Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1898-05-21

/ But the battle went on. The fleet was
/ now steaming across the fortified front OF
/ the island for the third time. The firing
! from the ships was undated, but many
of TIE Spanish guns were siIenced and
/ while the shower of shells seemed as thick
as ever. the thinner cloud of smoke, the
/ leapiug flames from burning houses close
to the shore. but behind the Notifications
made the Americans know their work
was not as vain as the freDzied firing Of
the Spaniards.
Burned the Town.
In the old part of the town of San Juan
adjoining the Notifications whole blocks
were blazing. The swelling sea made it
difficult for the Americans to contine
their fire to the batteries. Many OF the
shells flew over and burst among the an
Gent buildings from which the population
had fed at dawn. SO fierce was the
! American fire that had the intention been
to lombard the residence portion Of San
! Juan the damage could hardly have been
greater.
| The lighthouses were demolished soon
after the firing began. Later ON the
! houses in Ballaj square III st. Christie
pher street. in San Jose street and IN San
| Sebastian street were i'll flames. The st.
Catharine institute, an ancient palace, the
| orphan asylum, the old churches, were
| burned or almost demolished.
The American officers through their
glasses, could see the Spaniards at work
! in many places where the Notifications
| had been broken down. The Spaniards
seemed drunk with fury. They loaded and
fired like madmen, without aiming, with
out any appearance of discipline or di-
rection. At times their crazed condition
led them to many absurd acts, such as
waving swords, shaking fists and dis
charging pistols at the American line,
which was barely within reach OF their
guns of longest range.
"Ccnse Firing"
Toward s o'clock the heat became alb
solutelv unbearable on the American
ships. 1t became evident that the Span
ish forts could not be silenced short of
another hours work. Men on the Amer
lean ships were dropping on all sides, not
from Spanish shots, but from the accur-
ate and terrific bombardment under the
tropical sun.
After consultation Admiral Sampson
sionalled Cease firing and turned away
westward. The other ships followed, all
except the monitor Terror. She did not
or would not see the signal Of the ad-
miral. She remained in her position in
range of all the unsilenced guns OF the
Spaniards For half an hour she kept
roaring away at the forts and embank'
ments with an almost incessant fire from
her l0-inch guns.
The Spaniards conaantrated their fire
on her. But her audacity seemed to in
furiate them beyond even attempts al
craftsmanship. Many of the shell.
struck the sea mile and half from her
Only few came anywhere i'll her neigh
borhood. Still fewer struck her loWlying
deck and these glanced away as harm
lessly as a pea-shOOter's slug from tho
shell of turtle. The Terror's guns are
noisy, but their roars were drowned IN
the tempetstuous booming of the Spanish
batteries Before she steamed reluctantly
away she had the satisfaction of noting
that she had made many a deep wound in
the Spanish line and silenced several guns
that might have made trouble later on.
4 Few Minutes for Refreshments.
The fleet steamed to the westward
about 20 miles and then stopped to re-
move the Crime of battle and to rest and
refresh the weary but happy sailors.
The Spanards evidently got the idea
that the departure was a retreat and that
the Americans had been driven off. so
they sent out dispatches about great
Spanish victory just as they did at Ma
Mia, when Dewey steamed away to rest
and get breakfast.
While the fleet was at anchor 20 miles
from San Juan German steamer the
Bolivia, came by. She was on her way
4 to St Thomas. Admiral Sampson de-
cided that it would be best to find out
more about her and sent the Montgomery
in pursuit. She was presently oyerhaued
and while she steamed along Lieutenant
Field went aboard examined her papers
and looked over the passengers to make
sure that she was not going to call at
San Juan on her way
As the Montgomery started back, and
/ had gone nearly to San Juan, she spied
/ the Spanish cruiser Isabella III, an old
walship, crawling out of San Juan har-
Dor and crawling along in-shore, evident
/ ly going to see what had become of the
J Americnn neet and Mhether il WIS reallv