El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-12-10
REAL NAVAL HERO.
Lieutenant J. 3. Bernadou Passed
Through FL paSo Recently.


The other day when the Southern
Pa.lfc train lame in ii reporter of the
HERALD N I lieutenant John b.
R.rnauou of t = pavsl branch OF the
8 rvice, who DAD been in California
aud was on hi way to report to the
department a. Washington, d. @.
The lieutenant Is q very modest
man aud didn't want to q much
about the part he took in the late war.
His part Was quite important too, as
he WAS 10 one Of the hottest fights OF
the war.
Early In the campaign the torpedo
boats of the navy were detailed to do
patrol duty on the north coast of Cuba,
and Lieut.. Bernadou, in command OF
the torpedo boat Winslow, was assign
ed to the station near Cardenas.
The lieutenant in talking about the
work of the Wiuslow said: 1--WE had a
hard time of IL while we were on &C
tual duty as the quarters for the msu
are very crsmped and the boat does
not give q fellow much chance to lie
around as IL is long aud very narrow,
being only about eight feet wide. Ii
the weather is a bit rough the boat
rides around so, up and down, that one
can hardly stay on The deck without
holding on to something.
1.-THE day when we had such q moi
fight at Csrdenas we were steaming In
close along the coast. We saw three
boats ahead coming towards US from
the west and when they came In hall
ing distance we saw that they were
three Americans and we q alongside
to get the news. The first word was
that they were on their way to bonn
bard Csrdenas and for us to turn and
90 with them. This we did.
"When we got to the mouth OF the
harbor we could not tell how many gun
boats were inside, but we knew there
were some. So the Wiuslow was de-
tailed TO find out how many there were.
The Hudson and the others commenced
firing on the sand batteries and the
town SO a. TO attract their TENTH
outside the harbor, and with a full
head OF steam on We made q dash for
the inner harbor and every man was At
his post. The guns were ready for &C
ton ana young Bagley, an ensign,
a mighty fine, promising young fellow,
was up forward with the two guns I'M
der his command ready for action.
GAS Dor as WI rounded b point
they began to ~atch US but didn't fire,
and when we went in further to MAKE
sure Of the number of boats there we
ran along side of a buoy. No sooner
had We reached that buoy than the
whole lees opened fire on u.s."
"Our boat was disabled st the begin
ing of the action and we signsled our
distress to the others outside. We
were in there forty-six minutes under
fire and it was the warmest forty-six
minutes L had ever experienced. They
had the range of those buoys down ex-
actly sud they hit US twenty-six times
in the short space we'were.there before
the Hudson came in and towed US out.
'fPoor Bapley was wounded mortally,
rs were others, ands how any of us
got out of there alive has always been
a miracle to me. We were brought
back to Key West and from
there we were ordered to Washing
ton.
mo my business on the Pacific coast
has had nothing to do with the launch
ing Of the Wisconsin. Since the
war 1 have been with the ordnance
bureau and now L am working upon i'm
provepent 10 powder for the govern
ment; they have begun the work of
making smokeless powder and we are
trying to perfect that.