Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1898-07-15
HORRORS OF WAR.
SOME OF THE SCENES OF THE
LATE ENGAGEMENT.

Liberty.
Capt. Evans closes an account Of
the engagement at Santiago with the
following recital of some of the hor-
rors of that terrible ordeal for the
Spanish fleet.
When / was in as far as the depth
OF water would admit of, l lowered all
my boats and sent them at once to
the assistance of the men who were
being drowned by dozens or roasted
on the decks. l soon discovered that
the insurgent Cubans from the shore
were shooting on men who were strug-
Cling in the water, after having sur
rendered to us. l Immediately put a
stop to this, but could not put stop
to the mutilations of many bodies by
the sharks inside the reefs. These
creatures had become excited by the
blood from the wounded, mixing in
the water.
My boats crews worked manfully
and succeeded in saving many of the
wounded from the burning ship. One
man, who will be recognized for pro-
motion, clambered up the side of the
Vizcaya and saved three men from
burning to death. The smaller maya
zines OF the Vizcaya were exploding
with magnificent cloud effects. The
boats were coming alongside in a
steady string and willing hands were
helping the lacerated Spanish officers
and sailors on the Iowa's quarterback.
All the Spaniards were absolutely
without clothes. Some had their legs
torn off by fragments OF shells.
Others were mutilated in every con-
ceivable way. AS knew the crew of
the first two ships wrecked had not
been visited by any of our vessels, 1
ran down to them. / found the
Gloucester, with Admiral Cervera and
q number of his officers aboard, and
also large number of wounded, some
in a frightfully mangled condition.
Many prisoners had been killed on the
shore by the fire of the Cubans. The
Harvard came off, and 1 requested
Capt. Cotton to 60 in and take off the
crews of the Infanta Maria Teresa
and Admirante Oquendo, and by
midnight the Harvard had 974 pris-
oners aboard, a great number of them
wounded.
"For courage and dash there is no
parallel in history to this action of
the Spanish admiral. He came, as he
knew, to absolute destruction. There
was single hope-that was that the
Cristobal Colon could steam faster
than the Brooklyn.
81 took Admiral Cervera aboard
from the Gloucester, which had res
cued him, and received him with a full
admirars guard. The crew of the
Iowa crowded close to the turrets,
half naked and black with powder, as
Cervera stepped over the side, bare
headed.
"One of the twelve-inch shells from
the Iowa exploded torpedo in the
Viscaya's bow, blowing twenty-one
men against the deck above and
dropping them them dead and mangled
into the fire which ut once started be-
low.
"The torpedo boat Ericsson was
sent by the flagship to the help of the
Iowa in the rescue of the Viscaya's
crew. Her men saw terrible sight.
The flames leaping out from the huge
shot holes in the Vizcaya's side licked
up the decks, sizzling the flesh of the
wounded, who were lying there Shrek
ing for help. Between the frequent
explosions there came awful cries and
groans from the men pinned in below.
This carnage was chiefly due to the
rapidity OF the American fire.
"The bottoms of the boats held two
or three inches of blood. In many
cases, dead men were lying in the
blood. Five poor chaps died on the
way to the ship. They were afterwards
buried with military honors from the
Iowa. Some examples of heroism, or
more properly devotion to discipline
and duty could never be surpassed.
One man on the lost Vizcaya had
his left arm almost shot off, just be-
low the shoulder. The fragments
were hanging by a small piece of skin.
But he climbed unassisted over the
side and saluted as if ON a visit of
ceremony. Immediately after him
came n strong hearted sailor whose
left leg had been shot off above the
knee. He was hOisted on board the
Iowa with a tackle, but never a
whimper came from him. Gradually
the mangled bodies and naked men
accumulated, until it would have been
difficult to recognize the Iowa as a
United States battleship.
Blood was over her usually white
ouarter-decks, and 272 naked men
were being supplied with water and
food. Finally came the boats with
Capt. Eulate, commander of the Viz
caya, for whom chair was lowered