The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1898-07-14
FEARFUL BOMBARDMENT.
City--shafter again De-,
mands Surrender.

mands Surrender.
BEFORE SANTIAGO, July IL, VIA Port
Antonio, July l3, via Kingston, ia
maica, July 13.--When the fire opened
from the American lines after the con-
cusion of the armistice our men were
In much better position. Batteries
were we'll placed. The only road by
which General Toral could escape was
commanded. Small detached bodies of
Spaniards had been observed skipping
out of town westward early in the
morning, including one squad of cav
| airy. A move was made to cut off
their retreat and q land bombardment
began. A shot from the Grimes bat
terry was followed by one of Capron's
guns ON the left, and the right center
the Gatling and Hotchkiss batteries
opened fire. For the first ten minutes
the firing was quite general, the Span
iards replying spiritediy, but the rifle
fire on both sides soon waned, and from
O'Clock to 630. when the action
ceased, the firing was confined almost
exclusively to the artillery.
Our batteries soon got the range and
poured shells into the Spanish infsench.
Lnb IlOtCllhlSb DdJbSEl bWbDb
the outer line of the entrenchments
shelters like scythe. The Spanish
were soon forced to the blockhouse.
A Spanish battery ON the left of the
town, engaged by Capron's battery,
fired only few shots, but the battery
on the right fired spiritedly until gun
cotton shell from Woods dynamite gun
exploded directly in front of it, tearing
up two trees and dismounting the gun.
1t was the last shot of the afternoon
and was greeted with cheers. Two
men in General Kent's division We're
killed by a shell and several were
wounded. Sergeant Jefferson and Pri.
vate st. Clair of Troop B, Ninth cav
airy, are among the wounded.
A Spanish deserter came to our lines
this afternoon for food. He said.
"The Spaniards are as good fgters as
the Americans, and if we had food and
cigarettes i'll abundance we would fight
forever"
General Kent recommends the fol-
lowing officers of his division for gal.
lantry under fire: Major Sharp, Major
Phil Reade, Captain McAlexander,
Lieutenant Cartwright. Lieutenant
johnson and Volunteer Aide-de- Camp
WIN was anu Will DC
recommended for commission.
SIBoNEY, July IL, via Kingston, ia
maica, July 13.-The feet lying of
Aguadors, three miles east Of MORO
castle, began the bombardment of San
tiago on Sunday afternoon and con-
tinued it this morning. Notwithstand-
ing the fact that our ships had to fire
at an extreme elevation, and although
the range was nearly five miles, the
aim was so accurate that many of the
shells fell into the city and set fire to it
in four places.
One shell struck st. Michaels church,
in which quantity of powder and am
munition was stored, and blew it to
pieces
At about noon today General Shafter
communicated by signal with Rear Ad-
miral Sampson, requesting the latter to
cease firing. Then the general sent
General Wheeler into the Spanish lines,
under a flag of truce, with a message
to General Toral, the Spanish COM
mander, reciting the fact that the
American ships had given complete
demonstration that they could throw
shells into the city and destroy.it at
will, that the American troops had the
city practically surrounded and that
bhCAC MNlt loSObO Dluulau anu OuDdu
refugees starving to death at I'll Caney
and also pointing out that our army
had no means Of feeding them. Gen
eral Shafter then demanded the un-
conditional surrender of the city and
coupled this demand with the state
ment that unless General Toral ac-
ceded the assault upon the city, both
by land and sea force, would be re-
newed at once.
Several hours elapsed before any re-
ply was received from General Toral,
and then he sent message to General
Shafter to the effect that the matter
was of such great importance that he
had been obliged to refer it to the Mad
rid government and that he would send
his final answer as soon as he could re-
ceive instructions from Madrid.
1t was then late in the afternoon, and
General Shafter gave orders to all the
troops to get as much rest as possible
and be prepared to resume the attack at
any moment. No other answer had
been received from General Toral up to
@ o'clock this evening.