The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, June 8, 1898, Page 1

) pa NG The Call o ne be 'také;v;’r;,:ql “I Ubrary tes + VOLUME L. SAN FRANCISCO, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 1898. PRICE FIVE CENTS. SANTIAGO’S FORTIFICATIONS SPEEDILY REDUCED TO RUINS TRIUMPH IN INSURGENTS EACH BATTLE of Men at the Gates of Manila, | | | | | BY J. L. STICKNEY. [ Copyright, 1898, by James Gordon Bennett. # MANILA, May 380 (via Hongkong).— & % General Aguinaldo has already de- 2 # fecated the Spaniards in several skir- & % mishes and one considerable engage- 3 # ment. He sent 600 troops across 2 # Bacor Bay last Thursday. They took < % a position between Old Cavite and & & Bacor, ncar the powder magazine on @ « the beach, where the Spaniards had & astrong force of marines and infantry, 2 # which attacked the rebels on Satur- & = day morning and was repulsed. The g o insurgents captured 224 Spaniards, 2 # and 194 more Sunday night, including = & fifteen officers. 21 The country where these skir- mishes were fought was covered ith thick tropical undergrowth, streams and swamps, where no regular military order could be maintained. Before dawn yesterday General Aguinaldo reinforced his troops on the mainland with about 1000 men. Crossing the bay at Incan- ces, according to agreement, I joined the rebel forces, expecting to witness a charge over the nar- row neck of land connecting Ca- vite Peninsula with the mainland, where the Spaniards were known to have the bulk of their troops and at least one field gun. eral Aguinaldo told me, however, that he had changed his plan, owing to the success of two pre- vious skirmishes, as the Spaniards still held the peninsula in such force that an assault would be un- certain in its results. He could not reinforce his men on the oth- er side of the bay except under fire of the Spaniards stationed at | the Bacor magazine and at the harbor. If, therefore, the Span- | jards brought heavy reinforce- ments from Manila, his men would be caught between two | fires, where they might all be cap- tured. Consequently he refused to give me any assistance to go | Gen- to the front, not even to show me = where to land in my own boat on | the other side. I could not induce him to alter his decision, and, | having drawn the fire of the| Spanish troops at the end of the peninsula by venturing out from the cover of the trees, I could see no hope of further progress in that direction, except as a target for several hundred Spanish rifles, and returned to Cavite. I went partly across the bay in my own boat again. Zip! Mauser bullets gave a warning that the Spaniards were on the alert against the arrival of any more boats from the rebel side. Sud-| denly a sharp pattering fire broke out on the extreme right of the | Spanish position, followed by the continuous rattle of a machine gun. ‘Thn Spanish troops from Mantla were | waving their hats wildly on hearing the | approach of support from Manila, For twenty minutes the steady rattle | of the machine gun and the incessant | patter of the magazine rifles showed | that a hot action was In progress, stopping finally as abruptly as it had | begun. Then on shore, near the scene | of this fight, a slender column of smoke went up, evidently a signal to Aguinal- do in Cavite. I had not been watching what was going on behind me and was, therefore, | a good deal astonished to hear the roar of a heavy gun and for an instant sup- posed our warships might have taken | |a hand in the fight, as I could tell by | the scream of the projectile passingover me that it was fired from a rifled gun | of large caliber. I could not see where | it stouck, but I made out on the wall of Cavite groups of rebels around four | muzzle-loading rifles pointing toward the Spanish position. | This was the card Aguinaldo had been | keeping up his sleeve. In front of the guns was a stovepipe, throwing out a | column of smoke, like the one on the distant beach. Aguinaldo was letting his partisans know that he was ready | to take part in any action, for two | Continued on Third Page. evidently coming down the road well back from the beach, being only about & mile from the Spanish post maga- zine. On the beach I could see soldiers 1 CuBAN LERGUES £ 70 ENGLISNH Towns e villanggwEstates X Forzs v Batteres e 2% TERRIBLE HAVOC s MILES bbbkttt RAILROADS —_— Xongs MAP OF COAST AND COUNTRY FOR FIFTEEN MILES AROUND THE BAY OF SANTIAGO. | This Shows the Punta Cabrera and the Surgidero Aguadores, Where the American | Troops Are Reported to Have Landed, With the Several Roads Leading There- from tothe City and the Roads From the Mountains Beyond, From Which the Cuban Forces Under General Garcia Are Said to Be Advancing. LUCK WENT HAND IN HAND WITH VALOR Charmed Lives Borne by Our Seamen in the Bat- tle of Manila. Copyrighted, 189, by James Gordon Bennett. BY J. L. STICKNEY. MANILA, May 5 (via Hongkong, May 10).—Here are additional particulars to those I have already cabled to the Herald of the destruction of the Span- ish fleet In Manila Bay by Rear Admir- al Dewey: When the squadron sailed from Mirs Bay on April 27 no one was aware of- ficially of the declaration of war, | | though private cable advices had glven | | this news. At inspection on Wednes- | day evening this news was communi- cated to the men and every division of | the squadron sent up cheers that | aroused the echoes. The bandmaster of the flagship, filled with the spirit of the occasion, made an especial programme for the even- ing, which included all the old war | songs, among them “The Boys in Blue,” | “When Johnny Comes Marching Home"" | and others, that cheered men's hearts Continued on Page Four. | W 000000000000 O0 | spirits of the jackies, who were | WROUGHT DURING THE BOMBARDMENT Spaniards Retreated Before the Deadly Aim of American Gunners and Sus- tained Severe Losses. fog and steady rain d American gunners, however, rose superior to the mist, and their keen eyes, supplemented by high skill, directed shot and shell with terrific effect. Again the Spaniards proved to be miserable marksmen. They managed to hit the battleship Massachusetts once. Her fighting top was struck, but that was all the dam- age. The other ships did not suf- fer, so far as can be learned. Not one of our sailors| is: reported killed. One man on the Suwanee was injured. I do not know whether his inju- ries are serious. It is believed that he was the only sailor wounded during the bombard- ment. The formation of the American ships was in double column. About 6 o'clock in the morning the war vessels stood off from beetling Morro Castle. i The weather was nasty, but no | rain nor fog could depress the eager for the fray. The ships harbor of Santiago de Cuba. moved slowly to within 3000 ON BOARD THE HERALD-CALL DISPATCH BOAT SOMERS N. SMITH, OFF SANTIAGO DE CUBA, June 7 (via Kingston, Ja- maica, June 7).—Within three hours this morning the American fleet silenced nearly all the fortifications at the entrance of the The formidable Estrella and Cayo batteries failed to reply during the last hour of the bombardment. They were so shattered that it is doubtful whether they can be the least service to the Spaniards in the future. uring the engagement. yards of the shore. One line, composed of the Brooklyn, Texas, Massachusetts and Mar- blehead, turned westerly. The flagship of Commodore Schley led. In the second line were the New York, New Orleans and Yankee. The New York was at the head of the line. The second line moved eastwardly. Far outon | the left were the Vixen and Su- wanee, whose crews watched the riflemen on the shore. The sail- ors on the Dolphin and Porter guarded the right flank. Admiral Sampson’s column directed its at- tention to the new earthworks near Morro Castle. Commodore Schley’s vessels went opposite the Estrella and Catalina batteries. There was no firing until the American ships were in a most strategic position for fighting. he bad weather had evidently caused the Spaniards to believe that there would be no bombard- ment while the heavy rain and fog lasted. The movement of the ships had not been noticed appar- ently until they were close to the | batteries. But the battleship Iowa waked the sons of Castile and Aragon from their reveries. A shot from SHIPS SALL FROM GOLDEN GATE FOR MANILA The United States coast defense steamer Monterey and the coal ship Brutus sailed for Manila yesterday. .It was expected that they would get away early in the morning, but the coils of the distiller were not put aboard as soon as expected, so it was 1:30 p. m. before the vessels departed. Passing along the front almost every steamer in the bay saluted them and all the flags were dipped in good-by. The figst stop will be at Honolulu, where the Monterey will recoal. She will then probably proceed in tow of the Brutus or she may go along under her own steam and run in under the lee of one of the many islands on the way to Manila and recoal from the cargo in the hold of the Brutus, It is expected that the Monterey and Brutus will make the passage in about thirty days. There was a heavy 000000000000000 | one of her great guns hit the bat- |tery with serious effect. Both columns of the ships then poured |a fusillade of metal into the fortifi- | cations and earthworks on either | side of the harbor entrance. The | Spaniards rushed to their guns and started to blaze away wildly. What they lacked in skill they made up in passion. But fiery temperaments with poorly train- ed eyes and bad nerves behind | the guns were no match for the | superior gunners of Sampson’s |and Schley’s columns. The Amer- |icans fired with great effect, but the Spaniards’ shots were reckless |and wide of the mark. There was |a splendid chance for the enemy ito display any proficiency in ;marksmzmship. for the United | States war vessels remained at their chosen stands, and did not resort to maneuvering. In this grand battle, great clouds from the guns increased the heavy fog. It was a magnifi- cent spectacle, even though the conditions were opposed to a thoroughly accurate survey of what was taking place. But glimpses left on the memory ter- rors of a bombardment by great modern warships. Admiral Samp- son” had instructed that no firing should be directed upon Morro Castle, for in it were imprisoned Lieutenant Hobson and the other seven heroes of the Merrimac's volunteer crew. But several shells did strike Morro Castle on the promontory and left gaping wounds. It is be- lieved that the shots did not cause sufficient damage to occasion a fear that Lieutenant Hobson and his com- panions suffered. As the bombardment pro- ceeded the ships in Commodore Schley’s column moved nearer to the shore in order to bring speedier destruction to the shore batteries. This action resulted in the Texas, Massachusetts and Brooklyn dealing such awful broadsides that the earthworks were torn up and the Spanish gunners took to their heels for less exposed places. But these three ships were not the only ves- sels in Schley’s column that were doing their duty. The Vixen and Suwanee drew in close to shore and entered the fray with start- ling zeal. These small ships ham- mered away with their rapid-fire |guns and demolished the shore L