Polk County news-gazette. (Benton, Tenn.) 190?-191?, 1914-06-25
Stories or u. S. FLEET ON DUTY
At The PORT OF VERA CRUZ

Each sailor boy looked straight ahead.
Thoughts flew to homes far away as
wars realities were realized. The les
son had been learned.
Tension at Swapping Point.
In the weeks the fleet was assemb-
ling at Vera Cruz awaiting word from
Washington or chance which might
unloose the flood of war, tension was
at the swapping point. 1t was the
vigilance of a stranger in the enc
mys country. The island prison-for-
tress, San Juan del Ulua, lay grim and
menacing. The Americans knew four
torpedo tubes opened from the sides.
Each night the harbor was dragged
for mines or wires. Every moment
the tubes were watched. The Maine
disaster had not been forgotten.
One night in December, across the
moonlit waters came the steady thump
of the air compressors working in the
forts torpedo magazines. On the
battleship Rhode Island the big gongs
which sound only the call to general
quarters changed forth. The ships
searchlights Illuminated the fort as II
at MONDAY. Enough guns found the
range to blow the island and fort out
of the sea- The thump of the air
compressors stopped. San Juan del
Ulua hasn't found torpedo yet.
During the fighting the cruiser Prai-
RE, lying outside the breakwater, was
directly in front of one of the tor
pedo tubes. While her guns on the
shore side we're turned on the naval
academy one of her eight-inch pieces
on the fort side was trained on the
torpedo tubes. The fort commandante
had been warned that his first move
to open the torpedo sluice gates would
be the signal to fire a deadly full
inmate shell into the ancient fort.
The line to raise the sluice gate hung
slack.
A picturesque grove of six cocoa
nut palms stands on the sea promon-
tory>of the same fort. Coming into
the harbor their waving tops stand
clear against the colorless skyline.
AS the ships launches come closer
gibbet-a single upright with pro-
jecting arm, from which a now I'M
used moose still dangles-also shows
against the sky.
Serve in Army or Be Hung.
Back of the gibbet is a rectangular
inclosures Into this open air bull
pen" under the broiling sun were
from one hundred and fifty to two
hundred prisoners. Some were army
deserters, others prisoners OF war
and more mere conscripts picked up
In the streets and sabaDas. All were
invited to enlist in the federal army.
To impress them with the merits OF
the invitation each morning, one who
had obstinately refused it was ele-
waited on the gibbet. In the evening
he was tossed over the sea wall to
the sharks. The argument is said to
have been effective in convincing
most of the prisoners that their pa
triotic duty was to join Huertas
army.
Everything seemed quiet one night
along one of the streets being pa
trolled by marines from the New Jer-
sey. when suddenly black form with
arms waving shot across the narrow
areaway. The machine gun crew
down the street saw 1t and let loose
with roar and the bullets hummed
down the street A minute later II
shot back with the same defiant wav-
ing OF arms. The excited machine
gun Cow let loose again, but appar-
emily Nh the same futile result.
Lieut. G. d. Barrett, with a couple OF
his marines, stole down the street
If the uncanny apparltion lodging
back and forth through the hail of
bullets was human II was the strong
est man they had ever seen
IT'S only a coat" concluded the
lieutenant "And it's ON a rope and a
man is working 1t back and forth
across the street"
Coat Makes Last Trip.
A minute later the coat started to
flap across the street again. The ma
chine gun two blocks away barked at
II in vain. The arm appeared for half
an inch. Half a dozen marines let
20 with their rifles That was the
coats last trip No
traces OF blood were found, but the |
woodwork of the door was bored as
II by augers.