Brookings weekly register. (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1898-1903, 1899-10-26


- - - So Texas was in the
thick of it, and
she came out In first class fighting trim
with the other winners
The Texas, it will be remembered,
went to the seat of war with a bad rep
utation. She had had accidents with
ont number in and out of dock and one
night sank as she lay in moorings.
When she put to sea. the last civilian,
b Brooklyn woman, to shake hands
with Captain Philip had the ill sense
TO remark to him that she had also been
the last to shake hands with the captain
Of the i'll fated Huron, which went on
the rocks in North Carolina. Captain
Philip said that this incident recurred
to him only once in the war, and that
was at a trying moment in the Santiago
fight.
But the Texas had no i'll luck She
had extraordinarily good luck For in
stance, in her duel with the batteries
at the mouth of the harbor some days
before the great fight she was fairly
struck by shot which, by all the rules
about proiectiles, should have finished
her yet she came out chuckling over
her escape. 1t was inch shell which
struck her at the end of her duel with
the Socapa battery, the last Spanish
shot fired and the only one that struck
the ship. The shell burst through plat
ing, 4 inches thick. tearing jagged
hole, passed through the compartment
and struck heavy steel stanchion, cut
ting a piece a foot in length entirely
out of it. At this stage the shell burst.
Two of the larger fragments struck the
starboard side bulging the stout plat
ing to the depth of several inches, then
swept along the side of the ship. cut.
ting entirely through one of the heavy
irons which form the frame and are as
solid as a railroad rail A shower Of
smaller fragments landed all over the
starboard side of the compartment, cut
ting off rivet heads, plowing the deck
and plating and distributing some
wounds. One man was blown to pieces,
and eight were more or less hurt.
A dense smoke caused by the explo-
sion of the shell paralyzed four gun
battery for time, and if the damage
had come in battle crisis it might
have had fatal results.
The first striking incident Of the bat
tie to those on the deck of the Texas
was the picturesque procession of Ger
vera ships. Said an officer to Captain
Philip, They certainly mean us to
think they have started out to do bust
ness" referring to the huge Spanish
battlefags flying defantly aloft.
A lieutenant on the Texas looked at
her bare masts and exclaimed, "Where
are our battlefags!"
"They won't have any misconception
about our being in battle, said the
captain dryly.
"Yet what is battle without battle
fiags2" persisted the lieutenant and
gave orders to have them run up.
1t transpired that the flags were
locked in a locker and the quartermaster
who had the key was just then out of
reach. Smash the locker. then,
shouted the lieutenant to the messenger
who brought the information on deck.
The locker was smashed and the battle
flags hoisted aloft to stay.
1t was the Teresa, the bold Teresa,
with the largest and most defiant bat
tlefiags, which first felt the weight of
the Texas metal. At first the Texas
steered to meet the Spanish flagship at
the mouth of the harbor, but the Span
iards turned rapidly westward, COM
pelling Captain Philip to change his
course. At that moment the Brooklyn
was steaming northeast, making the
famous loop, and it was then for mo-
ment that the captain OF the Texas felt
more alarm than at any other stage OF
the battle and recalled the ominous
words of his injudicious caller at the
navy yard dock. All the ships We're
firing, and the smoke was so dense that
nothing could be seen beyond the ships
sides Suddenly there was a lull. The
Brooklyn had fired all her guns on one
side and was waiting to bring the
other side to bear-the same with the
Texas, and a breeze lifted the clouds
hanging over the scene Then Captain
Philip saw, bearing toward the Texas
and plunging on at tremendous speed,
the Brooklyn The apparition took his
breath away. Back both engines
hardr' was the quick order, and the
mammoth Brooklyn swung and glided
past before half a dozen of the ships
company on either vessel knew what
had seemed imminent,