The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1898-05-27
Copyrighted by Associated Press

past the harbOr and the distant keys
toward the gulf. He was William
O'Hearn of Brooklyn, and one Of the
survivors of the torpedo boat Wins
lows crew which passed through the
terrible storm of shot and shell that
poured in from the Spanish batteries
in the Bay of Cardenas. He was going
home on furlough for rest.
BY degrees and after much question
ing, O'Hearn told the whole story Of
the battle, and no doubt his account of
the engagement is the most correct in
detail of any given yet.
Expected to be Sunk.
'From the very beginning" he said,
II think every man on the boat be-
lieved that we could not escape being
sunk, and that is what would have
happened had it not been for the BRAY
cry of the boys on the Hudson, who
worked for over an hour under the
most terrific fire to get US out OF
range"
Were you ordered to go in there:"
he was asked.
Yes, just before we were fired upon
the order was given from the Will
mington."
WAS it a signal order?''
mo. We We're near enough to the
Wilmington so that they shouted it
to us from the deck through the mega
phone"
do you remember the words of the
command and who gave them?'
II don't know who shouted the order,
but the words, as l remember them,
We're:
"'Mr. Bagley, go in there and see
what gunboats those are.'
I'VE started at once toward the Car
denas dock, and the firing began soon
AFTER
What was the first you saw of the
firing!'
The first thing l saw was a shot
fired from window or door in the sec
ond story of the storehouse just back
of the dock where the Spanish gun
boats We're lying. l saw the flash and
the smoke and the same instant n shell
went Kissing over our heads. Then the
firing began from the gunboats and
from the shore.
Il don't think any man can forget
the sound and effect of shell and heavy
shot the first time he is under fire. 1t
is something terrible. When a shell
passes close by you, you feel it. some
thing like the effect of lightning when
it strikes near by. You feel as though
it had taken your head off. First. you
hear that awful buZzing or whizzing-
1t is hard to describe-and then some
thing seems to strike you in the face
and head.
II noticed that day when the shells
first began to fly about us that the
boys threw their hands to their heads
every time a shell went over. But
they soon came SO fast and so close
that it was
Roaring, Shrieking He'll.
l can describe it in no other way
Where was your position?"
IL was the water TENDER" he said.
land my place was below, but every
body went on deck when the battle
began. John Varvares. the oiler; John
Dcnief and John Meek, the tiremen,
were both on watch with me, and had
they remained below they would prob
ably not have been killed.
after the firing began l went be-
low again to attend to the boilers. and
a few minutes later Il solid shot came
crashing through the side of the boat
and into the boiler, where it exploded
and destroyed seventy Of the boiler
tubes. At first it stunned me.
when the shell burst in the boiler
it threw both the furnace doors open
and the fuse from the shell struck my
feet. Two pieces of the shell also came
out Of the door, and am taking them
home with me as souvenirs of the war.
lit was terrible crash and report
altogether, and the boiler room was
filled with dust and steam. For sew
eral seconds was partially stunned,
and my ears rang so could hear moth
ing. l went up on the deck to report
to Capt. Bernadou."
What did you say to him?'
Wounded, but Still Fighting.
II saw him near the forecastle gun,
limping about, with a towel bound
about his leftsleg. He was shouting,
and the noise of all the guns was like
continuous thunder,
Captain I shouted. the forward
boiler Is disabled. "A shell has gone
through her.
"'Get out the hose he said. and
turned to the gun again.
II went back into the boiler room.
and in a few minutes went up on
the deck again, and the fighting had
grown hotter than ever. Several of