The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1898-08-03

ers of the hospital ship. This made it
impossible for her to go any farther,
and she still lies rotting in the harbor
of Martinique, helpless because the
Frenchmen viii not sell her coal and
the Spanish government can not send
her any.
1--WE reached Curacao on May IA, ex-
pecting TO find the colliers, but they
were not there, and the Dutch authori-
ties would allow us to buy only suffi-
cient coal to take US to the nearest
Spanish port, which was Santiago.
Nor would they allow more than two
of our vessels TO enter the harbor. Thus
we were helpless. Our government had
betrayed us. We were at the mercy of
the neutrality laws, and our only hope
was to reach the harbor Of Santiago,
where we hoped to find shelter and
fuel.n
1t should be said here in explanation
that the two eolliers, Restormel and
Twickenham, were captured by the st.
Paul and st. Louis, respectively, and
taken to Key West as prizes. They
were in search of the Spanish fleet,
having failed to make the rendezvous
on the date arranged. This fact was
unknown to Admiral Cervera and his
officers until they reached Annapolis,
and they were greatly relieved when
they learned they had not been betray-
ed by their government
"Who would suppose, continued one
of the Spanish officers, ''that the sec
ond capital of Cuba, and the most pros
porous city on the island, would be
empty of all provisions and supplies
when we arrived there? So short were
provisions that instead of receiving
stores, We were ordered by the govern
ment to take the sailors rations from
the holds of our ships and distribute
them among the soldiers. The mer-
chants had sold out and had not re-
placed their stock, so that they would
have little TO lose in case of the capture
of the city by the Americans, while the
commissariat of the army, by some
dreadful mismanagement, had made
no provision for a siege.
"Half the soldiers were sick, and all
of them were on starvation rations.
During the battles of the first days of
July l 500 sick men were carried in car
riages and carts TO the trenches and
made to fight, although many of them
fell from exhaustion. The hospitals
were emptied. We sent lot of sailors
from the ships to assist them, but none
of our guns were taken off, as reported
in your papers The only naval guns
used in the Notifications were from the
Reina Mercedes"
/ asked the officers about the effect of
the dynamite shells which the Vesu-
vius threw toward the city. They re-
piled that the noise of the explosion
caused great terror among the soldiers,
and particularly among the citizens,
anu 0EaA VI III " - fl1NCAt
but the shells did not happen to fall
where they could do great damage. All
oi Cervera's officers agree that the We
suvius is most formidable and de-
structive agent OF war, but they express
even greater admiration for the Ore
gon. They say the shells that were
dropped over the hills threw up lot
of dirt and disarranged the fortifica-
tions, but did no great damage except
to Castle Moro, which was a conspic-
uous target. If the shells had been
dropped into the city they would have
caused great destruction; but it was be
yond the range of the guns of the fleet.
Several days before the feet came out
it was reported that the New Orleans
discovered a torpedo boat destroyer
creeping out one night and sunk it.
The Spanish officers say this is untrue.
There were only two torpedo boat de-
stroyers in the harbor, aud neither of
them attempted to get out until that
fatal Sunday morning. 1t is suggested
that small tugboat which left Santi-
ago one night with dispatches for San
Juan may have been destroyed by the
New Orleans.
asked my friend who suggested the
sortie of the fleet. He threw up his
hands in horror.
"WouId that / knew" he exclaimed.
Would that knew the man who sue,-
gested our sacrifice. II was the most
cruel and unnecessary command thst
was ever given to brave men. We were
ordered to enter the very gates Of hell
for no other purpose, as can conceive,
than to crafty the politicians and sem
sation-mongers in Spain who clamored
for some offensive demonstration.
Some of my comrades think there was
an intention to bring about disaster
that would furnish an excuse to make
peace, but / believe in the first theory
ibid the sailors demonstrate? Was
it true that you had to make them
drunk to prevent mutiny?"
"No, indeed" exclaimed my friend,
Indignantly. "They are the bravest
men in the world. They knew moth
ing about our plans. Not man on
board any of the ships, except the COM
manders, was aware that he was ex-
pected to face almost certain death un-
Ill the cruisers started for the open sea
that Sunday morning. and even then
very few Of them asked questions. The
word was passed around that we were
going out to fight the Yankees, and the
poor fellows were enthusiastic over the
prospects of battle"
"Were no protests sent to Spain" ?"
"Yes, several very earnest protests.
After we received our first orders the
admiral called conference of the cap
tains, and we concluded that they were
based on misapprehension. We could
not conceive that our government
would order our total destruction when
nothing could be accomplished. Ger
vera sent long cablegram to Madrid
explaining the situation, and demon
strating that it would be impossible for
our little fee. to escape destruction
from an enemy that outnumbered u
four to one. The only reply we got Wa
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