The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-06-04


| donga and the frgate Berenguela.
| These, with others mentioned, formed
! the strongest Spanish squadron that
| had ever searched the waters Of the
! Pacific, and it remained there two
! years. During this time President
! Pc2ct of Peru, wanted to tcmporze
| with the Spaniards, even to pay the
! indemnity. This resulted in his re-
! moval from office by a revolution.
! "In 1865 the fleet was under command
| Of Admiral Pareja, son Of the viCcroy
of Peru. and born in Lima. Upon be-
| ing ordered to lombard Valparaiso, II
commercial. defenceless city, this man,
| rather than do such n dastardly deed,
| blew out his own brains on board the
! Numancia. The command then devel-
| oped upon the next chief, Mendez Nu-
nez, who, less scrupulous, bombarded
! the city for four hours. destroying
| many public buildings, while not even
a pistol was fired off in return. The
! French frigate Venus was in the har-
! hor at the time, also the English fri
/ gate Shearwater and the American war
steamer Vanderbilt, with Commodore
John Rodgers on board, acting as escort
/ TO the monitor Monadnock, which was
on it's way to California, where it
now is.
Commodore Rodgers sent word TO
Captain Dcrram. of the Shearwater,
asking if he would join him in prsevCnt-
ing the bombardmcnt The English
commander replied that, having only
one ship, he hesitatcd to attack the
Spanish squadron. Rodgers then said:
Fire one gun against Spain and
retire. with my monitor and my ship
/ will send those blasted Spaniards to
the bottom
| Rodgers himself told me this. 1t
was aftcrwar rumored that the British
| commander was diSgraced for having
done nothing toward the great English
| interests in Valparaiso. At the end
| of April, 1866. the Spanish squadron
| cast anchor six miles from Ca!lao at
the head of Isle Saint Lorenzo. On
, learning of the bombardmcnt of Val
paraiso, Colonel Prado. then president
of Peru, ordered the setting up Of two
| irOn-clad turrrtS belonging to moni-
tor which had been brought in sections
and had been put together one tur-
ret was placed a short distance to the
south Of the city. and called La Mcr-
ced. The other was placed to the north
and called Santa Rosa. In each two
Parrott guns, 3OO-poundcrs, were
! mounted.
THE army officers, from generals to
the youngest lieutenants, and the stu
dents of universities and medical col
| lpgeS hunted w fifty old cannon of
various calihrcs, which had been dis
| Carded. mounted these as best they
could on the short space between the
. two turrcts and in front of the cannon
/ placed sand bags as a protection
against the cobblestones that formed
the beach, and which the balls of the
! enemy would convert into grape shot
The officers themselves manned the
| guns. No common soldier had a han
in that unequal struggle.
The fifty or twenty United states
residents, mostly merchants, eager tC
take part i'm the defence of American
soil got permission to use and man
another Parrott gun, JOO-pounucr
that was in the arsenal This was
mounted on its carriage about fifty
yards south of the railroad depot. Com
modore Rodgers, who happened to b.
there, assured me that he had difficult,
in restraining his men, 50 anxious Were
they to land and assist in the fight.
IOgll,Nlt EN- III SlNSM.
when on that famous May >. the
people in Lima learned that the Span
iSh ships were stripped for action and
that CalIau was to he hOmbarded, thch
| courage and enthusiasm knew nC
bounds. Every able-bodicd person
wanted to hasten there to encounter the
perhdious Spaniards. Those who could
not nnd room in the railroad cars walk.
ed to the port, nearly nine miles off
Young women Of the best families sped
to the scene Of action to encourage the
| comDdtants and attend the wounded
The Peruvian priests also hurried tC
the coast, but the Spanish friars in
Lima stayed within their converts and
cried to heaven for the defeat of thu
people who generously sheltered them
SO deep was the public indignation
against that power which. in order tc
force gold from the Peruvians, de
based itself to the most cowardly OF
deeds, that the officers and civilians
did not even wait 70 call upon the com.
mon soldiers, but rushed hcadlung t
the defense Of land and liberty. There
was reserve force Of 1000 men out OF
SIGHT, only a few hundred PAGES from
!
pieces Of field artillcr!, and ready tC
face the Spaniards had these effected j
landing. The 1000 soldiers were shcl.
tered behind the walls of a fortress
which covered fifteen acres Of ground
II was built in l775 and served as Gus.
tom house and stcrorooms.
Nc | hay" said, the MOnadnock and
Vanderbilt happened to be at Callac
with other vessels Of the United States
south Atlantic tlcct-thc Dakota, Su.
vance ana MOhonge. also the French
friSGt" Venus. The squadron Of Men.
deH Nuacz started from it's archora ge
about II o'clock and advanced in the
form of letter Y. the Numancia occu.
pyinG it's point until about hl'I mile
from shore, This ship theu too. l.p its
position in front Of the old fortress
The Almanac ana Villa dc Madrid fac.
ed Che northern batteries, La Blancc
and Berenguela those TO the south. The
COvadonga Kept beyond the line of fire
ready 90 aid any disabled ship.
"As eight bells sounded on board and
the bells in the fortress rang out /.
o'clock the first gun was fired-frC7
the Numanca. Considering Tho
strength Of the foe, we on shore all
expected to be blown To bits, hut after
twenty minutes had gone by We laugh
ed, for the Spanish gunners amad Sc
4 badly that their missiles flew toward