The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1899-07-20
NEW DEWEY STO2Y.
fhe Famous Admiral Nearly Started
Another Wnr with Mexico.

I'm May, 1873. Admiral Dewey was
commander of the old Narragansett."
said Lieutenant Winslow. "and he was
| detailed to surveying the Gulf of Cali
tornia and The shores of the coast Of
the peninsula. 1t was not long after
the Nirginius affair at Santiago, and
the feeling toward the Mexicans and
Cubans was none too cordial. The
Narragansett reached La Paz. near the
| southern end of the peninsula. and we
40 sooner got ashore than we heard
that an American mining engineer and
some Englishmen 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 quarrel followed,
and the American killed two MeXicans.
The friends of the latter sworc they'd
Kill the Yankee and the Englishmen.
too, and the latter were soon obliged
to barricade themselves. This siege
nad been on for several days when we
dropped anchor.
AS soon as Commander Dewey
heard of 1t he was very much inter-
estcd. The next day he sent mes
senger to the Mexican colonel III La
Paz, who had a garrison of coo sol
liers 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.
Commander Dewey didn't like this
reply, and the more he thought about
t the angrier he got. The next fore
aeon he sent a note to the Mexican
colonel telling him that an American
citizens life was in danger. and that
the man was entitled to fair trial.
He told the colonel that he would al
low him just twenty-four hours to res.
cue the American and protect the En-
glishmen. If at the end Of that time
relief was rot on its 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.
docs 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 howitzprs on the Narragansett,
The larger guns having been left tenn
porarlly at the Mare Island navy yard
Get those howitzers ready for to-
morrow morning and inspect all the
small arms and ammunition said
Dewey TO me. Then he called the men
to quarters and estimated that of the
crew of about 100 we could land ninety
able, armed men as a storming force.
We drilled the men all that afternoon
and far into the night. That night on
/ Commander Dewey'S order, we steam
ed to point commanding the princi
pal streets C La Paz and trained the
loWitZers on the town. BY next morn
ng we We're all ready to begin sec
| md war against Mexico.
AT daybreak a Mexican corporal
came on board with a message from
his colonel saying that the Narragan-
sett commanders request would be
complied with. Early that morning
we watched 800 armed Mexican sol
Hers start for the mining camp. and
we kept the old howitzers trained on
La PaZ till the soldiers returned with
the American engineer. When Dewey
reported TO Washington on the matter
he minimiZed the importance of it. and
/ was passed over ms a mere incident,
| Lieutenants Harris and Wright were
On the Narragansett then, and Harris,
at least, was with the feet at Manila.
1t is somewhat singular that at that
| time, when we were expecting n dec
laration of war against Spain on ac-
| count of the Nirginius affair. Com
| nander Dewey had his plans all made
| 10 sail the Narragansett to Manila
New York Tribune.