The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1900-04-05

the circumstances attending the am
buscade and capture of the Yorktown's
second cutter and crew at Baler, April
18TH last. The report is concise, plain,
yet thrilling account of the strategy at
the mouth of the river, which resulted
in the loss of the lives of several sail
ors, and the taking into an eight
months captivity of the remainder Of
the little crew. 1t appears for the first
time from this report that Lieutenant
Gilmore did not violate his orders in
entering the river, but did so for the
sole purpose of protecting two of the
YOrktOWn's officers whom he hid been
directed to lard. The report, dated on
the flagship Brooklyn, January s, 1900.
says:
On the evening of April 18th, the
commanding officer of the Yorktown
sent for me and said he wished me the
following morning to take charge OF
a boat, to land Ensign w. H. Standley
and quartermaSter, who were to
make reconnaissance to discover the
whereabouts of the church defended by
the Spanish prisoners in Baler. Mr..
STANDBY and the quart ermaster We're
to be landed at the small cove to the
eastward of the river running past the
town Of Baler, province of Principe.
The commanding officer said he would
not hamper me by orders, but directed
me not to land, but to sound at the
mouth of the river and ascertain the
distance of the snip from the mouth. If
necessary, l was to make a demOnstra-
ton to call the enemys attention from
the people landed. About ago a. m. Of
April 18th, l left the ship with the sec
ond cutter Ensign Standby and a
quartermaster as passengers. The boat
was armed with Colt automatic 6-mm.
gun in the bow, and the crew with
Lee rifle and belts filled with ammu-
nition."
After mentioning tt e personnel of the
expedition heretofore announced, Lieu
tenant Gilmore continues: I'VE pulled
in under muflied oars and landed Mr..
Standby and the quartermaster. 1t was
just early daybreak when we pulled
out of the cove from the rivers mouth.
On nearing the river I saw that a sem
try on one of the numerous stations on
the beach had seen us. I thought
probably that he also had seen us land
Mr.. STANDBY, SO to let him think that
I had been searching for the river I
pulled for it, sounded the bar, ascer-
tanned the distance of the ship from
the rivers mouth, and continued in for
about 1000 yards. sounding slowly and
making rough sketch. ThiS,I thought,
would make them believe that 1 had
landed nobody, but was simply survey
ing the river. l knew that we would
have to sustain the fire of the enemy
as We came out, but I trusted to the
Colt to diSarrange their aim, which at
best is not good. l was quite sure that
this would serve to put them off the
idea of any one landing in the cove; I
have every reason to believe it now.
The left bank, the side toward the
enemy, was covered by high marsh
grass and swamp land. and 1 knew
that no outposts could be there; the
right bank was steep, too, and covered
with a dense growth, and from obser-
walton, 1 judged the enemy had only
their stations on the left side Of the
river. AS we neared the end of the
swamp land, l was about to give Or
ders to return when we rounded the
bend, and came full on an outpost on
solid ground. He hailed US and fired a
rifle as a signal. Before 1 coud answer
the hail. a volley was fired into us at
close range-ffty and sixty yards. The
effect of this VOlley was terrible, Nor
rissey was killed instantly, his brains
being scattered over the boat and
crew, and Dillon was mortally wound
ed, never recovering consciousness and
dying shortly afterWard in the boat.
Seaman Rynders had his fingers cut off
the hand, but kept braVely to his star
board stroke oar, tt e Starboard oars
were riddled and mt st of them shat
tered; beside, the boat was pierced by
the Remington balls and made water
fast.
LAS soon as possible after recovering
the first shock we opened fire with Colt
and rifles. The ambush was so COM
piete that we could not see at what to
fire, even the smoke. The Colt was
thrown out Of action before the second
voley, shattering the ammunition box
and cutting the loading tape. The or
der was given to back oars, but as only
few could be used-the others being
shattered-the tide drifted US on sand
bank. Ellsworth, Edwards and Wood
bury tried to swim the boat out, but
did not succeed. The volleys- were
poured in on Us on the left bank In
quick succession, wounding MORALLY
Mcdonald and Nygard. At this time
was under the impression that most
of the crew were either wounded or
killed. The bodies of the men who had
been killed had fallen on the slighter
men, who were struggling in the bot
tom of the boat. The boat was COW
cred with blood and presented a fear
full sight The cries of the MORALLY
wounded in the stern Of the boat, ask
ing ne to shoot them and not allow
them to fall into the hands of the saw
ages, were heart-rendirg. At the same
time could be seen, coming down the
right bank Of the river. band Of men
armed with RemingtoDs, bows and ar
rows, bolos and spears. l gave the or
der to hoist the white flag, which was
done by Rynders, who received a shot
in the right wrist and dropped the flag.
1 thought the enemy Intended to mas
sacre all Of US, SO continued to fire, the
fire of the enemy coming faster. We
We're now hailed from the left bank in
Spanish, the officer saying that If we
did not cease firing and surrender he
would kill US. l then surrendered. Be
fore the officer on the left bank could
get across, the savages on the right
bank came up, took us off the boat,
robbed US of rings watches, hats, caps,
clothes, in fact . "r-thing that they
could get at 81 {, .t!ce. tied our arms
behind W. with 1000 thongs and
lined US uD On leach to be shot.
Those who had / loaded them and
had them already ked. when an off,
Ger came cut of H. bush and ordered
otherwise. we We then sent on board
the boat and af-er plugging up the
holes mJ &c by ri ( balls pulled up the
river. -
TWO MURDERERS CONVICTED.
Raleigh, n. c.. March 3e.-Two murder
cases were to-day disposed of by the