Rensselaer Democrat, Volume 1, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 June 1898 — SHELLED BY SAMPSON [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

SHELLED BY SAMPSON

AMERICAN ADMIRAL GIVES DONS ANOTHER DOSE. Five United States Veasels Pay Their Respects to Santiago Fortifications —Stare and Strips Raised at Aguadores—druantanoma Bay Occupied. Defenses Now Dnst Heaps. Washington special: Admiral Sampson does not seem to be happy unless he can give his men daily practice in gunnery at - the expense of Spanish fortifications. Nothing gratifies him and his sailors more than to see masonry and earthworks melting away before the irresistible Impact of huge shells. Having made dust heaps of the defenses pf Santiago harbor Monday and sunk the cruiser Reina Mercedes, five of its sailors and twenty-nine of its marines being killed, as the Spaniards admit, he turned his attention Tuesday to the defenses of Guantanamo bay, the first important harbor to the east of Santiago de Cuba. Five American vessels paid their respects to those defenses so energetically that they were annihilated. The demoralised Spaniards are reported to have evac-

uated hurriedly the positions held by them •nd to have given orders for the burning of the town of La Caimanera, which lies near the entrance to the bay, in case the Americans attempted to occupy it. The sole object of Tuesday’s operations, however, was to cut the cable at Guantanamo and thus complete the isolation of Santiago. Wednesday Admiral Sampson resumed operations at Santiago. After worrying the Spaniards by a heavy artillery fire he landed some of his marines, and they, acting in conjunction with the insurgents, threatened the Spanish at several points. They succeeded in capturing a fort which controls the bay of Aguadores and hoisted the Stars and Stripes there. Artillery was landed and the captured position

strongly fortified. The Spanish troops fought in a half-hearted way, and if a few regiments of American soldiers had been on the ground they would have made short work of the enemy and of Santiago. The stories of heavy American losses are untrue. The insurgents under Gen. Garcia •re doing good work. So will those under Gomez when American soldiers back them up. The Sunken Reina Mercedes. The Reina Mercedes, Admitted by the authorities in Madrid to have been sunk by the Americau fleet in Santiago bay, was a cruiser that had been dismantled and which was used as a defense vessel. Her cruising armament had been greatly

Strengthened. The Mercedes was raked by • 18-inch shell from one of Uncle Barn’s battleships, and the Madrid reports describe the shell as doing terrible JfMtrnctinn It disabled her machinery fend killed sixty of her crew and one of her officers. is expressed in shipping cird& of New York City because the govMiMiment harbot putrid boats seem to be doing inefficient work in protecting the mine fields. They claim that shipping is menaced by floating mines. Gen. Gredty has issued an order to th? cable companies that hereafter no news concerning movements of American vessels or American troops will be permitted to be sent to foreign countries. / . In the Spanish Cortes the government is attacked from all sides. Sagasta denies, government responsibility for the disaster at Manila or for Admiral Cervera’s tacsOMdiii disgatch totlie Ixihdon Times said that the Spanish believe that the Americans are tired of the war and will gladij make peace.

SMABHKD BY OREGON’S SHELL. Sinking of the Spanish Destroyer Terror Off Santiago. The Spanish torpedo boat destroyer Terror and her crew of sixty men lie at the bottom of the sea, sent there by a single shell from a thirteen-inch gun of the battleship Oregon. Not a sign of the vessel has been seen since she tried to run into Santiago Monday night. That she was destroyed with all hands there is no practical doubt. That the destroyed vessel was the Terror, left behind at Martinique, since reported at Porto Rico, and trying to rejoin Admiral Cervera, is probable. She was first detected by the New Orleans, which was on guard at the eastern end of the blockading fleet. The New Orleans threw her searchlight on the stranger, but the latter slipped from under its beams. The New York and the Marblehead, which were next in line, were signaled, and the alarm was passed to all the fleet. The flanking vessels were ordered to close in and the New York, Brooklyn and Oregon steamed toward the shore in pursuit. The Spaniard was still crowding on all speed and hugging the shore, and was now only a mile from the Cuban entrance. But the New York lay full across her path, and eScape was impossible. Then the Oregon got the range after several efforts. A 13-inch shell from the Oregon struck the plucky Spanish craft full amidships. The chase was ended, and the Spanish vessel was only a tangled mass of steel on the sea bottom. The searchlights showed only black water where the fugitive had been. The guns, which had waked the echoes of the cliffs for nearly an hour, were silent. The midnight tragedy of which some three score Spanish sailors were victims was ended, and the American warships moved out to sea. The Maine hnd been remembered. DISORDER AT CHICKAMAUGA. Alleged that Lawlessness of Every Description Is Prevalent. Gov. Atkinson, of Georgia, has been advised by the authorities of Walker County, wherein is located the Chickamauga Park reservation, that they are powerless to cope with the terrible condition of lawlessness now existing there. Gambling dens and “blind tigers” have their own way, and it is impossible to bring the guilty parties to justice. If a soldier is caught in wrong-doing and an effort made to effect his arrest, his comrades come to his assistance. The report avers that the outrages perpetrated there are beyond description. The Governor has commenced a thorough investigation, and if the truth of his information is confirmed he will communicate with President McKinley and the War Department, and demand that officers be compelled to

keep order. It is said that Gen. Brooke has volunteered to detail a regiment for this duty if it can be consistently accomplished. • Fpends •1,000,000 for Hospitals. The Government has paid more than 11,000,000 for the two hospital ships, the Solact and the Belief. The total expense of procuring and equipping the two vesseiAwill not be far from $1,250,000. It is stated that if an expedition is sent to Porto Rico another hospital ship will be needed. To Feiae Osahan. A San Francisco dispatch says that the destination of the United States cruiser Charleston is the island of Guahan, in the Ladrone groups which are, controlled by Carrying Coal to Ban Juan. Two steamers of British register sailed discharge their loads at San Juan, Porto Rico. Lwge quantities of coal are being sent to Cadis from England.

GENERAL DON ARSENIO LINARES. Commander of the Spanish troops at Santiago.

REINA MERCEDES.