The Washington weekly post. (Washington, D.C.) 1878-1916, 1900-10-23
Landing War Material on the
Coast of Cuba.
0VERHAULED BIZ THE SPANIARDS
The Little Vessel of the FiIihusters Was
When Atfseked By a spanish Gunboat.-
Man from Cennaughr Serve Prevented
fetal Annihilatien - Walsh, a Ganner
from the Maine, saved the Dynamite

From the New York Telegraph.
"A lot OF the old chaps who had been in
Cuba before the war were talking about
| dynamite John O'Brien the other night
In the Marlborough, and one OF them
said:
DO you know O'Brien? will tell you
a little story about him. Ever since there
mas been any unpleasantness in Mexico
and South America and Cuba, Dynamite
John OBrien has been carrying cargOes
Of cartridges, rifles, and dynamite TO any
person or persons who would give up
their money for them. He is the really
great promoter of trouble in other lands"
"Oh. yes; / know Dynamite John, said
10 be an ITishman with gray mustache
and a nerve on which you could sharpen
a razor. so hard it is. That's the sort he
| has"
Well" said the other man, 81 went out
with him with one of those cargoes and
load Of greasy dagos, and what time We
had trying to land!
Dynamite John O'Brien likes a SOL
emn life. When l was with him l only
| saw him laugh three times during a cruise
of ten days, and in my humble opinion, /
think he had reason.
I'VE were loaded down to the guards
with ammunition, a twelve-pound Hotch-
| kiss, and a hold full of machetes which
We were attempting TO deliver to Gomez
| somewhere on the pleasant south coast
| of Cuba. That was where Gomez needed
the material most, and so we set out for
| there, the agreement being that a Cuban
! colonel on board should direct the course
of the tugboat, except in such matters as
concerned seamanship. And so We went
afioat.
CubaHs Are Always Seasiek.
Now, mind you, the Cubans are in
variabiy seasick. There is no more seasick
person on this earth than those tinted
persons who are Inhabitants of an island
and have water all around them.
Take Cuban out into the deep sea and
he has nothing to do from one end Of the
! voyage to the other but have that pecul-
| lar intercourse with Neptune which the
funny papers have long ago worn out. And
we had them, likewise we had their wis
dom, and Dynamite JOHN O'Brien in this
particular instance had no better sense
than to take their word for a good landing
place. And so il happened. We ran around
| the Yucatan Channel and away down
the south coast and put in 4 a moonlight
night to the mouth of the San Juan River,
one of the multifarious streams of that
| name in Cuban nomenclature.
| THE Cubans had almost recovered from
| their Seasickness, and the officers appear
| ed on the deck.
zone of the officers on board was a Gu
ban hero. He was scanned with a scar
which began at the edge of his hair and
ran down TO his jaw, and which was caus-
| ed, according to his story, by his endeav-
ors to stop the onslaught of a machete in
/ the former war. Therefore we regarded
him with due respect, as BETTING a
| SCARED hero.
And then this happened to US. The
Cubans had picked out the particular
| niche on the coast where a Spanish gun
boat known as the 'guarda costa was in
| trenched.
I'VE had a couple of tons of dynamite
On deck. We had a million and a half
cartridges in boxes on deck. also, and
| neither John O'Brien nor myself was
ever able to forget the peculiar circum-
stances of choice which led the Cuban
| IN charge OF the vessel to select this par
| ticular landing. We had stood off in the
cropping for most of the afternoon, and
| we only put into the place at midnight,
but the moon was at its full.
They Were Soen Discovered.
The officers on the guarda costa soon
observed US, ard readily discerned our
plan. She carried a one-pounder in her
tow. and she was able to run fourteen
knots or more. We could never run that
in the world, although IT is safe to say
thai on this occasion We beat all records
that the boat had ever made for the sim
pie reason that We were exceedingly
| anxious 10 get out of range, when it hap
pened TO US.
I'VE were almost into the mouth of the
river San Juan, when some one told the
| captain he thought he detected smoke in
the outlet. Nobody else could see it,
But there had been sundry flashes Of fire
in the hills which lie along that coast
and which shot against the moonlight 500
feet out from their base.
$50, Dynamite John, who has been
selling the munitions of war to various
republics for these thirty years or more.
! said
81 will steam out a bit and then back
! in, and that will prevent the trouble of
| turning around in case have to run for
and then we backed in. The shadows
| of the mountain fell upon the water about
800 yards out at sea, and beyond that We
lay in the fun moonlight as big as
| church.
I'VE had backed in never forget the
| dynamite on deck) 10 within perhaps 200
| yards of the mouth of the river, when re
could see something shooting out into the
: two men who We're standing beside him.
and who said simultaneously and with
! some accompanying profanity. There he
Z is under the cloud And the engineer
/ full speed ahead and gave the fireman
| nearest very severe admonition as 10
! the wisdom of throwing coal into her anu
! getting out the most speed possible.
seemed to BE Catching Up.
"And so we ran. She seemed to be
catching up 10 US every minute Then all
| of a sudden there was a fash of red at
| her bow and pun of smoke after IT, and
! somewhere between our TWO masts a one
pound shell whizzed over US and threw up
| a Geyser in the moonlit sea beyond.
We thought then she would overhaul
US, and We also thought of the pleasing
finish after one of her shells struck that
two tons of dynamite inside the starboard
rail. These were glad things to look at, |
tell you. But they seemed 10 have little
| effect upon Mr.. Dynamite John OBrien.
HE simply jerked the bell 10 the engine
room and signaled more steam And then
/ there came a scene which showed tue
Irish and the Cubans side by side. which
! TO those who witnessed IL is never 10 be
J forgotten, since IL matched race and race
so successfully. Every thirty seconds the
| enemy's gun winked and q shot went
! somewhere into the moonlight. We grew
| larger at every shot for We seemed 70
stand out as big as a village. and she
| seemed 10 be Overtaking US.
| And then the Irish. There vas on
| board a man who when landed In Cuba
| was to take charge OF the underground
| Hotchkiss which We had or board.
| ION our way down 10 Cuba he had had
a guns crew drill. The crew consisted OF
| one adyenturer from the republic of CO.
| lombia and few Cubans. The mans
name was Walsh: and ne. was a gunner
| who had deserted from fhe Maine. VINO
| said that as We were likely 10 be over
taken az any moment he for one wanted
! 10 fight for IL
| He Wanted To Plight.
"fie wore a most pleasing grin as he
said, My boy. II can only get John 10
Put her of her course a bit, what I'll do
! to these Dagos III be worth thinking