The Portland daily press., 1898-09-05

porter-How the Wounded spaniards
were Treated.
DIR. NJ. II. Simous, surgeon of the Unlteo
States battleship Iowa, is vlsl'or ="
Portland. He is an Ohioan, p"e us
wife was a Portland lady, ana he is
pleasantly passing few days leaVe ol
absence with her relatives on bracKett
street.
10 a reporter of the PRESS DR.. Sim
ons, Saturday afternoon, related In
most interesting way his experience
aboard shin at the time of the destruction
of the Spanish fleet at Santiago. 81 had
been ashore at Siboney," he said, "assist-
ing in the army hospital, from about dark,
Saturday, July 2, till O'Clock the next
morning, and was on my way back to the
ship, on the Herald dispatch boat Golden
Rod, when Cervera s fleet was seen COM
ing out of the harbor, and the signal for
battle was given. The Golden Rod was
only about 12-knot boat, and OF course
we were unable to catch up with the fleet
as 1t moved westward, giving chase 20
the Spaniards, but We had an excellent
chance to witness the battle, from begin
ming to end. The Golden Rod put me
aboard the auxiliary cruiser Hist, ana
from the Hist l went aboard the Iowa,
which was then taking aboard prisoners
from the Vizcaya."
DR.. Simons described in detail the po-
sitions of the ships of sampson's fleet,
the order in which the Spanish ships
emerged from the harbor and the method
of their destruction. His description was
practically the same as the published &C
counts. He said, however, that there was
no truth in the early published report
that one of the Spanish vessels attempted
to ram the Oregon. 1t was very apparent,
he said, that their only object was to
escape.
The Iowa, which was in the centre OF
Sampson's first division, and was the
nearest to the harbor entrance, was one
of the very first, if not the first. to fire a
gun at the approaching fleet From that
moment till the last Spanish gun was
silenced the Iowa was in the thick of the
fight.
She was hit twice during the conflict.
a
side, in the first berth deck compartment
1t made dozen perforations IN her chain
locker, cut off link of the anchor chair,
wrecked the dispensary and cut of the
hatch of the water tanks. Another six
inch shell took effect in the forward com.
partment, on the same side, and lodged in
the Golfer dam, without exploding. No
one aboard was hit.
The Iowa was in five engagements dur
ing the war, and in all was hit IL times
by shells and number of times by small
bullets, which nobody noticed. After an
engagement the men would sometimes
find on the deck f1attened Spanish bullets.
which they took great delight IN exhibit
Ing.
In the bonbardment of San Juan de
Porto Rico, three of the Iowa's men
were struck by Spanish shell, but their
battery was not in action at the time and
they were only on deck as spectators. One
of them had his left arm shattered at the
elbow. He lost the arm afterward, at
Key West, blood poisoning having set in,
necessitating it's amputation. The in
juries of the other two men were less seri-
GUS.
"Did the men appear calm when the
ship was in action2" was asked.
Eyes replied the Iowa's surgeon,
sthey were as calm as could be imagined.
The chief trouble was to keep them be-
low, out of harm's way. I remember once
when we were under fire there were men
sitting on the turret, watching proceed
ings, and making sport of Spanish mark
manship. A shot whizzed above their
heads, and one of them laughingly shout
ed, High ball!'
DRESSING SPANIARDS WOUNDS.
DR.. Simons's description of the ap-
pearance of the Vizcaya prisoners and the
treatment of the sick and wounded was
especially interesting. All of the wound
ed from the Vizcaya were taken aboard
the Iowa. There were 35 of them, 1nclud- :
ing Capt. Eulate and two other officers.
There were also 90 others who were sick.
These 55 sick and wounded prisoners
all came under the treatment of DR..
Simons and his assistant, DR.. Crandall.
81 never worked harder than did that
afternoon and night, dressing those
wounds and treating the SICK" said DR..
Simnns. "The assistant surgeon and ]
were on watch, all night. One of these
prisoners died on board. He was pilot
on one of the ships and fragment of a
shell had taken his left leg nearly off,
crushed in his left side and fractured his
skull He was dying when taken aboard.
Four others were dead when taken out
of the water. We buried them with him,
about five hours after the battle, our
chaplain and the Spanish chaplain per-
forming the service.
"The other wou 2ded men were in vari-
GUS stages Nearly every one OF them had
from five to twenty wounds. Two had
legs shot off ,one at ths ankle and the 9th
er Just below the knee. One man had his
left arm shot of near the shoulder, and
it was dangling at his side. OF course
1t had to be amputated. An electrician