The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-07-01

mel lay irregular lagoons; straight ahead
arose the chimneys of sugar plantation,
and in the distance pale azure mountains.
When the cruiser and the battleship were
firing. and smoke chung about. softening
their rigid lines until they became, in the
strong sunlight, objects of beauty. the
whole scene broke upon the eye as
song upon the ear. No element of danger
was apparent. Every time the Texas dis
charged her twelve-inch forward guns,
the land, and the water on It, and the
boats on that. slhivered; but we could not
see any OF the probable horrid results.
and never having seen. could not picture
them. II a Jagged fracture appeared IN
the fort, after the smoke blew away. 1t
touched off an emotion no keener than
that felt when ones own eleven kicks
brilliant goal.
What an enemy is doing makes. in
naval action, more OF an excitement. do
doubt. than sight of what IS being done
against him. At any rate, the few and
strangely good shots with which the fort
whitened the water around the Marble
head, and the steady dauntless advance
Of that little cruiser-hags at her stern
and each masthead flashing through the
smoke-composed the loveliest view of
war had yet CHANGED on 1t was 20 be-
come more wonderful when the fact was
revealed that she carried at her propeller
Bustamente submarine mine. Struck
so hard that the hammer was bent, and
only a toughhttle barnacle separa ted her
from destruction. As she turned back
the anchor chain OF the mine ioosed It
self from her propeller shaft an the dull
red buoy-like engine f1oated to che sur
face and was captured by the Marble
heads launch and towed to the ship I'M
der rife fire from the shore. On deck the
engineers took IL 10 pieces. exposed che
mechanism. and threw its 142 pounds of
gun-cotton overheard, while the ships
men gathered around TO look meditatively
upon what had so clarly said. Remember
the Maine" and Captain Sigsbee called to
offer the congratulations of one sadly ex-
perienced.
II had been an interesting afternoon. and
two things were promised-the capture of
a gunboat that night by the lighthouse
tender Suwanee. and another lombard
ment Of Santago's batteries in the morn
ng. We turned in early. like girls with
ball before them. TO be fresh and appre-
ciative, giving orders TO the skipper 10 fol-
low the Suwanee If she started on her ven
turs before midnight, and to sail then for
Santiago II she did not. At dawn the
man on watch aroused Us with the an
nouncement; Sampson has gone into
Santiago horbor." All except the artist
and the novelist made their usual abu-
lions, having seen Santiago bombarded
several times already. From the deck ii
did appear that the ships had forced the
entrance, but they were only hidden by
their own smoke. as that a ship on fire ?"
| asked some one, pointing to a huge cloud
resting near shore upon the water evil
IDENTIFY. But a graceful bow poked out
from it, and presently the little Ccorpion,
lately a boat Of pleasure, emerged. look
ing as fierce as dark paint and the heav-
lest armament for her tons of and vessel in
the navy can make so dainty a craft.
Sentences that described previous San
tiago commandments would almost do for
this one. The flagship ran a little closer
the farbor's mouth. thus exposing her
| decks TO the plunging fire sent over the
plomentory by invisible Spanish cruisers.
The big bores of the Iowa and theOregOn,
and the long sfx-inch quick fires of the
New Orleans were again worked effec-
lively; the enemy's shells dropped ridicu--
lousy wide of any mark, save twice. when
probably by accident, they fell near the
admiraIs armored cruiser. Instead of rain
and thunder. as week ago. this bonn
| bardment was accompanied by calm and
sunshine and each shells discharge, and a
second or two after its explosion on shore,
! could be distinctly observed. 1t is not true
J hot could ha followed
| bolic flight as one correspondent tele-
! graphed. One must attend one OF Mr..
Pains bombardments for that. There was
| a soft smoke-puff from the side of a ship;
| then, as it rolled away, a dull bass roar;
! then, on the cliff-side, a dirty, pink, spiny
cloud bursting from the earth and a muf-
fed growl would come down ITO the on
| lookesr. Scars on the green where Es-
! trella's great guns are mounted behind
breastworks; and flags would still wave
their red, yellow and red. and there was
only the silence of all things ashore to
| tell that the bombardment had had any
effect.
Admiral Sampson intends nothing by
these bombarding operations beyond keep
ing the enemy's outermOst works in a con-
stantly damaged condition. IF the army
were only here" says the officers, I'VE
would be in larger business" Upon the
army is placed the blame for most of
the shortcomings which the navy has had
to have charged TO it. If the military es-
| Enlistment had ben as we'll organized
and ready as General Miles fancied. when
in the time Of the Venezuelan affair he
declared that in sixty hours ne could
throw an army OF 5000 into Canada, the
navy would be accomplishing ends more
definite and conclusive than those at
tempted at Matanzas, San Juan and San
| tiago 1t may be doing so when this is
printed, for tonight the army is due to ar
! rive. F. c.