Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1911-07-03

They came pretty soon and |
wrapped me in a blanket and with a |
boatload Off other Maine men / was |
rowed ashore on landing | was car |
ried into a building and somebody put |
on me- which relieved the |
pain. Th@ we were placed in am
balances and taken to the hospitals |
| was taken to the st. Andrus hospi- |
tai | think that was the name of it, |
| reneE4her that the streets were
CROWN With great throng of peo-
pie, aH that the police had to clear
i was in that hospital. which was
already Nrawded with sick and wound
ed SpanisA soldiers. for II days. A
little Irish girl took care of me- re-
member she told me she had been in
Spain for 20 years and had been sent
over by the Spanish authorities to act
as nurse in Havana. she was very kind
to me, aud wrote a letter to my moth
er for me. | remember that she would
speak a sentence or tive of English
and then SO off into Spanish. 1t was
difficult for her to talk without get
ting the languages mixed Father
chadwick was very good. too--he was
a dandy chaplain and a hne man.
ahyway-and did all he could make me
comfortable.
We'll the boys kept leaving the
hospital until only five of us We're left.
Tom Mack, Francis CahiH. George
Washington Allen and a Swede, whose
name ! can't remember just now. We
were the last five to go. and we left
the hospital together. Cahill had
landed pretty heavily on something at
the time of the explosion and had
| piece of iron of some sort away into
| his foot. As for myself / had been
| badly scalded across the front of the
| body. on both arms up to my elbows.
and all about the head. There was
not a spear of hair on my head: eye
| brows and an had gone. George
Washington Alien was a negro and
was so black that when our photo
graphs were published in the paper
my name was under his and his I'M
| der mine. l sure was sight
We went down Through the city
| from the hospital and on board of a
coast survey steamer or dispatch
boat. have forgotten which. and I
can't remember her name. There
Capt. Sigsbec shook hands with us
all. We steamed out to one of the
KEYS. old Fort jefferson. about so
miles from Key West | think. and
| were detained there under quarantine
| for l. days. DIR. Williams having US
| in charge Then we went to Key
West and we We're five days in the
marine barracks there.
by that time | felt fairly we'll
again and l was soon assigned to the
battleship Indiana. along with the
others. and back to Havana we went.
When we arrived there it was night,
and the city was ablaze with the usual
| lights, Just as in times of peace. The
moment they discovered our presence
every light went out, and they began
to shell us from Moro castle. They
couldn't hit anything and we laughed
at them. In a day or two We left
there and went down to shell Porto
Rico awhile / think we fired three
rounds there When we came away
| they were still firing. but you almost
had 10 guess that they were firing at
us. We didn't see many of their
shells. OF course, it is history now
what We did to them.
And then we went to Santiago to
| Join the patrol there; and then Ger
vera came out. That battle is history.
| too. You don't want me to tell you
anything about that. / will just say
! this that every time heard our
| crews shout Remember the Maine l
joined in heartily and prayed that
every shot we fired would go true. !
couldn't help it, Their shells went far
over us and the Spaniards acted
scared. We had 231 Spanish prisoners
on the Indiana. That is all / need
say about that battle.
THAT is about all there is to it. We
came north then, and | have not been
In the navy since. Afterwards, on the
18th day of May. 1909 / enlisted In the
army at the Bangor recruiting sta
ton. then ON Main street. and saw
two years service in the Philippines.
Never since | left the Indiana have !
seen man who was on the Maine
with me when she was destroyed. !
often wish | might meet one of them,
Asked by the reporter as to how he
had been rescued that night, Mr.. Web
Der replied that he did not know.
They told me | was picked up in
the water" he said, but under what
circumstances / have not the slightest
idea. As | told you | aid not know
thing from the time / went to sleep
until I found myself on board the Al
phonzo XII. l would give anything |
have to know who picked me up and
whore and how they found me"
Mr.. Weber is living in Bar Har-
Dor with his wife and family and his
mother, Mrs. Sarah Lawford, and
many there who number him among
their acquaintances who do not know
he is one of the GA of the 320-odd men
who manned the old Maine who es-
capped death that night when the bat
tleship was split and shattered and
strewn upon the bottom of Havana
harbor. He cannot forget it. however.
and when he reads of bodies being
found there today he remembers that
these were his messmates, and he
wonders just whose remains they are.