The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1916-10-04
1917 [?
CONTINUED from Second Page

know that | was on
II know if. too. Louden." Bob said.
Wen try again"
But they're hitting. sir! They re
Louden was beside himself
as his mates begged him TO be more
careful, to be sure to give it to EN-"
this time
Were firing over" Bob said as
calmly as he could Down 100!'
The floor of the turret was tipping. II
He had noticed it some time before.
but now it told that the Arizona was
listing badly. Bob saw that his men /
realized it and fought on the more /
madly for ii. Their turret now was 1
firing alone The after turret had |
ceased entirely. And now even the /
voice In the speaking tube was silent. /
1t had been their sole connection with /
the rest of the ship. Its ceasing left /
them isolated In the battle. alone |
But as they fired at the range and |
DETECTION which Louden and Bob |
agreed between them the doors to the
handling room below continued TO
push up, and shells and ammunition
came up on the cars. Young Wayne,
the ensign, was working with his men
in the handling room, and in the en-
CINE room some crews had stayed to
keep power on the ship.
The Arizona was sinking. Every one
knew that, but by -, sir, if
they'll stick in the handling room. If
they stay at the engines, Wen stick
hereT
But there was really no use firing
now. The Arizona listed so badly that
the guns could not be elevated to the
target. A salvo OF shells-those awful
fendish shells sent on signal from the
aeroplanes-struck all in bunch
somewhere below, and magazine aft
blew up. or perheps it was boilers
first. Anyway. the Arizona was going
down fast. AS she went there was no
escape from the turret through the
handling room. Instead Holt was
helping pull up Wayne and his men
into the turret. There was only the
small, heavy steel door which let out
the back of the turret to the deck II
was found jammed as Bob ordered ii
opened, so some of the men cursed
and others cried that they didn't want
to get out, and some one yelled to
crawl out through the guns, and two
| Of the men tried it. Then the door
opened, and Bob stood back to order
his men out ahead of him, but-the
| ship was going down then-Holt seized
Bob about the waist and showed him
through the door, and outside some
one else grabbed him and swan with
/ him away from the ship.
It was the destroyer Wainwright
which picked up Bob and the sailor
who swan with him. The destroyer
had dashed in to try to find the adj
mirai in the water near where the Ida
| no sank, for the enemy was having
1 trouble himself at that instant. The
Xerxes, which had been observed to
be listing for some time, was slipping
| down after the Idaho to the bottom,
and the Floron had turned over and
was floating keel to the sky. The
Trajan, very low at the stem, was be
ing taken in tow by another ship, and
two of the Pharaohs-so men on the
Wainwright said-must soon sink.
i Guns were still rumbling down the
i column. Four of the American ships
4 still were fighting They finished two
more of the Pharaohs before they
drifted, like the rest of the silenced
ships, waterlogged hulks, for the Thors
and the Zeus ships, which long before
had beaten the Vermonts and the Con
necticuts, closed In and finished the
task of the Pharaohs.
:. Bob Wendell stood on the trembline
deck of the Wainwrights surrounded
by bright eyed, tense Tipped, exhaust
ed men. One of the battle cruisers o.
the regent and one of the destroyer
seemed to observe the Wainwright ant
that it was escaping from the battle
The destroyer gave chase. Bob Wen
/ dell watched the other destroyer duly
His head dropped. and he closed hi
eyes. Then he opened them again ant
reused himself. He was seeing thing
which made him think again-Nelli
and then Garry's little boy with tn
! straw hat with the ''U. s. s. Arizona
ribbon.
e 1.-THE radio room is hearing from tn
shore" some one said. 'sThey want t
!, know the result of the battle"
. "The official press bureau an
: nounces," said the bulletin pasted {
U the board before the Office of the Eig1
5 News. "that the American fleet has In
i. flicted heavy losses upon the enemy
t but has also suffered severely. Amer
e can vessels are retiring toward NeH
York
That was the sole official communl
5 cation authorized by Washington ina
night but the entire truth was sprea'
through the nation with marvelou
swtftness. How it spread no one coul
say-it was spread by secret codes tele
n graphed as ordinary messages: 1T wa
b | spread by private wireless plant
d operated In secret places by the agent
S of the enemy who, perhaps. learne
:, the result of the battle directly fror
the radios of the victorious ships. How
ever the news was spread. Nellie WeT
dell heard the facts repeated from on
!, to another about her as she stood on
q fore the newspaper office. staring u
e at the few false lines Of official III
= formation
Were licked. they say.
Who saws so? / don't know
but they say the regents sunk on
feet That can't be so! WI,
e we had the best navy OF its size !
S the world, Why, the fleet
But. I tell you. they're gone! l got
y 4.st,4 rry,o--s,< oil SupE-fhe Tdahi