The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-05-14

pertod between the fifteenth % Feb
mary ard the declaration OF war ne@.
the last Of April. his letters arc me-
with the spirit % adventure ana eS-
itsmert while through them AL runs
a vein - gay assurance for the COM.
fort Of his mother lie was delighted
with his appointment to the Winslow'
,aslur as he did In the torpedo service
opp unity for distinction eSpeciA4Af
unusual Besides the offeer In com
nnua he was the only other osSceT
aboard the craft and between the Two
there sp-ang up a close and eeanifai
friendship and confidence often testt-
ned To in his letters. As the days
dragged on also. he suffered the great
grief OF the death OF his friend ana
roommate. Ensign BreekinFiase
whose funeral he~@attended and IN CON
nectlon with hich he wrote that n
would ask the honor OF commanding
the voliey over his dear eodY.
In the day when action drew near
er some extracts from his letters are
significant rs showing the spirit "
the Young orlcer. which was repre-
sentative OF rhat Of tho entire naval
force. Writing from tho Winsio".
April :. 1888. he says:
Anxious for Distinguished Service.
You can readily see that. now thai
war IS imminent, the torpedo boatJ
have the best chance OF distinction
consequently We are tnNACQ EAsEA &4A a
LEFT by ali the young officers AZ least
You VIII OF course be glad that my
post. though one OF danger. Viii he
he most honorable. You may bo
well sure hat / shall .Sink OF your
dear face and sec x before me when
ever 1 am under hrc and n get the
opportunity TO do some distinguished
service you may know that the
thought OF the happiness II VIII give
YOU Is alone sufficient 10 make me
seize IT."
Later the delay wore upon him and
he began to fear that there would be
no war. on May 18th. writing from
Key West, when war had begun. there
is displayed the tn1iety OF the young
soldier that there may be no light
ing left for him % do. In his letter
10 his mother under that date. he
says:
"A war comes only once In a gen
Grafton. and II Will - very hard II /
can get no chance 70 do some unusual
service. so il - very Disappointing
10 have no tangible enemy 20 meet
You are a brave mother and you must
feel like | do whensever we arc en-
gagged in anything ct all dangerous
enjoy the excitement. feel that, but
nothing more"
Did Not Know Fear.
And he added:
"Thank heaven. / nave found that
I nave NJ fear, for l have analysed
all my feelings in Hanger. Don't re-
peat that. it woul be a boast TO any
one but YOU
At the time OF writing this letter
the Winslow was under sailing orders.
on the Sth OF May, she brought on
the first naval engagement In Cuban
waters BY a reconnaissance of the har-
Dor of Cardenas, which drew upon her
the fire Of three gunboats which had
Innn oAvaaaFnl ,,nIay thu uhalfar NJ
the wharves. These steamed out at
the little craft which turned and put
out to sea, popping away V with
her one Founders as she went and un-
til the Machias. coming Up, put an
end to the engagement. The Winslow
had, however, made n thorough exam
ination of the channel and determin-
ed the fact that the harbor was mined
and fitted out with false buOys. II
was in the effort three days later. 10
lead the gunboats Hudson and VIII
mington into the harbor. after drag
ging it for mines, that the engage
ment occurred in which young Bag
ley lost his life.
In the early afternoon OF May 18th
the three vessels started for the har-
Dor, the Winslow going ahead to marx
out shoaI water. When the latter
was within fifteen hundred yards of
the shore one of the gunboats open
ed fire. and as the engagement pro-
crossed many other shots were fired
from the shore batteries which were
and which were using
smokeless powder. In the clear light
Of the tropics the flashes from the
were difficult to distinguish and
II was this fact which made the en-
gagement last as long as II did. as the
fire from the Hudson was sufficient
otherwise to have silenced all the bat
teries speedily. The Spaniards. too.
OnpGntT2fed their fire on the WING
which was almost Immediately
struck. AT almost the first fire her
1t. B~ernadou. was wound
ed in the thigh but continued to direct
movements OF his vessel. A mo-
later a shell from one OF the
struck and disabled the steer
ing gear of the little craft and AMI
entered her engine room ~puttingSone
Of the engines out OF commission. In
trying circumstances 1t was ne.
cessary to work the boat away from,
shore by alternately backing AMI
going ahead, the boat swing
Ing with the evolution first
batteries. The Wilmington and Hud-
son were keeping up a terrific fire and
he W1nsloW was the center of a show
CT of projectiles.
The Fight at Cardenas.
During this while, 1t was Bagley's
duty to carry communication to the
room from the deck after OBJ
the direction of the boat. He
made many of these short trips dur
.ng the minutes that the fight lasted.
conducting himself with the greatest
GOODNESS. At the stern. from the little
FOUNDER gun. the Winslow's crew
kept up a constant fire. One after
the Spanish guns were silenced.
It seemed that the fight was almost
over. The Hudson was preparing to
throw q line to the Winslow. At this
lime, Ensign Bagley had returned to
deck from the engine room and
stopped for a moment to observe the
Effect Of the Wilmington's fire. He was
,ongratulating his commanding officer
almost the last shell fired by
Spanish during the engagement
struck the deck, exploded and caused
ais instant death.
Writing OF the last scene. Lieut..
B~ernadou says:
came up to me where was
'anding, near the compass forward.
and said: Captain. I'm sorry you're
wounded; I'm lucky in these things
reDlie4: We'll. old man. we've been
n a fight this time, for sure He said.
shake and we shook hands and
.ooked one another full in the eyes.