The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-06-17
IT. HOWARD WRITES AGAIN
NEW HAVEN MAN DESCRIBES THE
 DESTRUCTION AT CAYITE.

| SP"AsA AuihhrnHs Residence LoOted- Scarcely Building Escaped Damage comtcal Proclamation of Spanish Governor General Before tho Battle Joy of Natives at the Result-AM De- sire to Come to United States, Mrs. w. l.. Howard of Temple street, the wife of Lieutenant Howard. who was on board the cruiser Boston at the battle of Manila bay, has received another letter from her husband in which he describes the condition of the buildings and residences at Cavite af- ter the battle. He includes some items of interest concerning the battle which have been learned since. The descrip- tion is vivid and interesting in its de- tails. The fact that the letter comes from one who took part in the great battle adds to its interest. Following are extracts:
 We are always on the lookout for Spanish treachery. Little by little we learn many items of the battle. The Spaniards never had doubt of their being victorious. So confident were they that the Riena Christina had a double crew of 720 men on board. The extra crew being for the purpose of boarding and taking us prisoners They even had the prisons all ready to re- ceive us, and she was the first ship we sank. We killed 150 men on her alone. The Spanish doctor acknowledges that over 300 were killed and 300 wounded.
 went ashore yesterday at the Spanish navy yard at Cavite and such a distressing sight hope never to sec again. For several days the yard had been footed before we established guard. Take the admirals house, for instance. His family had to leave Gle fought on the Riena Christina and had to swim ashore as she went downl They could only have taken personal valuables. It was a magnificent great residence with fountains and palms in front and such furniture! Breakfast, dining and state dining rooms, bed- rooms to each suite! But each room was I @ wreck. Of course some one had car-
 
 carried away was broken Exquisite services of cut glass and china were smashed, grand carved beadsteadS were hacked, trunks were broken open with axes and their contents, new gowns etc, were trampled underfoot. Statuary was broken, paintings slashed and cut from their frames, and such a scene of desolation generally that one could almost weep from sympathy. The one thing above all others that made me feel the saddest was what must have been the rooms devoted to the Ichildren, their playroenas, school rooms, Ietc. I opened some of their books and read their last lessons. It was very sad to see all their play things scatter ed about under foot. their dresses ev- anywhere. The same sight was repeat- ed in all the officers residences. Of course our shells did much of the dam- age. In the admirad's house an 1-inch shell had ploughed through room after room, finally bursting and wrecking a whole room. Shells burst everywhere, and hardly a building escaped.
 "The yard Is a fine great navy sta tion, fully equipped and stored, as large, if not larger, than any we pos- sess. There must be several millions worth of property in the yard. We have taken everything we can use. I have not been to the army arsenal we captured I have seen enough.
 "It is a mystery to me yet how we captured 1t all In the store houses are thousands of rounds of ammunition. There is only one explanation Their craftsmanship was of the poorest They fought as bravely as men could fight. They were over confident and under estimated us. We went in to win, and win we did against ships and forts. The natives are all eager for us to Lombard and take the place. Any but all want American. In this victory of Manila is seems as if God Himself must have given it to us. A govern ment so corrupt as Spain's cannot ex- ist. All the natives want the United States to own the islands All those we have captured on tugs, etc, seem so happy and to have but one desire, i. e., to go to the United States"
 Lieutenant Howard encloses proc- lamation issued by the governor gen. eral of Manila when war was declared. The proclamation is amusing because of the ignorance or intentional self-de- ception of the author. It was trans lated on board the Olympia after the battle of Manila and copies were dis tributed among the fleet. The transla- ton reads as follows:
 TRANSLATION