The times., 1898-07-05
The ST. PAUL AND TERROR.
Witnesses Tell of the Fight Off
San Juan.
1T WAS A FINE SPECTACLE
Captain Lake, of the British Steani-
Account of the COnflfct-He Says
the Shooting of the Americans
Was wild.

New York. July 4-Whh a cargo of su-
gar and tobacco the British steamship
Ravensdale arrived yesterday from San
Juan, Porto Rico. and a Spanish svm-
pathizer's version of the engagement be-
tween the auxiliary cruiser st. Paul and
the Spanish torpedo boat destroyer Ter
ror was learneds from Capt. Lake His
vessel was in the harbor on the day of
the fight. June o. having put in three
days before.
/ Il was on Hill and saw the whole af-
fair" the skipper said to the reporters,
after he had been repeatedly urged to
tell what he knew of the engagement.
ut was a fine sight. The flashes from
the guns. the puffs OF smoke and the
bursting of the shells made a grand pic
ture.
why, | never saw such plucky fight
as the Terror made. and the firing from
the St. Paul was as reckless as any l
ever heard about. She threw shots and
! shells for at least two hours, while the
daring little torpedo boat steamed as
close as three-quarters OF a mile 10 her
| antagonist. Her torpedo tubes could not
carry the range. Finally. shot from
the St Paul struck the Terror the
port side afaft her third funnel. 1t
crashed into the engine room. where II
exploded. The chief engineer who was a
Spaniard. was hit in the head by piece
OF the flying shell as he held the throttle.
He was hurled into the machinery and
, met his death in that manner. The as
sstant engineer had both bis legs cut off
by fragments of the shell and died next
day on shore
The killing of the engineer and the
disabling of his assistant left no one to
work the engines. But for this the Ter
ror would have made dash to torpedo
the st. Paul, and she would not have
| been in port today
Another or the Americans shots
struck the Terror's deck. The latter had
hole in her side about feet high and
! inches wide but l don't believe her ma
! chinery was disabled by the American
| fire. Her exhaust pipe was hit and that
! caused her to leak. When / left San Juan
! on June 26 repairs TO the torpedo boat
i had nearly been completed, and / guess
she is now as good as ever. There were
| no more than two killed and about four
or five wounded on the Terror
I Captain Lakes account of the fight diff
! fers somewhat from the one obtained
/ from the men on the ST. Paul when she
| reached port last Friday. They said the
exchange of shots lasted about half an
| HOuI, anu me SnOt WniCh pierced NnS eT-
! rors plates was at a range of more than
three miles. II struck her they declared,
as she had turned tail.
/ From an English schooner and a Ger
man steamship which put out from San
| Juan the day after the fight the men
| learned that three men had been killed
and eleven wounded on the Terror, and
| that her machinery was disabled
! AS the Ravensdale steamed out of the
ba arhnr Of ms ha panl hove her
| to by a shot across her bow. A couple
| of officers boarded her from a small boat
| and examined her papers. The Yosemite
| was also In the harbor on blockade duty.
E. Aarons. colored. the ships cook. de-
| clared the captain had ordered his men
| to give no informa ton to the Yankees
about the fight. The cook wrote a mes
sage. stating that the Terror the cruis-
er Isabel II, the gunboat Coucha, a
| troopship. and two small dispatch boats
| were in the harbOp of San Juan and that
| there were about 1900 Spanish soldiers
in the place. This the cook stuffed In a
| bottle and threw 1t through a portfolio
as the St. Paulss boat was leaving the
| merchantmen. He could not see whether
| 1t was picked up.
Aarons learned Ithat when an Amerf-
| can vessel was seen of San Juan the
port authorities ordered the Terror. the
Isabel III, and theIConcha to engage her.
The latter two did;not venture far beyond
the fortifications. but the Terror steam
ed out couple OF miles and began to fire
her bow guns. From what he could learn
ashore the ST. Paul was five miles from
the Terror when the shell entered her
engine room. The torpedo boat. the cook
said, had to be towed back. and two
pumps were kept busy freeing her from
water. She had three holes in her side
two being around the engine room.
William Harris. a Weishman, one of the
Ravensdale's fremen, said he went ashore
with another of the crew to witness the
funeral services of the chief engineer OF
the Terror. Harris declared that before
they had been ashore very long Capt
Lake saw them and caused their arrest
He says they were fined So each, which
the captain paid and took out of their
wages.
The Ravensdale brought mere as pas
sengers Mrs. Josephine Korber. wife of a
| German banker, of San Juan her six
children, and her sister. Miss Julia Pal
miere. who left her home in Ponce ia
| make the trip with her sister. F. l.. Pal
meri the brother of the women met
them a the pier at Forty-second Street
South Brooklyn, and took them to the
Windsor Hotel.
The Ravensdale tried to enter Guam
tanamo on her outward trip from Phila-
Z
and proceeded to Port de Paix, for orders
According to the crew of the forward
5-inch battery on the auxiliary cruiser st
Paul, reports of the recent encounter
with the torpedo boar destroyer Terror
gave entirely too much credit to the work
of the after battery. The Terror, they
say, was hit three times and the most
effective work was done by 5-inch shell
which struck her amidships
Both batteries We're engaged. and the
guns were served under high pressure
One hit, the crew of the forward battery
say was certainly made by them, and
they assert that 1t is doubtful whether
the shell which put the Terror out of ac
tion came from Lieut.. Poyer's battery oil
from the guns aft, under charge of En-.
sing Powelson. There is keen rivalry be.
tween the gun crews. and the next Span
ish ship unfortunate 10 come within
range may look for warm reception.