The River Falls times. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1894-1933, 1898-05-17

copyrighted, 1898, Associated Press)
On board the Flagship Iowa, off San
Juan de Puerto Rico, May II. via ST.
Thomas, Danish West Indies, May 10.
The forts of San Juan de Puerto
Rico were bombarded by part of Rear
Admiral SIMPSONS fleet this morning
The enemy's loss is believed to be
heavy. The American loss is two men
killed and seven men injured After
three hours firing the Admiral with
drew the fleet, and, heading for Key
West he said:
Il am satisfied with the mornings
work. l could have taken San Juan
but | have no force to hold it. | only
wanted to administer punishment.
This has been done. / came for the
Spanish fleet and not for San Juan"
The men killed welse Seaman Frank
Widemark, of the Now York and the
gunner's mate of the Amphitorite The
latter died of the extreme heat. or
the injured men three were on board
the Iowa and four ON board the New
York. The American ships were I'M
injured. The engageme Mt began at
5:15 a. m. and ended at S:15 a. m. The
enemy's batteries were silenced. The
town in the rear of the Notifications
probably suffered. The. ships taking
part in the action we re the Iowa.
Indiana, New York, Terror, Anphi-
trite, Detroit, Montg0 merry, Wampa-
tuck and Porter. The enemys
Firing Was eavy,
but wild, and the Iowa and New York
were probably the My ships hit.
They went right up unt err the guns in
column, delivering roadsides, and
then returned The lin passed thrice
in front of the forts, pouring tons of
steel on shore. 1t is impossible to
judge the amount of d amage done to
the buildings and fol is. They ap-
peared to be riddled with shot, but
the Spaniards were pHu cky The after
turrett of the Amphft rite got out Of
order temporarily Gmr ing the engage
ment, but she banged away with her
forward guns After the first passage
before the forts the Detroit and the
Montgomery retired their guns being
too small to do nIGc damage. The
Porter and Wampat uck also stayed
out of range. Tra@ ismoke hung over
everything, spoiligg the aim of the
gunners and making it impossible to
tell where our Shots struck The Of
ficerS and men of all the ships be-
haved with cooImes;s' and bravery
The shots flew tRGck and fast over all
our ships. The men of the Iowa whol
were hurt during the action were in.
jured by splinters thrown from an
eight-inch shell which came through
a boat into the Su perstructure and
scattered fragments all directions
The shots course wal finally ended on
an iron plate an In oh thick. Moro
battery, on the east ward arm of the
harbOr. was the
Principal P0frs of attack
Rear Admiral Sans pson and Capt.
Evans were on the Ii 1wer bridge of the
Iowa and had a ma row escape from
flying splinters, viii CHI injured three
men. The Iowa ws s hit eight times
but the shells made no impression on
her armor. The wes .ther was fine, but
the heavy swells ade accurate aim
difficult. The bro adsides from the.
Iowa and Indiana n lmbled in the hills
ashore for five ri inutes after thew
were delivered. Clouds of durt
showed where the Shells struck, but
the smoke hung owe r everything. The
shells screaching o yerhead and drop
ping around Shove a that the Span
iards still stuck to their guns.
At 3 o'clock in TIN morning all hands
were called on the Iowa and a few
final touches in leaning ship were
made and at 5 general quarters
sounded. The mel were eager for the
fight. The tug Wampatuck went
ahead and anehO red her small boat
to the westward 81 rowing ten fathoms.
but there was not a sign Of life from
the fort, WHICH stood boldly against
the sky on the cas- tern hills, hiding the
town. The. DeTr oft steamed far to
the eastward. opp osite Valtern. The
Iowa headed stra light for the shore.
Suddenly her helm flew over. bringing
the starboard bS ttery to the near
Notifications At 5:16 the Iowa,s for
ward twelve-inch guns Numbered ont
at the sleeping hills and for fourteen
minutes she pou re
Starboa IA Broadsfdes
on the coast. RIe:lnW lille the Indiana
the New York ana o1her ships repeat.
ed the dose fro "a the rear. The Iowa.
turned and car ne back to the Wanna
tuck's boat an d az ain led the column
the forts repl. ring after concentrating
on the detroi t. which was out roo.
yards away f ron the batteries on the
eastward arnl of the harbor. Thrice
the column passed. from the entrance.
of the harbos to the extreme eastward
battery. Utter Indifference was shown
Tor the entmy's fire. The wounded
were quietly attended to, the blood
was washed away AID everything pro-