The Bourbon news. [volume] (Paris, Ky.) 1895-19??, 1898-04-29

crumbled to powder. Sand batteries
went up in clouds when struck. Only
a few shells struck the town and those
accidentally. The New York and
Puritan avoided shooting at anything
but government property.
| About l o'clock gun on the western
side of the fort that had been best
served was dismounted by a discharge
from the New York. All of the guns
crew must have been killed. Many
| Spaniards must have been killed. Not
one American was injured. BY night
the forts were silenced but did not sur
| render
The Spaniards used explosive shells
and some of the shrapnen fell on the
| New York.
The peace of the blockade has been
| broken. Blood has been spilled. 1t
was Spanish blood and the red fluid at
| tested that the DOns really mean to
defend their title to Cuba. NIatanzas,
the scene of much of the CHASTITY suf-
fering imposed by Weyler, saw the first
engagement. Hundreds of starving re-
concentrates, deprived now by Blanco
of supplies contri buted by Americans,
heard the big guns of Uncle Sans
ships thunder forth a salute to liberty.
At the sound they FASTENED to the
heights near the city of Matanzas, and
from that point of vantage watched
the duel between the war ships and
the shore batteries.
For some time the New York used
only her smaller guns. But pretty
soon the heavy boom of her big gun
amidships reverberated among the
hills. After the firing had continued
for some Is minutes the Puritan was
signalled to get into the game. She
took a position on the port side of
the New York and about a mile and
half from the east shore bat
teries. There she promptly drew the
attention of the first two batteries on
the west shore. At the first the Puri-
tan used only her secondary battery to
get the range of the batteries, which
were almost invisible, their locality
being indicated, however, by the
smoke. BY this time the firing was
quite rapid from both the New York
and Puritan.
The flag ship lay so that she presented
a broadside to both shores, and she
used her guns after few range-find-
ing shots with excellent results. The
accuracy of her gunnerS was contin-
ually attested by clouds of sand and wa
ter which few around the shore batter
les. The Spaniards replied steadily.
but with no effect Meanwhile the
Cincinnati was impatient to take
hand Finally Capt Chester received
permission to bring his ship to ac-
ton. He adrOitly chose a position less
than 1000 yards from the west shore
batteries, and it soon developed that.
while exposed fully to his fire, they
could not train their guns on the
cruiser
Until the end of the engagement the
Cincinnati maintained an effective fire
on the Point Maya, or east shore bat
teries. This combined and destructive
fire soon gave the men on shore
enough.
In less than 20 minutes from the
time they opened fire on the New
York their fire had been silenced.
The result of the engagement
created the greatest enthusiasm among
officers and men and increased, if that
is possible, the desire to take a crack
at MORO Castle. Within ten minutes
after the engagement had ended a spe-
cial dispatch boat was alongside the
New York. Congratulations were ex-
tended to Adm. Sampson. who returned
his compliments. He requested the
vessel to carry the official dispatches
reporting the battle to Key West.
All told the United States ships fired
Sc shots at the forts This is by
actual count from our dispatch boat.
The forts fired probably % shots. The
bOmbardment developed that the
largest pieces mounted by the Spanish
at Matanzas are eight-inch guns.
and the best opinion is that there are
not more than five or six guns there.
But far more important than the de-
structiOn of the Matanzas batteries is
the conclusion about the future which
may be drawn from the bonn bardment.
The conclusion is that Havana is alb
solutely at the mercy of the United
States fleet whenever we choose to
open fire. Adm. Sampson Wednes-
day, with guns which amount to
1898 Cllol OClOll Vi his nQnIlnQ
force, silenced what was practically
three batteries in 20 minutes. He
steamed right in on them as close as
he could get, and not one of our ships
was touched. What is to be said of
gunner that can not hit a mark as
Big as the New York at 1000
or 5000 yards? The incident has great
~ encouraged the naval officers and
they believe that when they lombard
Havana they will destroy all the de-
Tense in about one hour
WASHINGTON, April ESQ far as
could be learned the officials of the
administration were not notified of
the bombardment Of Matanzas We'd
nesday morning. The navy depart
ment keeps full fedged telegraph
office open in the building all night
and confidential officer remains at the
department all night to translate the
messages as received. There was con-
siderable business done over the wires