Arizona republican., 1899-07-04
NEW DEWEY STORY
The Famous Admiral Nearly Staried
 Hnofher War With Mexico.

Lieutenant F. WinsIow. [. s. N, re-
 tired. cousin of the famous command
 CT of the Kearsarge, is at Aibemarle,
 and yesterday he told the Tribune re-
 porter a new slory of Admiral George ! Dewey.
 "In May. 1S9l. Admiral Dewey was commander of the old Naragansett, = said Lieut.. Winslow. and he was de-
 ta!.ed to surveying the Gulf of Califor- mia. and the shores of the coast of the | peninsula. r. was not long after the | VirginiCs affair at Santiago, and the feeling toward the MeXica1TS and Gu bans was none too cordial. The Mar
 ragarsett reached La Paz, near the southern end of the peninsula, and we no sooner got ashore. than we heard that an American mining engineer and some EngIishmen who owned the mine
 were prisoners. in their mining shan ties. forty miles back of La PaZ. in the mountains. The American had re sented an insult. q quarrel followed, | and the American killed two Mexicans. The friends of the latter swore that they would kill the Yankee and the
 EEglishman. 100. and the latter were
 soon obliged to barricade themselves.
 The seize had been on several days.
 when we dropped anchor.
 As soon as Commander Dewey heard of it he was very much interest
 ed. The next day he seEt messenger
 to the Mexican colonel i'll La PaZ. who
 had a garrison of GOO soldiers there.
 asking him what he was going, to do
 to give the American a trial before he was shot
 '''Oh, he got into the trouble, let
 him get out.' said the Mexican.
 '-Cimn,ander Dewey Cid not like the reply and the more he thought about it. the angrier he got. The next fore noon he sent Iiote to ..he Mexican col Ouel. telling him that an American cit iZen-s life was in danger. and that the
 uan was entitled 10 a fair trial. He told the colonel chat he would allow hlm just twenty-four hours to rescueI tlie American and protect tGle English man. If at the end of that time re- lief was not on iss way to the little mining party, he would Lombard La Paz and burn it.
 When we heard what Dewey had done We were all frightened.
 Does he mean it| we asked one another
 As for myself was soon satisfied that he meant every word of it. was in command of the guns We had | only two old howitzers on fhe Narra- gansett. the large guns having been | left temporarily at the Mare Island | navy yard.
 Get those hOwitzers ready for to- morrow morning and inspect the small arms and ammunition said Dewey to me. Then he called tIN men to quarters and estimated that of the crew of about 120 We could land ninety |. q abIe. armed men as stoTming force. We drilled the men all that afternoon. and far Into the night. That night. on Commander Dewey'S order. we steam ad to q point commanding the princi- pal streets of La Paz. and trained tho iowitzers on the town. By next morn Ing we were all ready to begin q sec )Dd war against Mexico
 At cnyhreak 2 Mexican corporal ,ame on board with message from liS colonel saying that the Narragan- 'ett commanders request would be with. Early that morning we 300 armed Mexican soldiers start for the mining camp. and we lept the old hOwitzers trained on La 'az till the soldiers returned with the : Amer c;'1 engineer When Dewey re- ported to Washington on the matter. le minfmized the importance of if. and [ was passed over ar a mere incident Harris and Wright were III the Narragansett then. and Harris. Ii least was with the fleet slt Manila. t was somewhat singular that at that inc. when we were expecting a dec lratlon of War against Spain on ac- 'ount of the Firginius affair. Com rander Dewey had his plans laid to all the Narragansett tO Manila New fork Tribune.