Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1898-04-30
With SHOT and SHELL.
Matanzas Bombarded "Wednesday Afternoon.
American Ships Uninjured-..L Loss Of Life on
Spanish Side supposed to be Large-.Brief Re.
cumn nf Nor koMc
sumo of War News.

|
| The horrors of war have commenced j,
dead earnest. On Wednesday afternoon
between 1245 and Is Matanzas wa
bombarded by the American warships New
York, Puritan and Cincinnati 1t tool
| Just 1e minutes to silence the guns of th'
Spanish forces. Great damage is know
to have been done to the city, and the Loss
of life is believed to have been large
though how large is not known with any
accuracy.
Matanzas is on the north coast of Cubs
between 40 and so miles east Of Havana
and it is there the United States will estab-
lish its base of operations instead of at
tempting to reduce Havana. The follow
ing is the associated press report of the
bombardment
When Rear Admiral Sampson, on the
flagship New York, left the cruising ground
to pay visit to Matanzas and Carde, "a
he made up his mind that something had 10
be done with the very aggressive Spanish
artillerymen who were manning the bat
teries out that wav. They had twice fred
on the torpedo boat Foote and were very
busy erecting Notifications and placing
guns in position. At NIatarzas the New
York found the monitor Puritan and the
cruiser Cincinnati, that have been blockad-
ing the port.
Matanzas lies at the head of bay about
four miles from the sea. This bay at its
mouth is three miles wide. On the west
side of the bay is Point Rubalcava and on
the east side Point Maya.
The New York led the way into the bay
of Matapzas. The Puritan was a few hun
dred yards astern on the port side and the
Cincinnati remained behind slightly
greater distance astern on the sarboard
side. Lines drawn from ship to ship would
have made an almost perfect triangle.
At few minutes before l o'clock there
was puff of smoke from the east shore
and an eight-inch shell whizzed toward the
New York and fell short. Scarcely had
the report died away than another puff Of
smoke foated upon the Point Maya side.
This shell also fell short.
The range of the east battery was nearly
700 yards but the flagship promptly opened
ire with one OF her S-inch gums. The ems.
gagement in few minutes became general
and shore and bay were covered with the
wind-blown smoke, while the hollow be-
tween the hills roared with the cannonading.
Continuing to cut loose with her guns
starboard and port, as well as fore and aft,
the New York steamed quickly in and
circled around to the westward toward
Point Rubalcava, while the Puritan swung
to starboard to engage the Maya battery.
The Maya battery was the most formid-
able and the fire from it was most frequent
but the shells tell short. The New York
ignored this battery after minute and
proceeded to pay all her attention to the
battery on Rubalcava, which was being
pushed to completion.
1t was beautiful sight to view the tar
get practice of the New York. A big bal
loon of smoke would slowly rise from her
side. The eye, following the direction of
the shot, would see an instant later great
cloud of dust and fragments of concrete
and mortar fly high in the air. Then
would come the roar of piece, sullen and
and heavy.
The New York had soon reduced the
range from 7OOO TO 3OOO yards and was
tossing shells into Rubalcava at the rate Of
about three minute, with wonderful pre-
cision and apparently great destruction:
During the entire engagement not a shell
had struck the vessels but there had been
three narrow misses of the New York. The
Spanish fired shrapnel once, which had
burst above the ship, a she'll had struck
just fore of her and another struck just aft.
The fact that the Spaniaros failed to
strike such large target as the New York
towering as she does like house out OF
the water, was taken as evidence that they
are not good marksmen. On the other
hand, every shot that the New York fred
after she got range was pitched right into
the batteries.
All told the United States fired Sc shots
at the forts. The forts fted probably 25
shots.
But far more important than the destruc-
ton of the Matanzas batteries is the con-
clusion about the future which may be
drawn from the bombardment. This con-
clusion is that Havana is absolutely at the
mercy of the United States fleet whenever
we choose to open fire.