Hutchinson gazette., 1900-12-13
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Z ADMIRAL ORRVERA AT HOME. /

creek, winding Through the mud like
hyulet after a shower; a aea.will
at the bnck, above which rises q col.
leeIlon of low, Arab-like houses, with
here and there " bclfry, q tower, and
there q MosIem mnnret. Such IL
Puerto Real, In SpNIn, the home Of Ad.
mlrnl CeVcru, 0s ! saw II from The
low deck Of u wabblng nondescTipt
clLit one winter afternoon. 4 soldier
directed me 10 the Admirnls resi-
dtnce, I'M Snnto Domingo street, a
modest, unpreewtious house, with
plain white walls Rising from the edge
of the narrow sidewalk.
Come right In, sir; you are wei.
come, The Admiral Don Pnscunl Ii
awny, but come In; / win go and
fetch u light"
The youth then showed me lntl The
AdmlrOl's study, a co2y little room
with "a f0i Top desk at one end, boob
case filled with books, and pictures on
qhe walls, mostly photographs OF
ships and naval officers, among them
u group Of the Admiral, and his Of
flcers, taken when prisoners at Anna,
polls. He brought large square boA
containing photographs removing
the cover the first picture WIS TIM
familiar one of Lieut., lIobson, Hold,
ing II up, lhe boy laughed,
Funny, WASN'T ~" he snld. "You
fellows blew ms on, OF the water, aud
then rescued u.s. clothed and fed us,
and treated us royalty"
Y spent VI pleasant hour with the
trusted servant, On my return several
days later ! was ushered INTO the
study, where the Admiral received me
With nm alr that this settled the oh.
.cct of my visit he began 10 ask me
QuesO0ns wa though we had been old
friends, First he wanted To know the
meaning Of an English word he had
found In nn English periodical, saying
thai he read English, but did not
speak IT, for the pronunciation was
MO difficult lie nsked me TO recon-
mcnt him good English dictionary,
zone not TO heavy ITO carry about"
and then, turning to the desk, he
reached for u rcdcovcrcd book which
shonc cOn2plclously among the som-
bre brown and black volumes. by the
way he chuckled, one might have
thought that II was one nf Mark
IwOln's stories. Bun M was only q
copy Of Senator Lodges History Of
1he Spnnish-AmclIcnn Wdr.' lie said
with another chucllc THAT the "hls.
tory was fun Of inaccuracies, and,
| like Lieut., llObson's account Of the
Stalking of the Mcnimnc. must be TO
the American people n pretty novel.
asked him lf he had any idea of the
prominence OF the man who wrote the
book, He did not, nor did he appear
| 10 take any particular offence at any
| Of Scm1ur Lodges statements simply
conllning himself 10 saying that thd
hool, was all wrong, aud worthless as
history. | told him then that was a
reason why hr should write an nc.
count Of his personal experiences, that
we might gel an he truth, but h.
Shook his head,
"Dld the fact ihm Admiral Samp.
son was away from the blockadlng
fleet ON thc morning Of July . In.
tncncc you in selecting the Nmc 10
leave Santiago harbop?' ! asked.
Nothing influenced me-" he nm.
wcNd "My orders, tccgluphed from
Havana, were to Leave Immediately. !
received chem on the I'd and prepared
mo obey them
He argued with me THAT such events
were common in war, especially where
there were volunteer troops, but ha
seemed 10 blame our authorities foI
not making any kind Of an attempt Ia
punish the men responsible for This
uob " As for my own trraiment,"
said he, 1--WE who were sent to Anna.
| polls were trenicd more ns comrades
than MS prisoners, while those who
were sent to Norfolk were treated
strictly us pnisoners-0r.wNr. Then
there were those who were sent To
Portsmouth; they were not treated
nt all, but put In wooden sheds and
allowed to took out for themselves
The American officer In command
ahere was las, and evidently didn't
understand his duty. ! was allowed 10
visit the place, and when saw the
conditions, mildly called the utten-
Il
tion of your government TO them, and
was very much gratified latter to learn
of the removal of lhe officer"
When told him that we didn't in-
tend 10 take Cuba. he exclaimed,
"WhNt! You have been after Cuba
for half Il century, Nou helped Lopez
fAl out his first expedition, and nearly
every man IN his outfit was an Anne.
rlcan, And what have you got TO say
about the Maine disaster and THAT
farce of an investigation? II youI
president did not want the war, why
did he allow than MS an excuse? You
tried us by your own court, your own
witnesses and your own attorneys,
allowing MS no defence. We wanted
the investigation carried on by an In
ternHhional board, but YOU wouldn't
allow II, aud then condemned u.s."
Evidently uhe Admiral like all
SpnnIards was earnest In his belief
uhat She Maine had not been blown
mp by the hand of his own people. He
scorned the idea thMt Cubn would he
anything hut Il part OF the United
States and agreed with me that Cuba
would become second llayti and
Snnto Domingo II left TO herself, As
I Nrnturcd TO remark that Cuba would
not have been lost to Spain had 1t not
been for General Weyler he WINGED
| unpnsplN snVinp,