The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1898-05-19
SAMPSON: SATISFIED:
. +;
With the Bombardmsnt Of San
Juan Dc Porto Rico.
TWO OF OUR SAILORS KILLED

And Seven Injured by the Fire OF the
Spanish Batteries-Our wsrships Re.
tired From tho Conflict Uninjured.
Sampson Satisfied with the Results.
San Juan de- Porto Rico, via st.
Thomas, Danish West Indies. May IA,
The forts Of San Juan de Porto Rice
were bombarded by part Of Rear Ad-
miral Sampson's feet Thursday morn
ing. The enemy's loss Ia believed to
bs heavy. The American loss Is two
men killed and seven men injured.
After three hours firing the admiral
withdrew the feet, and. heading for
Key West, he said: II am satisfied with
the mornings work. could have
taken San Juan. but I have no force to
hold It. I only wanted to administer
punishment. This has been done.
came for the Spanish feet. and not for
San Juan"
The men killed were Seaman Frank
Widemark. of the New York. and q
gunner's mate. of the Amphitrite,
The latter died from the effects Of the
extreme heat.
OF the injured men three were on
board the Iowa and four ON board the
New York.
Those slightly injured on the Iowa
are Seaman Mitchell, Private Marine
Merkle and Apprentice Hill. The in
jured on the New York are Seaman
Samuel Feltman (seriously) and Sea.
man Michael Murphy. Two other en-.
listed men were slightly injured. All
the above named we're injured by the
bursting Of a shell on the New York
The American ships we're uninjured.
The engagement began at SIS a. m
and ended at 8:15 q. m. The enemy's
batteries were not silenced. The town
in the rear Of the fortiications prob.
ably suffered.
The ships taking part in the action
were the Iowa. Indiana. New York
Terror. Amphitrite, Detroit. Montgom'
cry. Wampatuck and Porter. The
enemy's firing was heavy. but wild
and the Iowa and New York were
probably the only ships hit. The,
went right up under the guns in col
umn. delivering broadsides, and ther
returned. The line passed thrice ir
front Of the forts. pouring tons Of stee
on shore. It is impossible to Judge
the amount Of damage done to the
buildings and forts. They appeared t
be riddled with shot; but the Span
iards were plucky.
Tho after turret OF the Amphitrit'
got out Of order temporarily during
the engagement. but she banged ava!
with her forward guns. After the frs
passage before the forts the Detroi
and the Montgomery retired, thei
guns being too small to do much dam
age. The Porter and the Wampatucl
also stayed out OF range.
The smoke, hung over everything
spelling the aim OF the gunners an'
making II impossible to tell where 0u
shots struck. The officers and mel
Of all the ships behaved with coolnes
and bravery. The shots few thick an,
fast over all our ships.
The men Of the Iowa who were hur
during the action were injured b,
splinters thrown by an eight inch shel
which came through boat into tn,
superstructure and scattered frag
ments In all directions. The shot
course was finally ended on an irol
plate an inch thick. Merkle wa
struck In the arm. and may lose 1t
All were hurt by splinters. and fir'
was started In the boat, but was quick
" 'extinguished
Moro battery. on the eastward Arm
Of the harbOr. was the principal poin
of attack. Rear Admiral Sampson
and Captain Evans were on the loVe
bridge of the Iowa and had narrow
escape from splinters. which injured
three men. The Iowa was hit eigh
times, but the shells made no impres