The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-05-21
sEAMAN'S STORY OF CARDENAS

y tHWHN y y IUhI UF OHnUCNHO
| Copyright 1893 by the Associated Press,
Key West, May 2O.-For an hour be-
left her dock for Tampa, a man wearing
| the uniform of a naval seaman sat
YEARLY against great bale Of cordage
looking out past the harbor and the dis
| tant keys towards the gulf He was VIII
liam O'Hearn of Brooklyn, and one of the
survivors of the torpedo boat Winslow
crew. which passed through the terrible
storm of shot and shell that poured in
from the Spanish batteries in the bay
| of Carnedas. He was going home on a
furlough for rest. Beside him in bright
cage was the Winslow's parrot, which
made himself famous on the day Of the
| enga cement by shrieking and chattering
like demon during the whole battle.
By much questioning O'Hearne 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.
From the very beginning" O'Hearn
said, Il think every man on the boat be-
lieved that he could not escape being
sunk, and that is what would have hap
pened had it not been for the bravery of
the boys on the Hudson, who worked for
over an hour under the terrible 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 Whining
tom
WAS it a signal order?"
mo, we were near enough to the VIII
mington sot hat they shouted It to us
from the deck through the magaphone"
do you remember the words of the
command and who gkave them?"
Il don't know who shouted the order,
but the words, as remember them were,
Mr.. Bagley, go in there and see what
gunboats those are We started at once
for the Carnedas docks and the firing be-
gan soon after"
What was the first you saw of the
fring?"
THE first thing I saw was a shot fired
from window or door in the second
story of the storehouse Just back of the
dock where the Spanish gunboats were
lying. 1 saw the flash and the smoke. and
the same instant shell went wh!zzing
over our heads. Then the firing began
from the gunboats and from the shore
cont think any man can forget the
shot the first time he is under fire. II
is something terrible. When a shell passes
close to you you feel IT, something like
the effect of lightning when 1t strikes
near by. You feel as though it had taken
your head off. First you hear that aw-
ful buzzing, or whizzfng-it is hard m
describe-and then something seems m
strike you in the face and head. I 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 fas.
and close that IT was roaring, shrieking
crashing HE'LL can describe it in no |
other way"
Where was your position?"
Il am the water tender" he said. "and
NY place was below, but everybody went
IN deck when the battle began. John Var
'arvas, the oiler, and John def and
John Meek, the firemen. were all on
watch with me and had they remained
below they probably would not have been
alled After the firing began 1 went be-
ow again to attend 10 the boilers. and a
ew minutes later a solid shot came
rashing through the side of the boat
nd into the boiler, where it exploded
nd destroyed seventy of the boiler tubes.
Vt first IT stunned me. When the shell
ust in the boiler it threw both the fur
ace doors open and the fuse from the