The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1914-06-07
By Edward F. Piebsch.

for his dispatch, the matador would
make his appearance (amid wild APP
plause). and would unerringly drive
his sword into the animals neck and
through his heart.
Pandemonium would at once break
| loose, and the conqueTor would be
cheered to an echo. I well remem Der
the Lima, Peru affair, which was Civ
en- for the bluejackets of the fleet. The
excitement ran so high at the time the
first bull had been dispatched, that the
matador was fairly deluged with a
shower of "sols''-the Peruvian dollar
lin fact for few minutes the air
| seemed to be full of money None of
| the participants were seriously injur-
| ed although several of them We're ra-
| Their roughly tossed about by the bull
| when they partially failed to evade his
| rushes. Taken on the whole. the affair
was of most brutal nature. for the
! poor dumb creatures were the ones TO
! suffer. The affair was altogether too
| one sided, for the bull had practica lily
| no chance whatsoever, for even had he
| managed to kill or MAIN a few of the
| participants, he would eventually meet
| with the fate of his predecessors, be-
! ing tired and worn out by sheer ex-
| cess of numbers. After being served
| to amuse the blood thirsty populace
| he would. at their pleasure, be prompt
! " dispatched The matadors and pic
| adors would not be in as much danger
|
| sight, for they are picked from men
| who are fleet and sure footed. They
| would have very little trouble in eVad-
| ing the blind rushes of the Infatuated
| animal for these would usually be di-
| rected at his ancient enemy, the red
| cloth. Even though he might OccOs-
| lonal1y manage to toss one of them be-
| fore he could follow up his advantage
| the others would be there with their
| red mantillas to distract his attention
from his intended victim. The Mex
! leans seem to think this great sport,
! but / fail to. see how they can thus
! term ii, for to me it appears to be
about as brutal and inhuman a pas
| time as could possibly be INDUCED in.
| Stay of Short Duration.
| AS I said before, our first stay in
| Vera Cruz was of about a months du-
ration. Upon orders from the com
mander-in- chief. we proceeded to Tam
! pico, Mexico. We anchored off La
Barra, which is at the mouth of the
| PanuCa river, and is about eight miles
from the city proper The draft Of the
Frisco was too great to enable her to
cross the bar al the mouth of the river.
| The cruiser Des Moines, and the gun
boat Dolphin (the latter being the tenn
were anchored in the river opposite of
the city. The Mexican gunboats,
Bravo and Zarragossa- were also an
chored in the river. Two of our bat
tleships, the Minnesota and Connect
cut were also lying at anchor off La
Barra. The first two weeks of our
stay proved rather uneventful l man
aged to get ashore once. and was
greatly surprised to see the large num-
Der of Americans who were in the
city,
The "Roueh- Neck" Type.
The majority of them were, how
ever, of the rough neck" type, being
employed by construction companies
and in the oil fields in the immediate
vicinity of the city. After we had been
there for about three weeks. the rebels
attacked the city. and the American
consul ordered all Americans to leave
In the meantime the Utah and the hos
pital ship Solace had joined US. All of
our ships were crowded with the
American refugees, who remained on
board until hostiiitieS had ceased: the
rebels having, for the time being, been
repulsed by the federals. The refugees
thereupOn returned to their respective
| homes. During the engagement the
shells of the rebels set fire to numer-
Gus of the large oil tanks, and at night,
the sky, for miles around. was illum-
ined by the resulting light. Early on
the morning of April 21st the Frisco
received rush orders to proceed to We
ia Cruz, and a t 2:30 a. m, got under
way and proceeded under forced
draught to this place, arriving a about
| 8 90 p. m, the same day.
We steamed into the inner harbor,
cleared for action, aided by the search
lights of the Florida, and Utah. and
came to anchor within about 100 yards
of the nearest point of the city. The
Florida and Utah had their large guns
trained on the fort, ready to open fire
at the first hostile act on her part. We
were. however, not mOlested. A few
desultOry shots (rifle), fired by some
hidden marksmen ashore Spattered up
a GA hp C v-h o.
over our heads, but no damage was
done. We kept our searChlights pa
trolling the fort and the waterfront all
night long. Outside of occasional rifle
shots whistling over the ship, nothing
OF note happened during the night.
A Force Landed.
The San FNrancisCos battalion, under
command of Lieutenant William j.
Giles L. s. y, landed at midnight of
April 21st. The force was fully equip
ped and had with them a number of
Bennett MERCER automatic rapid fir
ing guns. capable of firing 400 shots
per minute. Upon landing, our bat
talon reported to the regimental
headquarters, at the Hotel Terminal
and then proceeded to the custom
house, in the rear of which they were
| directed to erect a OarriCade, between
the warehouse and the waterfront.
This was completed and the barricade
manned before daylight. one of our
automatic guns, and one from the Utah
mounted on the roof of the south wing
Of the custom house began. firing on
the Hotel Oriente at daylight. The
hotel was soon captured and number
of prisoners taken. At about 900
a. m, the second naval regiment pas
Sed in the rear Of the custom house
When they came abreast of the naval
academy and the inCom pleted market,
they were subjected to a heavy fusi-
la de, principally from these buildings.
The regiment deployed in the Plaza,
between these buildings and the Es-
tachion Santidad. After an attempt to
Dust the MeNiCans from the naval ac-
ademy, which proved futile, as they