El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-08-06
Two Of DeWey's Sailors.

Yesterday as the Southern Pacific
pulled into the depot two of Uncle
Sam 'sJackies got Off thetrain and help
edssome sisters of charity into the bus
with their luggage. AS soon as they
were through the HERALD reporter
bound and the reply was to Norfolk,
Va, to the navy yard, where they had
enlisted three years ago. On being
asked from what ship they were
one touched his cap where the word
baltimore" was printed. The report
er asked them how long it had been
since they were on duty aboard the
Baltimore and the answer:was, "After
the fight of the first of May when we
under Admiral Montijo''.
In describing the fight of Manila
bay c.. H. TOrbitt, who was q petty
officer on the Baltimore and was assist
ant chief machinist, said: "We went
into the fight inst about dsybreak.
When the first gun was fired from the
battery at Cavite, we were all past ex
cept the Mccullough and the shots
fred from the fort were directed at
her. None of them took effect, and we
steamed on up the bay. We took the
Spaniards half way by surprise, Is
when the shots from the fort
were fred. On hearing those shots the
call to quarters was sounded on all
the Spanish ships, but there was
hardly enough steam in their boilers
During the fight 1 went from gun to
gun to see that they were all working
in good shape and there was only one
hitch in any of the guns. That was
small rapid fire gun which got out of
working order early in the action. 1t
was not fixed while we were under fire
the first time but before we went in
the second time, she was in shape to do
good effectual service.
''While we had the earlier part of
the day for the fight it was as hot as
blszes there and every man in the
fight was stripped above the belt, end
had no shoes on: every man worked as
if he especially was the man upon
whom the whole fight rested, and we'll
did those fellows work, too"
Carl V. Hermer, the other sailor,
fight from the decks, but as he was so
busy in the different parts of the snip
l didn't see the fight as he would
have liked. But he said: "When
that eight inch she'll went through the
Reina Christina the Spsniards on her
nearly went crazy. The officers had
no control over shem. When the
tOTWdFo "6RdZlQ6 Ol Lu6 OOdG Ol6W up
he saw arms and legs flying skyward
in the flames and the sight, while
sickening to think of, human beings
being blown to atoms as the Spaniards
were, still was one of the grandest
sights sailor can imagine and I will
remember it to my last day
The two sailors said that they
brought lots of relics of the fight and
of the Philippines to take home with
them. Most of their relics were tied
up in their hammocks and bags, but
one of them went through his kit,
which all sailors have, and found a
primer of a six inch rifle which was
fired during the fight, and he gave
that to the reporter.
In talking of their arrival in San
Francisco Tibbitt said: "As soon as
we started down the gang plank there
was reporter from all the leading pa
pers of the city there ready to get
what news out of us they could, but
we had already made up our minds
that we wouldn't talk, so we kept our
mouths closed tight. But you ought
to have heard the pleadings of the re-
porter for the Call" He was the
most anxious fellow you ever saw"
The reporter asked them if they
were going straight through and one
said: Eyes, we are going to finish this
cruise at Norfolk and then, as we have
been assigned on the Asiatic squadron
for over two years, we have a vacation
coming to US and that will give us three
months to visit relatives in New York
and New Jersey. Then we may reen-
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