The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-03-20
Tragic End of the Valiant Ad-
miral Villamil.
HIDDEN IN THE THICKET
When the Americans Left He Was
Placed in the Chair and Died.
The Story as Told by a
Correspondent.

ish navy, sitting in an arm chair on
the Cuban coast about four miles west
OF the entrance to Santiago harbor
calls forth statement from the cor
respondent who witnessed the dastruc-
ton of Cervera's fleet on July 3, last
from the yacht Wanda, a dispatch boat
in the service of the associated press
Admiral Villamil was an officer of con-
siderable renown in the Spanish SER
vice and he was in command of the
torpedo tiotilla which accompanied the
large vessels of Admiral Ceveras fleet
from the Cape Verde islands to Mar
Unique and thence to Curacao and
Santiago last spring. He was badly
wounded aboard the destroyer Pluton
in the engagement between the Amer
lean and spanish fleets near Santiago
on July }, last. but managed to reach
the shore and the American sailors did
not find him. AS he never appeared in
Santiago and as his brother officers on
the Pluton knew that he had been
desperately wounded. having lost an
arm and a leg. his death was never
doubted But the finding of his body in
a chair and it's positive Identification
by means of his uniform and papers
found in his pockets is the first absolute
proof of his death. The mere finding
of the body is not such a remarkab BILE
fact but that it should be found seated
in an arm chair on that rocky coast
several miles away from any habita
ton calls forth the statement from
the correspondent referred to. who ac-
counts for the presence of the chair
which for more than eight months past
has been the strange tomb of the Span
1sh commander. The first report from
Santiago about the finding of the body.
1I1E h.,
March TO- stated that it was believed
to be that of the captain of the Plu-
ton. The statement of the correspond
ent shows that this could not be cor
rect. for by peculiar chain of cir
cumstances, connected very closely
with the presence of the chair on the
Cuban shore, he was obliged to have
an interview with the captain of the
.Pluton aboard the auxiliary gunboat
converted yacht Gloucester an hour
or more after the Pluton had been sent
to her destruction.
The correspondent says:
During the fight off the coast of
Cuba on July 3 last. I was on the
yacht Wanda, the commander of which
was Captain F. C. Miller. We came
upon the Spanish torpedo boat destroy
er Furor, just as she was sinking. and
the destroyer Pluton, which had bean
cut in two by shells from the Glouces-
rocks along the shore. This was at A
point about three or four miles west
or MORO, at the entrance to Santa 90
harbor and about one mile east of the
point where the Marie Teresa and the
Almirante Oquendo We're driven ashore.
The Wanda ran in shore a half mile
from the Pluton The Gloucester was
standing by a half mile or more to
the westward. From the deck of the
wanda we could easily see score of
men on shore near the wreck Of the
Pluton. but we could not tell whether
they were Americans. Spaniards or Gu
bans. l took one of the Wanda's small
boats. with quartermaster and one or
Two sailors with me, and went ashore
to the place where the men were for
the purpose of getting their story Of
the destruction of the Furor and the
Pluton. found that most of the man
were Spanish sailors. belonging to the
Pluton. They were being guarded by a
small squad of sailors from the Glou-
cester, who We're waiting to take them
aboard the Gloucester as prisoners of
war. One of the American sailors told
me that an officer Of the Gloucester
was UP on the bluff of rocks overlook
Ing the wreck of the Pluton few hun
dred yards away, and he also told me
that there was a wounded sailor from
the Pluton there with him. He asked
thing from the Wanda so that they
could get this wounded man off to the
Gloucester. l sent my boat back to
the Wanda with instructions to report
the circumstances to Captain Miller
and see if he could do anything to help
the wounded man. I then climbed over
the rocks in search of the Gloucester
officer, and after a great deal of diff
Guilty. found him near the wreck of
the Pluton with a navy rife in his
hand, standing guard over an officer of
the Pluton. who was almost naked and
had his feet tied up in burlap to pro-
tect them from the sharp rocks.
have forgotten the name of the Ameri-
can officer but he was young ensign
or naval cadet. The Spanish officer
was very pleasant fellow and he was
most pitiable specimen, had evident
ly concluded that he had been up
against it sufficiently, and he could not
surrender quickly enough, All that he
wanted then was a boat to get him out
to the Gloucester as prisoner. He
could speak little English, and with
my mongrel Spanish, we could under
stand each other very we'll
In the next few minutes did some
very rapid fire interviewing with both
the American and Spanish officer
Then ] asked the Gloucester officer
about the wounded man. but he had
lost him for the time being. and the
three of us commenced a search for
him. There was no shade or vegetation
Of any kind where we We're. 1t was a
bluff covered with rocks, SO hot from
the scorching sun that they blistered
the feet in walking over them. and
here and there there We're depressions
in which a few inches of stagnant wa
ter remained from the last rainfall. We
wandered over these rocks for fully IL
minutes searching for the wounded
man. The heat was almost intolera bic
and all of us We're nearly famished from
thirst. The Spanish officer gave up the
search and sank on the rocks exhaust
ed. The Gloucester officer and myself
finally came upon the wounded man
lying in pool of stagnant water. which
had turned red from his own blood
He was a common sailor or fireman
from the Pluton, and he had a hole in
him large enough to have been made
by a six-inch shell. He was plainly dy-
ing, though he was conscious, but he
was too weak to speak plainly, and all