Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1899-01-27

the United States had caused him TO be
regarded with special interest by the
officers of the Olympia, and be was, to q
certain extent, privileged character. So
the Commodore, being familiar with the
manners of seamen, and seeing that the
old man had something on his mind,
said to him,
"Well, Purdy, what is it?'
81 hope, sir" replied Purdy, straighten-
ing up and saluting, Eye don't intend to
fight on the 81 of May"
"And why not?'
"Well, ye see sir, " said Purdy, with the
most serious air possible, "the last time l
fought on the Sd of May | got licked. y
And then he went on to tell of the Inflated
day of Charlottesville, when he had car
ried gun in the army, and bad gone to
defeat under Fighting Joe" Hooker.
can right, Purdy," said the Commo-
dore, 1--WE won't fight on the Sd of May
this time; but when we do fight, Purdy,"
he continued, with an air of friendly con-
tidence "you'll h. We a different kind of a
May anniversary to think about. Re
member that, Purdy."
SAY, ay, sir,' replied Purdy, as he sa-
luted and scuttled off. And little while
later heard him telling group of the
other bluejackets that wed lick hell out
o. the Spaniards if there was ten times as
many of them' And probably to this
day Purdy believes that it was due to his
timely hint that Dewey went into Manila
Bay at once so as to avoid the "hoodoo"
that was hanging over May 3.
An Eccentric SIXty-POund Shell.
Aside from the bad Workmanship of the
Spanish gunners, there seemed to be an
extraordinary lack of killing quality in the
shells which hit our vessels There prob
ably was never before known such an ex-
perience as that Of the Baltimore. A CO.
pound armor- piercing shell, fired undoubt-
eddy from the Canacao battery on shore,
entered the Baltimore about two feet above
the upper deck on the starboard side, be-
tween the after siX-inch gun and the three
FOUNDER mounted on the rail This shell.
after piercing two thicknesses of steel one
quarter of an inch thick, struck the deck
and penetrated till it reached one of the
heavy deck beams, which it cracked clear
through. 1t was then detected upward,
coming out of the wooden deck, and tear
ing lis way through the steel combng of
the engine-room skylght, again passing
through two quarter-inch plates. As it
had been turned sideways on rising from
the deck, the holes it made through these
plates were about Is inches long by six
inches wide-ragged, torn spots, very I'M
like the clean-cut punctures made by such
shell when entering point foremost.
Leaving the skylight, the shell, ranging
slightly forward, struck the recol cylinder
of the post siX-inch gun on the quarter
deck, disabling the carriage.
At last it met an object strong enough
to resist its attack-the steel shield, which
curved in front of the gun in a complete
semicircle. Following this curve, the
shell came out on the forward side of the
carriage, travelling in a direction exactly
opposite to its former course, until it
reached the starboard side of the ship
again, where it struck a steel ntilaUor,
and was finally stopped. In other words,
the shell passed through one inch of steel,
ripped up deck, broke deck beam, and
bulged shield about an inch out of its
original shape. 1t crossed the Baltimore
from starboard side to port and back again
to the starboard side, and yet had hit none
of the many men engaged at the guns near
by. 1t is true, it was the cause of wound
ing two officers and six men, for in It's
course it exploded two three FOUNDER
shells which were lying on the deck ready
for use in the small gun on the Baltimore s
rail; but directly it injured no one, and it
is regarded as holding the record for eccen-
trio action.