The Sauk Centre herald., 1898-05-19
ATCIENFUEGOS
Particulars of Wednesday Morn
ings's Battle Showed 1t Was
a Hot One,
Marblehead Had One Man Killed,
and Several Others Were
Wounded. -
Batteries and Rifiemen From
Shore Opened Fire on Small
Boats Cutting Cable.
Nashville, Marblehead and Win
dom Did Terrible Execution
Ashore.

KEY WEST. Fla, May 16.-Ths
UAned States cruiser Marblehead, the
gunboat Nashville and the auxiliary
cruiser Window, steamed up to the
harbor of Cienfuegos early Wednesday
morning with orders to cut the cable
C injecting Havana with Santiago dc
Cuba. This task was accomplished,
but only after terrific fight between
our warships and. several thousand
Spanish troops which lined the shore
| an lay concealed behind improvised
breas works.
One man, a seaman named Regain OF
the Marblehead, was killed outright in
one of the working small boats and six
men were severely wounded. In adj
ton, ii large number on board the
ship received minor wounds.
Captain E.. Mcguire of the Window
believes that several of the six badly
wounded men who were brought to
Key West on the Window cannot re-
cover The following is the list of
killed and badly wounded:
KIiled-R gan, seaman of the Mar.
b.ehead.
Badly Wounded-John Davis of New
York, John j. Doneran of. Fall River,
Mass; Ernest Suntzeanickle, Herman
W. Hochneister, Harry Hendrickson,
all of the Marblehead; Robert Boltz,
Carter county, N. c., of the Nashville.
Went in to Cut the Cable.
Soon after the arrival of the warships
off Cienfuegos, four boats were
launched and proceeded in shore for
the purpose of grapp ing for the cable,
in order to cut it. The warships lay to
about !, 900 yards or more off the har.
bor
1t was observed that the Spanish
troops had assembled ashore, but it was
not known that heavy guns had been
placed in a masked battery, ana that
the old light house, far out on a neck
of land, had been transformed into a
formidable fort.
The small boats proceeded cautiously
and for. more than an hour worked un-
molested on the cables. Suddenly. just
as the work was about completed, the
shore battery fired shell at the boats.
1t was followed by others, and tilu
Spanish infantry opened fire then with
their rifles.
Sent Perfect Shower of Shot.
Then Ike fash the Marblehead
sent shell inland, and followed it
W uh a perfect shower of shot.
The Nashville was quick to follow
suit, and the little Window cut loose
with her 4-pounders.
In the meanw lille, Spanish shot fell in
every direction around the small boats.
Though the attack had come suddenly
and tiercely, the blue jackets were not
dismayed, and, protected by the terrific
return fire OF the Warships, work was
continued and the cable cut.
When the beats returned to the
sh ps, Regain, who was in one of the
Marblehead's boats, of which there
We're two, was found to have been
klllec. Six men were badly wounded.
spaniards Suffered Severely
The Spaniards had by this time suf-
fered severe loss. Their shots from the
lighthouse struck the warships several
times, and although they did not do
much damage the hre aroused the de-
termination of the American officers to
exterminate the fort. Thereafter for
the moment the fire of the warships
was concentrated upon the lighthouse,
and the improvised fort was blown to
pieces AS there were great numbers
of Spaniards in and behind the fort at
the time there is no doubt that many
of them were killed. ......
The Marblehead and the Nashville
used their heaviest guns as well as
their smaller rapid fire guns, and hun
dreds of shots were thrown into the
Spanish troops.
On board the ships number of men
were slightly wounded.
Commander Washburn Maynard of
the Nashville was slightly wounded by