The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-07-26
FROM GERVERA' 5 RUN
Is Drawn the Lesson That it
is Shot That Counts.
ARM0R PLATE WORTHLESS
Especially When it is Rotten
Spanish Plate.
PLATE WORTHLESS

CerVera Meet 1t was brief battle, and
it is a brief story-a story that is told al.
ready. Some expert may try to draw its
! lessons; but to the men who did their
| great deed Of war its only lesson is that
a heavy armament is more serviceable
than the English (who give their attention
to such subjects) have been willing to ad-
NIT, and that an armor belt is to modern
proJectlles no more than a belt Of blottfng
paper Those facts, and Capt Evans as
sertons that God and the gunners were
on our side" and Capt Philips solemn
thanksgiving to the Almighty for rhe vic
tory, just by His grace achieved, make up
all the Data yet obtained for explaining
how six of the finest ships of their classes
afioat, manned by men desperate and sup
erbly brave, could be shot into junk iron
by six other ships, in fifty-fve minutes,
at a cost of only one sailor.
As a matter of fact. the Almirante
Oquendo and the Infanta Maria Teresa
seem to have been poorly constructed If
they have a belt of Harveyized steel
twelve inches thick, as naval registers de-
clare. il is not easily discovered-but there
are shot holes, some made by two-inch
guns, all over their port Sides Probably
the officers Of government who were over
seers Of the construction Of these ships
did not fancy giving Spain good cruisers
50 much as they fancied putting money
in their purses. An ex-officer of SPANS
army tells me that to move two regiments
of infantry one hundred miles in his coun-
try means tinieving from the government
n rp0 m NJ bAr
ment. No one competent has yet had time
to inspect Cervera's vessels, but the i'm
preston is that in addition to God and the
gunners we were assisted by the corrupt
ness Of Spanish official methods.
While the decks were still burning, these
ships were boarded. Ever since they ran
ashore, flaming and exploding, Cubans
had been IN the bushes by the beach try
ing TO get at them. I suppose they were
the same Cubans who ranged themselves
in position to shoot or machete any woful
Spaniard who. with an enemy on one side
and a burning ship on the other, should
try to escape a sea full of sharks by swim
ing to land. and the way they ran up the
mountain when they saw the New York's
launch coming led me to think they were
the same Cubans who had fired upon a
Spanish floating helpless on the spar to
which his father had dashed him, and who
for mis- cruelty, drew upon themselves an
angry blank shot from the Gloucester.
Capt. Wainwright has been criticised for
this shot at Cubans- Officers say he should
have fired shell, and it would have been
called one of the finest acts of the war.
They ran up the mountain, as have said,
when they saw the fiagships launch com
ing, and flew a white flag.
on board The InfantaMaria Teresa the
scene was desolate indeed. She had been
a beautiful ship, and swift, and her two
1l-inch Hontoria guns, singly in turrets,
one forward and one aft, with ten 5la-inch
quick fires on eac> beam, and eight g
Founders and eight N6-derfeldt and two
Maxim guns, not - mention eight tor
pedO tubes, were, with her twenty-knot
Sferd. supposed to make her one of the
smartes: ermored cc,.isecI in the seven
sea. Yet, mere she lay, after a few mir
u,eS raining fight, noting but a black
fned s-e'eton, hard IN ;te shore of the
ever faithful isle" ami Cuban ringers"
towering about her like Cuban vultures
over the dead. While burning up, deserted !
by all her living crew, she had continued |
TO fire the guns which had been left shot |
ted, but there was one forward she had |
not been able to touch off and we thought !
Of it with some fancy. as of busy SOL
der dying just before he had empt.ed his /
magazine.
For a few feet from her sides her decks |
had been steel, but the rest has been wood |
and had completely disappeared, leaving /
only the supporting steel beams. Prone |
by the waist-gun lay something black, /
ike the trunks and thighs of a man. This |
was what it was. indeed and in the ashes. /
IS own ashes lay the indistructible parts .
# pistol. There were other trunks OF
men beside other guns. on the deck below.
ana they must have been sturdy fellows,
'or the fire mad not had the power to con-
sumo the muscles of their less, but left
hem like close-bunched strips of split
bamboo. We looked a the bodies without
sensation. without feeling that they had
been ever human. In the ashes of the Ad-
nirars cabin. where fire was yet alive
among his record books. we found a sleu-
Ter. graceful Toledo blade. and some sill
:er spoons and forks. and some coins.
\ previous party had recovered and taken
o The Admiral silver coins valued at $50
2N al fused together. on the faces of
which properly enough the figure of a
'rowned woman holding out an olive
,ranch, was almost obHterated.
on the o,her ships the scene was similar
Except THAI the Colon. lying on ner side,
vas less burned and he deck OF the Al
nirIn,e Oquendo may stiu be trod Both
Ter masts were shot away and fell over
ide- one Of the Teresa's military masts
sands as st.fly as when the man AZ the
automatic gun in the top threw on his
hoes and leaped into the sea: the other
les low athwartships. and from its peak
ne Of the New York's Jackies took is
'ennant-and sold it afterwards, I hear
o a New York newspaper correspondent
instead Of turning il over TO the Admiral.
This thrifJiness OF jackIes with souviners
I the battle has not been general L
las been rather the merchapt-bred sailors
# the auxiliary ships who have made rner
chand.se Of mementoes Of Cevera's ill
tarred feet on the s.. outs. for example.
aiiors were offering n SO apiece hat
lands which their Spanish prisoners had /,
1ven 20 them. proudly refusing payment
4 any sort. though not a cent was in their
pockets II anyone is looking for lessons
rom the battle. there ought 10 be a ut,e
ne IN this F c.
,tF0RE THE SURRENDER