Adams County news. [volume] (Ritzville, Wash.) 1898-1906, 1898-07-13


the American squadron, commanded by
Admiral Sampson. / therefore headed for
the wreck of the Vizcaya, now burning
furiously fore and aft. When l was in
as far as the depth of the water would
permit, l lowered all my boats and sent
them at once to the assistance of the men
who were being drowned by dozens or
roasted on the decks. | soon discovered
that the insurgent Cubans from the shore
Cling in the water, after having surren-
dered to us. l Immediately put stop
! to this, but could not put stop to the
mutilation Of many bodies by the sharks
inside the reefs. These creatures had be-
come excited by the blood from the
wounded men in the water. The boat
crews worked manfully and succeeded i'll
saving many from the burning ship. One
man who will be recommended for pro-
motion clambered up the side of the Viz
caya and saved three men from burning
to death. The smaller magazines of the
Vizcaya were exploding with magnificent
cloud effects. The boats were coming
alongside in a steady string and willing
hands were helping the lacerated Span
ish officers and sailors on the Iowa's quar-
ter deck.
"All the Spanards were absolutely
without clothes. Some had their legs
torn off by fragments of shells. Others
were mutilated in every conceivable way.
As | knew the crews of the first two ships
wrecked had not been visited by any of
our vessels / ran down to them. | found
the Gloucester with Admiral Cervera and
number of his officers aboard and also
large number of wounded, some in a
frightfully mangled condition. Many prs
oners had been killed on shore by the
fire of the Cubans The Harvard came up
and 1 requested Captain Cotton to go
in and take off the crews of the Infanta
Maria Teresa and the Almirante Oquen-
do, and by midnight the Harvard had
974' prisoners aboard, a great number of
them wounded.
Examples of HerOism.
"For courage and dash there is no par
allel in history to this action of the Span
ish admiral. He came, as he knew, to alb
solute destruction. There was one single
hOpe-that was that the CristObal Colon
would steam faster than the Brooklyn.
The spectacle of two torpedo boat de-
stroyers, paper shells at best, deliberately
steaming out in broad daylight in the
face Of the fire of battleship can be de-
scribed in only one way: 1T was Spanish
and it was ordered by BlancO.' The same
must be said of the entire movement. j
took Admiral Cervera from the GlOuces-
ter, which had rescued him, and received
him with full admiral's guard. The crew
of the Iowa crowded close to the turrets,
half-naked and black with powder, as
Cervera stepped over the side, bare
headed.
"One of the l2-inch shells from the
Iowa exploded torpedo in the Vizcaya's
bow, blowing 81 men against the deck
above and dropping them dead and man
gled into the fire which at once started
below. The torpedo boat Ericsson was
sent to the help of the Iowa in the rescue
OF the Vizcayas crew. Her men saw a
terrible sight. The flames leaping out
from the huge shot holes in the Vizcaya's
side, licked up the decks, sizzling the flesh
of the wounded who were lying there,
shrieking for help. Between the frequent
explosions there came awful cries and
groans from the men penned in below.
This carnage was chiefly due to rapidity
of the Americans fire. The bottoms of the
boats held two or three inches of blood.
In many cases dead men were lying in
the blood. Five poor chaps died on the
way 10 the ship. They were afterwards
buried with military honors from the
Iowa.
Spanish Courage Unsurpassed.
"Some examples Of heroism, or, more
properly, devotion to discipline and duty,
could never be surpassed. One man on the
lost Vizcaya had his left arm shot of
Just below the shoulder. The fragments
were hanging by small piece of skin.
But he climbed unassisted over the side
of the ship and saluted his superior Of
ficers. One man whose leg had been shot
off was hoisted aboard the Iowa with
tackle, but never whimper came from
him.
"Gradually the manglcd bodies and
naked well men accumulated until it
would have been most difficult to recog-
nize the Iowa as United States battle
ship. Blood was all over her usually white
quarter deck and 272 naked men were
being supplied with food and water. Final
ly came the boats with Captain Eulate,
commander of the Vizcaya, for whom
chair was lowered over the side, as he
was evidently wounded. The captains
guard of marines were swung up on the
quarter deck to salute him, and l stood
waiting to welcome him. As the chair
was placed on deck, the marines pre-
sented arms Captain Eulate slowly raised
himself from the chair, saluted me with
dignity, unbuckIed his sword belt and
holding the hilt of the sword before him,
kissed it reverently, with tears in his eyes
and then surrendered it to me.
| "Of course / declined to receive his
sword, and, as the crew Of the Iowa saw
this, they cheered like wild men.
| Destroyer Became Friend.
"In the meantime 80 officers Of the Viz
caya had been picked up, beside 272 of
her crew. Our ward room and steerage
officers gave up their state rooms and fur
nished food, clothing and tobacco to those
naked officers from the vizaya. The pay
master issued uniforms to the naked sail
ors and each was given all the corned
beef, coffee and hardtack he could eat.
1 The war had assumed another aspect"