The evening times., 1899-09-29
Seventh Sue
hgh 7o6

the Merrimac by the Merritt & Chapman
Wrecking Company, and it was placed by
him on the Reina Mercedes when that
Spanish vessel was brought from Santa
go to Portsmouth.
There is also one Hotchkiss five-ba- rel. ed
revolving rapid fire, gun, used by the Span
iards in the early, part of the Santiago
campaign; one 1-pounder single barrel
rapid-ire gun, taken from the Maria Te-
resa: one 5-pOunder rapid-fre shoulder
gun, also taken from the Maria Teresa; a
paymaster's safe which was on the sane
vessel and dynamo that was on the Rel
ma Mercedes. This piece of machinery was
in the interior of the gunboat. and was
! struck by an American shell which pene-
trated through the arInor of the vessel
! When the shell exploded it completely de-
molished the dynamo. Only the broken
| fragments were gathered up.
Two projectiles seven and eight feet
! long and the cases were taken from tn ,
Maria Teresa and the Reina Mercedes, AMI
! there was also obtained from the former
warshtp 5-pound projectile made of cop
per. This projectiIe is Unprecedented
among civilized nations. 1t will be remem-
bered that copper jacket bull els were free
| ly used by the Spaniards in the late war,
but projectile Of the size of 5-poundec
is, according to military authority, some
thing entirely unknown before the sinking
of the Maria Teresa. Prof. Beckwith said
yesterday that there was but one reason
| for the use Of copper. which was that it
proved deadly poison to the blood, and
wounds made by it were fatal.
! In the collection there is one 10-inch
copper powder tank. which was on the
Reina Mercedes, and marine rifle taken
| from the Maine. There are many small
| curios in the collection taken from the
| Spanish vessels sunk at Santiago by Rear
! Admiral Schley, among which are a dit
| box of metal, from the Christobal Colen;
| cartridge belt and cartridges from the Rel
| ma Mercedes; seaman's bracelet of leath-
| er, Mauser clip. from the Vizcaya; a
| 4-pounder projectile, from the same vessel;
| two 1-pounder rapid-fire projectiles and
| cases, from the Maria Teresa and the Co.
| lon; spring oil can, and the most COM
| plete collection of Spanish swords and
| machettes used in Cuba that has ever been
| obtained. Professor Beckwith said Of this
! that there is but one blade missing to
make the collection complete, and that is
double edged machette, but very rarely
used in the present times. There are two
| genuine Toledo blades used by Spanish
! officers in Cuba before the beginning of the
present century. The steel blades CT these
| straight swords can be bent double.
| Three-fourths of a shell fired by the
Americans at San Juan is another curio,
| and, so, too, is a piece Of armor plate Of
! the Spanish torpedo boat Terror, which
Captain Sigsbee, of the St. Paul. penetrated
| with a well-directed shot. A portion of the
! flag the Colon had flying at the Santiago
| engagement is among the exhibits. Near
| by are Mauser rifle from the Terror, and
a double -barreled breech-loading pistol, the
stock of which was burnt, which was taken
! from the Colon. A pair of epaulets taken
| from the Almirante Oquendo is also eX-
hibited together with some projectles and
a rapid fire gun found at the same time. A
portion of the flag, under which the Re:na
Mercedes sank, masses of melted metal
| from the Colon, Oquendo. and Maria Tere-
| sa, consisting of nails, gold, silver, and
other metals that were destroyed when the
vessels took fire, together with a brick
| taken from the oldest building in America
are now ready to be exhibited. This build
| ing was erected in ISL by Ponce de Leon,
at Caparra, four and one-half miles from
| San Juan. Iz