The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-10-03

covered 1t was the English ship Esmer-
aida That ended the chase"
"BiII" sncath's Scar.
Bill Sheath, who was second gun cap
tam on the Raleigh, carries a scar on his
forehead. While helping at one OF the six
men guns during the famous battle that
added three stars to Dewey's flag he was
struck by the recon of the gun. COM
rade picked him up and a surgeon put six
, stitches I'm Sneath's head, but not until the
engagement was over for Sheath had no
time 10 seek medical aid while the shells
We're flying about the deck.
Did il hurt?" repeated Sheath In an
swer to reporters question. You bet il
did, but every one was busy just at that
time; so I thought I'd better stick TO my
gun and after while forgot an about it,
When the action was over / mad the wound
scwed up"
Sagasta, the Filipino Pig.
There are three members of Olympia's
ships company that are inseperablc. They
are William Smith, able seaman; Robert
reuschtler, apprentice and Sagasta
Sagasta is not on the ships papers. He
is Filipino pig with taste for liquor.
who insists on sleeping with the two men
to whose care he is ntrusted.
You can't shake Sagasta." said Smith.
| He's the greatest pig on earth-or on the
sea, rather. He drinks whisky aud I
sometimes think he'd chew tobacco if he
had the chance"
Played the Guitar in Battle.
George Cothell, a colored man, fireman
on the Olympia lis one of the most popular
men on board When the fleet was pass
ing the fort at Manila, and when every
body expected to be blown up by torpe-
does. CotheH brought out his guitar and
played "Therell Be a Hot Time in the Old
| Town Tonight"
The Olympia i'm Action.
A roundish. pudgy dent in the forward
| starboard sponsor of the Olympia Is the
most easily visible of the few marks left
| by the battle of Manila bay. says the
| Journal
The crew seem to think a great deal OF
! that small honorable scar, and like to
show it TO visitors. For IL there is any
| thing that hurts an Olympia fiat-foot S
| feelings more than another IL is for the
visitor to look wise and say
| "WeH those Spaniards couldn't hit you
and ali you had to do was TO hit them?"
| To this kind of taIK "Jacky" makes re-
plies like this:
"They didn't hit us often, and there
! wasn't a man on board hurt by the enemy
| But being almost hit is not like playing
tea party Every minute there were
shells so close to us that we were looking
to be hit and hit hard by the next one.
| 1--WE were pretty busy, but not too busy
| to wonder once in a while which of us
would get killed in about two seconds"
| The Olympia IS a protected cruiser
| That is, there is deck like turtles back
| which no one would know to be there UNI
! iess an outcropping here and there were
| shown to him. This deck" which is not
something to walk on, IS a curved shell
of steel covering the machinery and mag
| azines.
A projectile striking it from the right
! direction would pierce 1t, but the chances
are that the enemy's projectiles will hi
it OF the proper angle and will be de-
| fiected
But the gun deck is practically open tc
any heavy shell from the enemy's bat
| teries. The shell which made the dem
in the SPONSOR was going the wrong way
| Had its angle been about As degrees diff.
ferent, it would have raked the gun deck
diagonaly. disabled at least one 6-inct
gun, and killed good many men. This
is just what the Olympia's guns did tC
the other fellows on May l. 1898.
On the vessels of the battleship class a
greater part of the fighting crew is in safer
positions.
To the ordinary landsman's conception
the safest place in the ship is the ammu-
milton hoist. He supposes, vaguely, that
| there is such a solid wall of steel around
| the channel from which the smell and pow
der are lifted to the gun deck that the en-
emy's shell might hit these elevators, OF
which there are half a dozen in various
parts of the ship and do no damage
The fact is that these six points are
| the most perlous to be in while under fire.
| The OIympas band. by the way, had these
| posts of danger. There being no call for
| their music they had to help the skilled
musicians in the secondary batteries en-
terrain the Spaniards in Senior Montojo S
| ships.
Even in the turrets the gunners were not
| safe. The barbette, which is the solid wall
| Of steel in which the turret revolVes Is
| thick enough 10 turn aside most of the
| shells. because II protects machinery and
| magazines. But the turrets in which the
| crews of four S-nch guns work is of 3h-
| inch stell which metal of equal or less
weight than the big guns huri can pierce
| easily.
| A shell once inside the turrct and ex-
ploding may be expected to account for
| every man inside.
| Enough shells exploded In the water close
10 the forward turret of the Olympia 10
| burI great waves over the forecastle and
even to splash Dewey himself on the
| bridge The gunners. of course and Ad-
miral Dewey, without thought of doing
ANYTHING else, kept about their several
duties as IL none Of these unpleasant
| things had occurred.
| -Mamma-What is my Tommy going to
| do when he IS man?
! Tommy (aetat Ooh, I suppose shall