The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1898-07-07

Washington,J July 4.---The secretary
of the navy has received the follow
ing:
''Siboncy, July 3.
TO the Secretary of the Navy:
The fleet under my command
offers the nation as Fourth of a July
present--the destruction of the
whole of Cervera' $ fleet. 1t attempt
ed to escape at $50 o'clock a. M. and
at 9 O'Clock p. m. the last, the Cristo-
bal Colon, had run ashore sixty miles
west of Santiago and has let down
her colors. The Infanta Maria Teresa,
the Oquendo and Vizcaya were
forced ashore, burned and blown up
within twenty miles of Santiago.
The Furor and the Pluton were des-
trovcd within four miles of the fort.
Our loss was one killed and two
wounded. The encmy's loss IS
probably several hundred from
gunlire, explosions and drowning.
About 1900 prisoners, including
Admiral Cervera were taken. The
man killed was George H. Ellis, chief
yoeman of the Brooklyn.
..SAMPSON."
An Associated Press dispatch gives
the following account:
DEsTKUsTION OF THE SPANISH FLEET.
Admiral Cervera's fleet, consisting
of armored cruisers Cristobal Colon,
Almirante Oquendo, Infanta Maria
Teresa and Vizcaya and two torpedo
boat destroyers, the Furor and the
Pluton, which had been held in the
harbor of Santiago de Cuba for six
weeks past by the combined squad
rons of Rear Admiral Sampson and
Commodore Schley, lies today at the
Southern coast of Cuba. The Spanish
admiral is a prisoner of war and
1000 to 100 other Spanish officers
and sailors, all who escaped the
frightful carnage caused by the
shells from the American warships,
are also held as prisoners of war by
the United States navy. The Ameri-
can victory is complete and, accord
| ing to the best information obtain
able at this time the American YES
sells were practically untouched and
only one man was killed, though the
ships were subjected to the heavy
fire of the Spaniards all the time the
| battle lasted.
| SPANIARDS FOUGHT TO THE LAST.
| At no time did the Spaniards show
any Indication that they intented to
do otherwise than fight to the last.
They displayed no signals to surren-
der even when their ships commenced
to sink and the great clouds of smoke
pouring from their sides showed
they were on fire. But they turned
their vessels toward the shore, less
than mile away, and ran them on
the beach and rocks, where their
destruction was soon completed. The
| officers and men on board then es-
capped to the shore as we'll as they
could, with the assistance of boats
sent from the American men-of-wa1
and threw themselves upon the
mercy of their captors who not only
extended to them the glorious hand
of American chivalry, but sent them
4 guard to protect them from the
murderous bands of Cuban soldiers
hiding in the brush on the hillside,
eager to rush down and attack the
unarmed, defeated, but valorous foe
CERvERA's BOLD DASH FOR LIBERTY
Admiral Cervera made as gallant a
dash for liberty and for the preserva
ton of his ships as ever occurred
in the history of naval warfare. In
the face of overwhelming odds. with
nothing before him but inevitable
destruction or surrender if he re-
NAMED any longer in the trap in
which the American fleet held him.
he made a bold dash from the harbor
and fighting every inch of his way,
even when his ship was abaze and
sinking. and tried to escape the doom
which was written on the muZZie OF
every. American gun trained upon
his vessels. The Americans saw hin
the moment he left the harbor and
commenced their work of destruc
ton Immediately. For an hour or
two they followed the Spaniards to
the westward along the shore line,
sending shot after shot into their
blazing hullS. tearing great holes in
their steel sides and covering theil
decks with the blood of the killed
and the wounded.
AMERICANS DID NOT EXrECT SUCH !,
BOLD UNDERTAKING.
1t was clock this morning when
the flagship Infanta Maria Teresa
passed under the wall of Morrc
castle and steamed out to sea. She
was followed BY the Cristobal Colon
Vizcaya and Oquendo, and last BY
the torpedo boat destrovers Furor
and Pluton. The lookout on the
American vessels which were five OF
ten miles off the entrance to the
harbor. sighted them immediately
Most of the American cruisers were
at the usual Sunday morning quar-
tiers without thought of anything as
surprising as the Spanish fleet get
ting past the sunken collier Merri-
mac which they had been deluded