Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1899-11-02
DEWEY DARED MEXICO
His Reseue of an American Engineer
Held by LswIess Miners
az La Pas.


Lieut.. F. Winslow. L. s. ". retired,
q cousin Of the famous commander OF
the Kearsarge, tells a new story about
Admiral George Dewey.
"In May. 1878, Admiral Dewey was
commander of the old Aarragansett,'
said Lieut.. Winslow. 'and be was de-
tailed to surveying the cal of Califor-
MIA and the shores Of the coast of the
peninsula. II was not long after the
Virginius affair at Santiago, and the
feeling toward the Mexieans and Gu
bans was none too cordial. The Nara
gansett reached La Paz, near the south
ern end OF the peninsula, and we no
sooner got ashore than we heard that
an American mining engineer and some
Englishmen who owned the mines were
prisoners in the mining shanties, 40
miles back of La Paz in the noun
tains. The American had resented an
insult, a quarrel followed, and the
American killed two Mexicans. The
friends Of the latter swore they'd kill
the Yankee and the Englishmen, too,
and the latter were soon obliged TO bar
ricade themselves. This siege had been
on for several days when we dropped
anchor.
"As soon as Commander Dewey heard
Of IL he was very much interested. The
next day he sent messenger TO the
Mexican colonel in La Paz, who had a
garrison Of COO soldiers there. asking
him what he was going 10 do to give
the American a trial before he was
shot.
oh, he got into the trouble-let him
get out. said the Mexican.
Commander Dewey didn't like this
reply. and the more he thought about il
the angrier he got The next forenoon
he sent a note TO the Mexican colonel
telling him that an American citizens
life was in danger, and that the man
was entitled too fair trial. He told the
colonel that be would allow him just
"a hours 10 rescue the American and
protect the Englishmen. II at the end
Of that time relief was not on its way
to the little mining party he would
lombard La Paz and burn IL.
when we heard what Dewey had
done we were all frightened.
Does he.mean it2" we asked one an
other.
LAS for myself, | was soon satisfied
that he meant every word Of 1t. | was
In command OF the guns. We had only
two old howitzers on the Narragansett,
the larger guns having been left tenn
porarily al the Mare island navy yard.
Get those howitzers ready for to-
morrow morning and inspect all the
small arms and ammunition, said Dew
ey TO me. Then he called the men TO
quarters and estimated that OF the
crew Of about i20 men We could land 30
able. armed men as a storming force
We drilled the men all that afternoon
aud far into the night. That night, on
Commander Dewey's order, we steamed
TO a point commanding the principal
streets OF la Paz and trained the how
itzers on the town. By next morning
we were all ready to begin a second
war against Mexico.
AT daybreak a Mexican corporal
came on board with a message from his
colonel. saying that the Narragansett
commanders request would be com
piled with. Early that morning we
watched 800 armed Mexican soldiers
start for the mining camp, and we kept
the old howitzers trained on La Paz till
the soldiers returned with the Ameri-
can engineer. When Dewey reported
to Washington on the matter he mini
mized the importance of 1t, and il was
passed over as a mere incident. Lieuts.
Harris and Wright were on the Mar
ragansett then, and Harris, al least, was
with the fleet at Manila. II is somewhat
singularthatat that time, when we were
expecting declaration of war against
Spain on account of the Nirginius affair,
Commander Dewey had his plans all
laid 10 sail the Narragansett to Manila"
N. Y. Tribune.