terror
gave entirely too much credit to the work
of the after battery. The Terror. they
say was hit three times and the most
effective work was done by a 5-inch shell
which struck her amidships.
Both batteries were engaged, and the
guns were served under high pressure
One hit, the crew of the forward battery
say, was certainly made by them and
they assert that it is doubtful whether
the shell which put the Terror out of ac-
tion came from Lieut.. Poyer's battery or
from the guns aft. under charge of En-
sing Powelson. There is keen rivalry be-
tween the gun crews, and the next Span
ish ship unfortunate to come within
range NAV look for a warm recepeion