Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1899-08-10

iw-' few hours means
t--------------------- hot work, espe-
cially when half dozen ships are play
ing on the same target at the same
time.
The exciting times on the Iowa be-
gan long before Cervera thought of
dashing out of the trap. Sampson or
dered the Iowa on picket duty watch
ing Cervera to see that he didn't take it
into his head to escape. "How far up
must | go?" Evans signaed to Samp-
son. 600 until you can distinguish tho
movements of a small rowing boat in
the harbor." was the answer. "How
long must I stay?" was the next ques-
ton. "All night" came the answer
Evans says he went up until he could
detect the blinking eyes of Spanish
sentries under the searchlight, and for
30 nights he kept that kind of a watch
on Cervera.
Evans tars saw nothing in their
close vigil to scare them off from further
acquaintance. When the signal came
from the commander to muster volun-
teers for the Merrimac exploit, the en-
men on board the Iowa wanted to 60
After taking down the names of 80
seamen Evans signaled the admiral to
know how many he could take from
the Iowa. zone seaman, was the re-
Spouse to the query. In time the choice
lay between two-Murphy, who finally
went, and Paine, who thinks he missed
the chance of his lifetime by an I'M
lucky draw. Captain Evans called up
the aspirants and said: Now, lads,
whoever goes in the Merrimac goes to
almost certain death. There is not one
chance in a million that man of the
expedition will escape death. -
When it came to the toss of the coin,
Paine said to Murphy, "I'll give you
$50 for your chanceI' Murphy said no,
Tipped the coin and won. Then Paine
said, "I'll give you $3.50 to let me take
your place. " But Murphy was as ear
nest as Paine and quickly declMed the
offer. Paines shipmates said that he
actually shed tears over his disappoint-
ment Murphy proved to be one of the
best of Hobson's gallant crew. What
else the Iowa had to do with the Merri-
mac has been graphically told by her
brave commander.
"The entrance of the Merrimac into
that harbor, said Captain Evans, Gun
der fire from every gun, it seemed, of the
Spanish fleet and fortress was the most
terrible sight | ever saw. 1t can best he
described as hell with the lid off. The
next morning all we could see with our
glasses were the tops of the Merrimac s
masts, to which was fastened something
resembling raft. There was no sign
of life, and, of course, we thought it
wa. all up with our comrades. l had
received orders from Sampson to allow
no boat to approach the wreck and soon
my executive officer reported to me that
steam yacht was drawing near to it
and asked if he should open fire.
"For some reason or other / cannot
explain | decided for the time being to
disobey orders and told my officer to
take on board from the raft our COM
rades under Hobson. Had | fired of
course they would have persisted, as
would have Admiral Cervera, who was
on the barge Hobson and his fellows
had been clinging for hours with their
hands to that raft, with bodies totally
submerged, when the barge rescued
them. | have thanked God many times
since that l retrained from firing on
that barge"
II ! h.
deck Of the Iowa the night before the
battle with CerveIa. Captain Evans
executive officer called attention to the
activity around the Spanish ships Tall
columns of smoke could be seen stand
ing straight up from the stacks of Ger
vera's ships Captain Evans did not
take the matter seriously and gave no
orders about it. but his subordinates
made ready for instant use the signal,
"Enemy's ships coming out!' That
- was the reason the signal was hoisted
20 promptly when the ships did come
ont the morning of July 3. "a fine
sight they made, too" said Captain
Evans, "as they came, like lot of
angry bulls, ready to go at anything
They were all neat and clean and pref
tily painted-it seemed pity to spoil
their beauty"
When the Spaniards were sighted at
9;3l a. m, Captain Evans was in his
= cabin with his son. cadet on the
Massachusetts,. The alarm for action
rang on board ship, and Cadet Evans
cried out joyfully Papa, the enemy s
ships are coming out" Before the
commander of the Iowa reached the
spar deck gun doomed and the ship
was making full speed ahead The posi-
ton of the Iowa was such that her ont
, look saw directly into the harbor, while
Moro and other elevations shut out the
: view of the other ships until the Span
ish were we'll ont from Moro point.
Cervera's flagship had the head of
column and was steered straight with
, the current under the admiral personal
, direction. he standing by the pilot and