Evening gazette, Wednesday, June 8, 1898 · page 1

 

 

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VOL. vIII. N01884:

 

NORWALK, CoNN., WEDNESDAY EVENING, JUNE 8.18.98.

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family paperthe'cazette’s ‘

advertisin‘g icblumns [will
Prove its value to you.

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EORTS IN RUINS

 

EIERCE ATTACK BY, FLEETS OF
SAMPSON AND SCHLEY.

 

SPAIN’S BATTERIES SILENCED.

 

AMERICAN TROOPS SAID TO HAVE

LANDED NEAR SANTIAGO.

 

OUR SHIPS UNIN’JURED.

 

KINGSTON, June 8.—Early on Mon-
day morning the outer line of the
defences at Santiago was bombarded,
and wheIi the ships stopped firing
most of the Spanish batteries had been
silenced, while those that were not
silenced were so badly disabled that
their fire practically amounted to
nothing.‘

At 6 o’clock the signal was given to
clear for, action, and the officers and
men sprang to their stations with
alacrity. Forty minutes later the ships
slowly formed into two lines, 800 yards
apart, on each side of the entrance to
the harbor. To the east were the New
York, Admiral Sampson’s flagship;
Iowa, Oregon, ' Yankee and Dolphin,
while to the west were the Brooklyn,
with Commodore SChley On board;
Massachusetts, Texas, Vixen and
Suwanee.

It was nearly 8 o’clock when the en-
gagement was opened by a thundering
roar from the flagship New York, and
ashell from one of her 8-inch rifles
went hustling through the air toward
the Morro, the ancient fort.

Almost simultaneously with the shot
from the New York one of the guns of
the Brooklyn roared a defiance to the
enemy.

As‘the firing Opened the two lines
began to manoeuvre, presenting abeau-
tiful and imposing sight.

Admiral Sampson’s squadron turned
_ to the east and Commodore Schley’s to
the west.
er ships, in obedience to a signal,
steamed out of the range of the heavi-
est shore batteries for the purpose of
attacking the light field batteries that
had been erected near the beach.

The battleships, remaining a con-
siderable apart, steamed
slowly in pouring a devastating fire on
the strong shore defences that were
grouped at the mouth of the .harbor.

For an hour a perfect storm of shot
and shell landed in the batteries and

distance

At the same time the light-‘

 

forts, doing frightful execution. The
Spaniards stood;it as long as they could,
and then their fire began to slacken.

Shells from the fleet could be seen
landing and exploding on the crest of
the hill on which the Morro stands and
at the bottom Of which were some of
the strongest batteries.

As shells landed in these batteries
there would be a roaring that could be
heard above the din of battle, and then
above the clouds of dust and masses of
flying masonry could be seen guns and
men blown high in the air.

The cannonading was kept up until
10.20 o’clock, when the New York sig-
nalled “Cease firing.”

During the battle one gun located
east of the Morro was seen to be hit.
It was lifted bodily into the air and
hurled for a great distance.

A magazine on the west side of the
entrance was set on fire by a Shell
which exploded in it.

By this time the 01d Morro had been
transformed into a picturesque ruin,
part of what had been its walls lying
in tumbled heaps of masonry, while
the part still standing was torn ‘and

rent with great holes, where the solid ‘

sh'ot had ploughed through.

A short distance beneath the Morro
stands an old stone fortification in
which it was known Lieut. Robson and
his fellow heroes of the Merrimac were
confined. , This was, of course, not
fired upon, and the American gunners
were exceedingly careful that none of

their shots went anywhere near enough

to the structure to harm their im-
prisoned c0mrades.

The Suwanee, which was firing close
in shore, was struck by a bursting
shell. William Rose, a seaman, was
struck in the leg by a flying fragment,
but his' 1njur y is slight.

The ships suffered slightly fr om the
recoil of their great guns. The mili-

tary. mast of the Massachusetts was

struck by a shot, but the damage did

 

' not amount to much.

ADMIRAL SAMPSON ’S REPORT.

WASHINGTON, June 8.—The Navy
Department received a dispatch from
Admiral Sampson at 7:15 o’clock last
evening, announcing that between 7:30
and 10 o’clock Monday morning he
bombarded the Santiago fortifications
and entirely silenced them.

CERVERA’S ACCOUNT OF THE
FIGHT. -
MADRID, June 8.—The following olii-
cial dispatch has been receivedfrom
Admiral Cervera :
“Six American vessels have bom-

barded the fortifications at Santiago,

and along the ajacent coast. Six were
killed and seventeen were wounded On
board the Reina Mercedes; three offi-
cers were killed and an officer and
seventeen men were wounded among
the troops.

“The Americans fired fifteen hun-
dred shells of different calibre. The
damage inflicted upon the batteries of
La Zocapa and Morro Castle were un-
The barracks at Morro
The enemy

important.
Castle suffered damage.
had noticeable losses

 

BRIEF WAR NEWS.

Five hundred American troops were
landed a short distance east of Agua-
dores.

Only one man in the American fleet
was injured during the bombardment.

The fighting top of the battle-ship
Massachusetts was slightly injured by
a Spanish shell.

The rebels in the Philippines are
closing in oh Manila.
Filibuster cases
O’Brien and eight others were dropped.

against Captain

J. F. Jiminez, a prisoner of war, now
in Fort Monroe, will be placed on trial
in a few days. -\

A dispatch was received by- the Navy
Department at Washington from Ad-
miral Sampson saying that he hadbom-
barded the forts at Santiago and com-
pletely silenced them. .

Cape Haytien and Madrid dispatches
indicate that while the American war-
ships attacked the forts: about Santiago
de Cuba the insurgents engaged the
Spanish forces on land and United
States troops were landed a few miles
east of Santiago.

Ittwas thought in 'Washington that
the troops at Tampa had begun to em-
bark for Santiago.

Aguinaldo, the insurgent leader in
the Philippines, has issued a procla-
mation pointing to a desire to establish

a native government under an Ameri-

can protectorate. ‘

The Monitor Monterey started from
San Francisco for Manila, accompanied
by the collier Brutus, which will tow
her from Honolulu.

The Buffalo,

auxiliary cruiser

formerly the Brazilian warship Nicthe-

rop, arrived at Newport News yester-
day. She will be armed and armored
so as to make a formidable fighting
ship.

The French Line steamer Lafayette,
from Havana to Verda Cruz, which

touched at'Corunna, has on board Gen-

eral Blanco’s aide-de-camp, ‘who bears
ofiicial dispatches to the Spanish
Government.
of
the Pompey, died of apoplexy; his
funeral was held at Key West.

Lieutenant-Commander Sturdy,

THE TERROR SUNK.

KINGSTON, June 8— Undera terrific
fire by the whole American fleet, a
Spanish torpedo boat destroyer, sup-
posed to be the Terror, was shattered

and sunk as she was trying to sneak in-

to the Santiago harbor Monday night.
Her destruction was accomplished in
a few minutes, so terrible was the
f-usillade from the American ships.
The torpedo boat destroyer Was dis-
covered by the lookouts on the battle
ship Texas. Immediately there was a
call to quarters. ~
The Texas gave the signal to the
whole fleet, which at once flashed their
searchlights on the enemy and began a
The Terror'was
sunk in a remarkably short time.

terrific cannpnading.

/

 

i published in Madrid,

.b .attended from his late home in
“BrOOkTyn, to-dav. Mr. Bristol had a

 

,_ month.

AMERICANS AND IN-SURGENTS
CO-OPERATING.

LONDON, June 8.—A dispatch to
"The Daily Mail” from Cape Haytien
says: ' h

“The American victory at Santiago
de Cuba has cleared the way for the
entrance of Admiral Sampson and the
destruction of the Spanish fleet. As
Santiago’s land defences are reported
weak, it is likely the city will yield to
a vigorous attack.

“It is reported that the commander
of the Reina Mercedes, second in com-
mand in the Spanish fleet under Cer-
vera, was killed in the engagement.
The combined American and insurgent
forces are entrenched near Baiquiri,
with guns mounted, in preparation for
a further movement. From Spanish
sources comes report that a party of
Americans landed at Aguadores, but
Whether it is true or not the result
is not known here.’

SPAIN CANNOT HELP CERVERA.

WASHINGTON, June S—There is ab-
solutely no hope of naval reinforce-
ments for Admiral Cervera or for the
blockadedcity of Santiago de Cuba.

Spain is without the power to send a
single ship to his assistance.

Reports of the appearance of a Span-
ish squadron in the vicinity of the
Windward Tslands and that Spanish
vessels were sighted off Madagascar, as
' are absolutely
erroneous. ,

Information of an authentic charac-
ter reCeived by the NavyDepartment is
to the effect that the Spanish reserve,
squadron is still at Cadiz, and there is4
little likelihood of its immediate de-‘
parture. ‘

 

Funeral of Edward Bristol.
The funeral of Edward Bristol will.

number of acquaintances in town and
leaves a wife and infant child. His
wife was formerly Miss Frances Smith
for a long time book-keeper at the
Wheeler Straw hat manufactory.
Mrs. James. Forbush of Berkeley street
and Miss Amanda Smith of Merwin
street, are sisters-in-law of the de-
ceased.

The Fire Laddies.

The several fire companies of the
local department held regular meetings
last evening and indulged in .practlce
exercise.

The Phoenix lads went to School
street, the Hopes to Cross street and
the Pioneers to the Armory, and at
each objective point there was a good
showing of whatthe fire laddies were
capable of doing whenever called upon.

The usual refreshments were served
at the different headquarters after
practice.

———————<m->u~——————
McCormick—Pomeroy.

Mr. John L. McCormick of New
York, and Miss Alice Pomeroy of
Academy street, this city, were mar-
ried at St. Mary’s church at 7 o’clock,
this morning, by Rev. Father Barry.
Miss Carrie Henry was the bridesmaid,
and a brother of the groom acted as‘
best man. Mr. and Mrs. McCormick
received the usual congratulations . and
a wealth of wedding gifts.

School Meeting.

The annual meeting of the South
Norwalk Union school district was
held last evening, E. A. Woodward
presiding. ,The several reports were
read and accepted, and the old board
of officers re-elected. The meeting
was one of the shortest on the records
of the district, occupying scarcely
twenty minutes of time. The same
amount of tax as last year was laid.

————————<n<—+>—*——————
Visiting in Town.

Father Sheehan. 3. “Norwalk boy”
recently ordained to the priesthood at
Buffalo, is in toWn for a two weeks’
visit. He will celebrate mass at St.
Mary’s church next Sunday morning,
and will be assisted by his two brothers,
Father John Sheehan of East Hartford
and William Sheehan of Alleghany
college. Returning flom his vacation
trip he will be assigned to a church in
the Erie district, N. Y.

‘ ‘A:.
‘

The Steamboat.

It is reported that the steamboat .

Belle Horton will be placed on the
route between South Norwalk and New
York on or about the 20th of this

REPORT

Commits mm Aili-
Ilflllil Water 311111111.

The joint committee appointed at the
annual city meeting to investigate the
matter of obtaining an additional sup-
,ply of water sufficient to meet the im-
mediate necessity of the city and re-
port at a meeting to be called for the
purpose of hearing said report would
respectfully submit for the considera-
tion of the citizens of the city of Nor-
walk three distinct plans:

FIRST. The completion of the 16-in.
pipe line from the junctiOn nearDaniel’ s
mill to Belden avenue, a distance of
four and :i miles.

SECOND. The e1 ection of a pumping
station and well at Broad Rivel and
the extension of the 16in. pipe line, a
distance of nine thousand feet, more or
less, from the station to Belden avenue.

THIRD. The erection of a pumping
station and well within the limits of
the city, the station to be located in
the valley below Allen Betts’ mill.

EXPENSE.

The carefully estimated cost
to complete the Iii-in. pipe
line containing every de-
tail of expense is

The erection of well and
pumping station at Broad
River $8,000 '

Extension of the 16-in. pipe

$49, 703. 04

line to the station $17,000 25,000.00
The erection of well and

pumping station as report-

ed within the city limits S,000.C0

FREDERICK MEAD,
LESTER HYATT,
D. WARREN FITCH,
CHAS.,OLMSTEAD,
CHAS. .N. WOOD.

*‘REPORT

; OF THE

Chairman 0111111 Water
-, Commissioners,

to the
City. Meeting,‘ Held June
lst, l898.

 

Your commissioner after due con-
sideration of the propositions submitted
to this city meeting, most respectfully
recommends the proposition No. 2, of
the joint committee’s 1eport, and say
that this proposition will, in the judg-
ment of your commissione1,provide all
the additional supply of wate1 neces-
sary for an emergency, and that if the
amount necessary to construct the im-
provements is appropriated by this city
meeting that the water department
will be able out of its surplus earnings
to pay not only the interest upon the
cost of construction but within a pe-
riod of 5 to 7 years will pay the whole
cost of such construction.

ommends that the repairs to the Grupe
reservoir, necessary, as reported in the
engineer’s report contained in the an-
ual report‘of the water commissioners
at the annual city meeting, be made.
Signed, .
FREDERICK MEAD,
Water Commissioner.

 

The report'submitted by your com-
mittee for increasing the water supply
of the city has been submitted to. the
undersigned for consideration. We
endorse the first and second proposi-
tions named in said report, but cannot
endorse the 'third proposition, which
proposes to establish a pumping sta-
tion on Barnum Brook, so called.

CHARLES N. WOOD,
r- ROBERT VAnBUREN,
CHARLES OLMSTEAD.
Norwalk, Conn., April 23d, 1898.

Engineer’s Ramon

.01: THE

CITY OF NORWALK.

NORWALK, Conn., Dec. 6th, 1897.
To THE WATER COMMISSIONERS OF
THE CITY OF N ORWALK
GENTLEMEN: ——In accordance with

 

 

l

i your orders, I have recently visited the

And your commissioner further rec- .

‘ShOI t or

 

Grupe . Reservoir, and carefully in.
spected the dam as to leakage.

One‘ leakgin particular is more exten-
sive than it has heretofore been. Yet
I do not think that there is any imme-

diate danger to the dam on account of

the same. Our waste of water by these
leaks is getting to be enormous, and I
would advise the early repairing of the
dam. I would also suggest that the
leaks be ca1efully watched during the
coming winter.
Yours very respectfully,
CHARLES N. Woolly.

 

g, -.... .
‘ Engineer Hlll’s Report.
NEW HAVEN, Conn., Dec. 24th, 1897.

MR. C.N .Vi’OOD, .
City Eng-ineel, N orwalk, Conn.

DEAR SIR,—At your request I have‘

examined the dam at the Norwalk Re-
ceiving Reservoir, and beg- leave to
submit the following report:

Naturally the first question to be con-
slde1 ed is the stability of the dam.
Measurements of the face and exposed
portions of the dam, and the? evidence
you have gathered as to the dimensions
of the covered portions give us the
probable cross section. On this we
have constructed the resultant pressure
curve due to static pressure of full.
reservoir. (See blue print attached}
This resultant pressure curve shows
that the dam is stable, but the margin

of safety is not great enough to admit '

of very much deterioration of the face
masonry.

The testimony you have gathered
seems to establish the fact, that the
leaks are slowly increasing. This is
what would be naturally expected con-
sidering the character of the work.

The stones of the face masonry appear
to be of suitable shape and to be well
laid but the cement (aside from the
pointing of more recent years) appears
to have been poor, particularly that
examined in the vicinity of the moré

numerous leaks.

While I do not consider the dam in
any immediate danger, yet the condi-
tions are such, that they will not im-
prove, but may be expected to grow
worse. and in an increasing ratio.

On the sound precept of “a stich in
time,” 1epairs should not be ve1 y long

delayed.
Another reason why repairs should

be taken in hand soon, is the great
waste of stored water by leakage
through the dam; amounting according
to measurements byyourself and others,
to about a million gallons per day; or
about the same as the total consump—
tion by the city.

In view of the facts. that the present
storage capacity is very small in com-
parison with the yield of the watershed,
that the City suffers from scarcity of
water in periods of drought, that the
leakage of stored water is bound to in-
crease, thereby causing the storage
available for droughts to continually
diminish, while the needs of the city
continually increase, this great loss of
stored water, about equal to the total
amount used by the city is a serious
matter. While’ of less importance
when water is abundant, in seasons of
protracted drought, it means great in-

convenience and expense, increasing .

year by year.

Probably an equal amount of water
could not be obtained more economical—
ly than by stopping these leaks.

As to the methods of accomplishing
it. Any attempt to stop the leaks on
the face of the dam would prove futile,
and might do harm.

We have noted that some of the ce-
ment used in the original construction
was evidently poor, not much better
than a mixture of loam and sand: Such
cement alone cannot be depended on
to hold the face stones in place against
heavy pressure. That it yielded under
pressure is shown by the curve down
stream of the coping on the top of the
dam, which has a middle ordinate of
4°. This coping was undoubtedly
laid straight originally, but when the
p1 essure from full reservoir came on,
the joints in the masonry evidently
compressed slightly, due to the weak
cement; throwing the top of the wall in
a quite regular curve down stream.

Therefore, if the leaks are stopped
at one point- on the face, they would
doubtless break out at another point,
and might loosen the beds of some of
the stones, with serious results.

I think your plan of stopping the

leaks at the back of the masonry dam '

is the only safe and practicable one.

The work. should be thorough, ex-
tending over the entire back of 'the
wall from top to bottom.

The excavation of the earth backing
should be of sufficient width, so that
thB e extreme bottom of the founda-
tion 'onry is reached, the space he-
tweedthe sheathing and masonry will
be n'Ot' less than about. three feet.
half sheathing, in several
tiers would probably be desirable, for

 

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