Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1898-05-19

On BOARD THE FLAGSHIP Orr SAN
rAN DE PORTO Rico, May 12.-(Via
Il Thomas, Danish West Indies, May
1S-The forts of San Juan de Porto
Rico were bombarded by part of Rear
Admiral SIMPSONS fleet this Thurs
dayl morning. The enemy's loss is be-
Iieyed to be heavy. The American loss
( two men killed and seven injured.
atter three hours fighting the admiral
withdrew the fleet and heading for Key
West, he said:
II am satisfied with the mornings
work. | could have taken San Juan !;
bnt have no force to hold it. / only
wanted to administer punishment. This
has been done. / came for the Spanish
feet and not for San Juan"
The men killed were:
Seamen Frank Widemark of the New
York.
Gunners mate of the Amphitrite.
The latter died from the effects ofthe
extreme heat. OF the injured men
three were on board the Iowa and tour
on board the New York.
This is complete list of the killed
and wounded. The American ships
were uninjured in the engagement,
which began at 8 :15 a. IN. and ended
al 10 a. IN.
The enemy's batteries were not 81
fenced, and the town in the rear of the
fortifcations probably suffered.
The ships taking part in the action
we're the Iowa, Indiana, New York,
Terror, Amphitrite, Detroit, Montgom-
ey, Wampatuck and Porter. The en-
emy's firing was heavy but wild and the
Iowa and New York were probably the
only ships hit. They went right up
under the guns in column, delivering
broadsides, and then returned. The
line passed twice in front Of the forts,
pouring tons of steel on shore.
It is impossible to judge the amount
of the damage done to the buildings
and the forts. They appeared to be
riddled with, shot, but the Spaniards
were plucky. The after turret of the
Amphitrite GOT out of order Temporal
rily during the engagement, but she
banged away with her forward guns.
Atte~ the first passage before the forts
the Detroit and the Montgomery re-
tired, their guns being too small to do
much damage. The Porter and the
Wampatuck also stayed out of range.
The smoke hung over everything,
spelling the aim of the gunners and
making it impossible to tell where our
shots struck The officers and men of
all the ships behaved with GOODNESS and
bavery The shots flew thick and
fast over all our ships.
The men of the Iowa who were hurt
during the action were injured by
splinters thrown by an elght-lnch
shell which came through a boat into
the superstructure and scattered trag-
ments in all directions. The shots
course was finally ended on an iron
plate an inch thick.
MORO battery, on the eastward arm
Of the harbor. was the principal point
of attack. Rear Admiral Sampson
and Capt. Evans were on the lower
bridge Of the Iowa, and had narrow
escape from splinters which injured
three men. The Iowa was hit eight
times but the shells made no impress
sion on her armor. The weather was
fine but the heavy swells made accu-
rate aim difficult. The broadsides from
the Iowa and Indiana rumbled IN the
hills ashore for five minutes after they
we're delivered. Clouds of dust
showed where they struck but the
smoke hung over everything. The
shells screening overhead and drop
ping around were the only signs that
the Spaniards still stuck to their guns.
As at Matanzas the unsatisfactory
condition, the smoke and the distance
prevented any important conclusions
being drawn. The town Of San. Juan
must have suffered, although protected
by the hills, as the high shots must
have reached it, No traces OF the
bOmbardment were ,iiscernible on the
tort except small fires which were APP
parently extinguished before the fleet
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