The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-05-22
and, moving slowly around it, let fly

and, moving slowly around it, let fly
her shells at every revolution.
This was actually so close that the
guns on the Notifications could not be
trained on the warships, and volleys
of musketry were showered upon her.
Soon the fleet was enveloped in such
bank of smoke that the Morros guns
must have been absolutely helpless.
Under cover of the smoke, the daring
vessel Joined the fleet again.
Another daring warship was believ-
ed to be the monitor Terror. She, too,
came within easy range of the shore
guns, and every shot from her seemed
to have taken effect When the seas
We're breaking over her, the gunners
on MORO, unused to her type, cried in
glee, See, We have sunk her.
According to Spanish reports there
were eleven vessels in the lombard
ing fleet and the most serious damage
was the dismounting of one gun and
the killing of one of the gunnerS. Con-
fiicting stories of the number killed in
San Juan were current. 1t was report
ed soon after the fleet had retired that
sixty had met death, but later reports
put the number at six. These six, 1t
was said, were the men at the guns.
Several shells struck the town, but 1
have not been able to learn that any
persons were killed by them. Another
shell went through a large warehouse
or dock, shattering a timber pile and
lodging in the side plates of the Span
ish Jail steamer Manuella- 1t nearly
sunk her.
1T seemed strange to me that the
American fleet did not continue the
bombardment until all the Notifications
were demolished. The pilot, who board
ed US off Sandy Hook, said that the
fleet had gone to San Juan to engage
the Spanish fleet and his statement
goes to explain several incidents of the
attack.
"a quantity of small shots We're fired
in the harbor at first to draw out, as
now understand, any Spanish warships
that might have been there. Although
there were in San Juan at the time the
cruisers Isabel II and Alfonso XIII and
the gunboat Concho, not one Of them
took any part in the engagement and
the American vessels retired.
After it was all over the Alfonso
XIII put to sea to give chase to the
American liner Paris, as was learned
afterWard. She returned in three hours
alone. We saw the same liner fifteen
miles away, off Fajardo on Friday
morning. She was cruising to the
southeast.
ALMOST A VICTORY.
There was much surprise in San
Juan when the American fleet retired.
If the war ships had continued their
attack two hours longer the town would
have surrendered. The authorities, both
naval and military, were unable to
learn how much damage had resulted
to the American ships, but it was not
generally believed in San Juan that the
fleet had been compelled to withdraw
under the fire of the Notifications.
There was much disappointment, too,
that the Spanish fleet had not arrived
to protect the town. The war ships
had been looked for every day for two
weeks preceding the bombardment, and
there were several British vessels I'M
loading coal for the fleet when we We're
at San Juan. The guns which we saw
on the Notifications on entering the
harbor seemed to be of ancient design,
and I am told that what modern guns
the American feet left are not in fir
ing order. Several Krupp guns which
were landed at San Juan year ago
were not removed from the wharf until
a couple of weeks ago.
Under Spanish sovereignty, affairs
in Porto Rico are anything but pros
porous. There is little money in circu-
lation and there have been many fail
ures during the last two years. There
is a strong feeling among the business
men of the island in favor of self-rule, |
a protectorate under some foreign pow
er or anything that will end Spanish
rule
1.-THE masses are densely ignorant,
the great majority being unable to
either read or write.
SPANISH TROOPS.
subscriptions are being sought all