El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-08-13

worse.
[ have several bits of that shell,
taken from the smokestack, and they
shall form a part of nv collection OF
mementos secured down here.
Just at the same time we were struck,
as have told you, our starboard tur-
ret gun was fired, and that, together
with the smoke from the explodir Q
shell in the smOkestack, made such Il
dense cover of smoke around us tn, ,
as was afterwards told, the Iowa )
commander thought that we were dot e
for, and rushed in to come to our as
| Slstance: came up to close in between
the Texas and the enemy, when, just
as she was almost in position where our
| fire would be shut off, the starboard
| turret gun was brought to bear across
| the decks and let fly Il inch shell
| right over the Iowa's bow into the
enemy. 1t did not take but very few
| seconds to convince him that the Texas
was still decidedly in it, and the way
she backed out and cleared our position
was caution.
During the engagement the Iowa did
some great work. as in fact did every
one OF the squadron; at the time the
Iowa rushed in to our rescue las they
supposedly they were struck by shell
| from the enemy and had part of her
bridge carried away. blu. fortunately no
one killed.
AT one time during the fight the
Texas was fighting at range of 9C0
yards. l didn't know it at the time; in
fact, not until after the fight was over,
but it almost made my hair stand on
end to think of lighting at such range
as that. Why, any kind of marksman-
ship should have blown us out of the
ia, \ "a l.
the protection of divine care. we were
not struck four times and had not a sim
gle man injured during the entire en-
gagement.
That range 900 yards was only OBJ
tanned for very short time, the nominal
fighting range throughout the engage
ment being about 1000 yards-frst shots
were fired by the Texas at 1900 yards,
but that was when the ships were
sighted coming out of the hsrbor.
This distance WAS closed up rapidly and
varied throughout the engagement,
averaging, as | said, about 1000 to $500
yards.
OF all this [ at the time, of course,
knew nothing, being unable to leave
my station to get on the deck. / did
succeed in doing that. though, later on,
and will tell you OF what | saw then
further on in my letter. All l knew
then was that the outcome would sure
ly be death for many of the enemy, and
possibly for mum bers of our men. When
that shell exploded ia our f1re-room
then was the knowledge intensified, or
rather the lack of it, as to what the
next moment will bring. "Those who
serve (below) can only stand and wait"
might have been written for the oc-
casion. AT this time the and Pinch
guns have been steadily pouring a /
of, Hnlt - l.
hear new note in the chorus-'tis
Dur rapid fire one-I ounders, Gatlings
and 6-pounders-that can mean moth
ing but torpedo boats-will they make
an attack and get into US under cover
OF the smoke, which must be dense
now? IT'S desperate chance, but they
may try it. Moments pc IS, and the
blow does not come. Is it that they
can not sneak under cover of |
been destroyed by our rapid fire bat
teries. l make the speaking tube hum,
and this time, when the news is told, |
there is even more enthusiasm than
before. 1t is: Torpedo boats both
sunk. one in deep water by the Glou- |
cester, and the other struck fairly by q |
6-inch shell from the Texas was blown
up, literally blown so high out Of the |
water that you could see daylight under |
hCE, duo Vic ' lLCdy6 anu Al6rl8 teresa 1
were both on fire, heading for tn
beach, with white flags hoisted in |
token of surrender Talk about your
yelling, but you should have see our fire
re ON gang when that word was passed !
out to them-their close shave of but q |
few moments before was forgotten
We had the dagoes beat now: only two |
more ships left and one of these show |
Ing evidences of being hard hit
they danced in their citation, all owe
coal dust, perspiration and grime-b /
fore the open furnaces glaring at whit !
heat, and reminded one OF an illustra-
tion by Dore.
L knew that this would be the ls st |
chance I'd ever have in my life t. see |
such thing, so 1 implored the en-
gineer II let me go up on deck and |
have look. Permission obtained, | |
ran up as quickly as + ,ssible aud st ID |
where L could see to an advantage. |
The shells were still lying around us
from the OquendO, but not so thickly as
at first, as two OF the enemy's ships |
were lying on the beach behind US and |
we were now maintaining q running
fight: the Iowa and Indiana had STAYED |
behind to look after the first two ships
beached. to take prisoners, look out |
for the wounded, ETC., thus leaving on
ly the Texas. Oregon and Bro )klyn in
chase of the remaining two cruisers,
with the New York coming up in the
rear. /
While l look on l think at first that
the Oquendo has hauled down her col