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SOI TH CAKOLINA'S I'AKT ^ IN TAklM. OF VEIM < IJIZ Kicliarri ('. Kt'ed, Jr., in Letter to 'The State,4 Tells of Occupation by , Marines oi Mexican Tort. The State. Thj ba tleship South Carolina played an important part in the capture c:' Vera Cruz. Richard C. Reed, Jr., of Columbia is a member of the crew of the South Carolina, being employed i as an elec rician. He was recently j j app int d as an assistant paymas er j of the navy. .Mr. Reed has sent the' following story of the fight at Vera Cruz to The State: The S.a:e of South Carolina may < well be p.oud of the battleship that bears ner name, though the sl-ip herself had no opportunity to show li -r prowess. Her crew l'crmed the second j battalion of the second naval regi-! ment, the rosigment thai: was to expe- ! rience the sharpest engagement of the three days' fighting and to suffer the i greatest loss in killed and wounded. ! After coaling and receiving supplies at Key West, we awaited the arrival of the vanguard of toe Atlantic fleet, consis:ing of the Arkansas, New Jersey, New Hampshire and Vermont. These arrived oil April 10 and immediately the trip to Vera Cruz was S begun. For two days we steamed ahead in battle formation, the flagship in the lead and the South Carolina in the rear. The rear position was assigned us because our cap:ain was junior to all other captains in the squadron. (Until Tuesday midday the speed of the fleet had been 12-12 knots an hour. Then the flagship signaled to break formation and each ship was ordered to make rs best speed to Vera Cruz. Ten minuets after the signal was given our big forced draught blowers were going and volunteers from the deck force were in the fire rooms. Every man did his best, with the result tha: wi.hin an hour the Vermont was trailing in our wake, and after another hour and a half we had edged the New Hampshire out JPof third place. Our ambition was to [ put the New Jersey behind us and | ihen make the speedy Arkansas look to her laurels. But before we realized t I our ambition a signal was received to hold to 17 knots for the rest of the! trip. Ordered to Land. B On Tuesday af.ernoon we received' the first defini.e information that we; |Lv;ere to land immediately on arrival. At 4 o'clock in the afternoon we were "ordered to dye our white service uniforms a khaki color, or as near tha: color as possible. By 6 o'clock that< night every man of the landing force had his two outfits dyed and dried, which gives some idea of the resourcefulness of a big battleship. True tne outcome mignt no: nave satisned the critical eye of a fas:idious woL*nan, but the result was such as to' make it more difficult for a Mexican; . to see his game. ' * How was this dyeing accomplished? I The ship's hospi.al /furnished us with aboufe three gallons of iron solution ; We wet our clothes in plain water, dipped them in the Iron bath, then i i in a dilute lye bath- and hung them 1 on the line to rus:. At 2:20 on the J morning of April 22 we dropped anchor just outside of Vera Cruz har bar. The impressions of those mo-; ' ments on deck while waiting to em- j bark on the ship's boats will long re-; main with us. The entire city was; L spread out before us. The twinkling j | of countless street lights suggested J fairy land; but we knew from the ex-! I perience of the Utah and the Florida ] I the day before tha: appearances were j ^deceitful and that on landing we' Rhould probably find some drawbacks ^ "to the enjoyment of life. t ;Each man carried 150 pounds of flmmnnitinn 01 Vinm>c>' nr?A?(?An/n' ' Cfcfcll 1*1 UUAUVU auu iiUUi O CiiiCi rations. As soon as a boat would fill l with men it would shove off 10 make \ room for another. All running lights ' would be put out and at once the boat would be lost in the darkness. With engine muffled, it made i:s way through the breakwater as best it could to pier No. 4, where we were to disembark. All the Mexican for, tifications around the city were blinded by our searchlights. This was a peaceful and very effective way :o protect our little open boats from a fire that would have been disas:rous. % As it was we were exp ?sed only to the fire of individuals in boats and along :he water front. This fortunately did us no further harm than to keep tour nervous tension up to a high pitch. It was not till we had landed oH the dock that we suffered our first loss. While waring for the remainder of the regiment to disembark one of our number fell with a bullet through bis brain. Then was shown the value of the hard training and discipline of the military life. Though :he forces were made up of boys scarcely ou" of their teens, very f w of whom had f . f jf.tr seen active service be-ore. tnore was no confusio. . | \thame (Hi Square. At 4:4" o'clock the rder was given' i " ; ! ! ) inarch and w proceeded without : mishap 'o t .e big open square in ; front of he Terminal hotel. Posses- J : -ion of this had already been secured by l ie crews of the Florida and the I t'i 11 r*n tlio rk* af o11 i n cr T1 ^: 11* i: rl m \ * i f _ v i.iii v'n Liiv v,v. x iiiM ouaj ai | ternoon: all th > stree s leading into lie square had been barricaded, and the p wer j/ant had also been captured and held despite a very stubborn resistance. The saving zf the city's liglring system ma do possible . the speedy restora ion of order and peace. j At S:30 o'clock we were completely organized, and the command was issued for us to capture and occupy the southern part of :1k city. The regimen: was composed of the Xew Hampshire, Xew Jersey, South Carolina and Vermont under Oapt. Anderson of the Xew Hampshire. We marched out of the square into a side stree; leading toward the naval academy. We advanced down narrow stree*s, our ranks 12 deep and our I guns unloaded. When we arrived at the rear of the naval academy, the battalions were halted, and, as we i were expecting trouble a few blocks ; further on, this was selec:ed as a ! good place to load. The academy was ' closed up and seemed to be deserted i . I T n f? f r> + !">/"* A A] I .jusi as mc v-uiuuiaiiu w as> il> ! load, we suddenly (found ourselves 1 in the very midst of ".he 'roubk j which we anticipated a few blocks j further 011. The academy was not j S3 innocent as it looked. The spiteful j spitting of a machine gun, reinforced by the barking of 100 Mausers, made I us realize that we were in a pretty ! bad trap. We broke ranks and | sought safety in the open field to our , ! left. This offered very little shelter,: i I but we were spared the peril of be! ing shot into close formation. Our , ! officers displayed great courage and | ! auicklv established a firing linp in ! ~ ? j I front and stopped a dangerous firing | ihat was going on in the rear. It i I was soon manifest ':hat we could ac- ! I complish little, and so we were with i drawn to a safe distance, while the United States ship Chester opened up j her five-inch battery. Her firs: shot! ! carried away one cornor of the roof, j and tight minutes afterward the j place was in ruins and not a shot was j comiag from it. Our forces buried 42 , bodies taken from Uis building, bu:; the exact number killed and wounded at this place it not known. Fire in Rear. While the bombardment was going on, we were suffering from a nasty fire in our rear, coming from small ! boats and isolated houses. So we began in a systematic way to clean up the place'. We turned our field pieces i on every house tha: opened fire on | us, and it was not lcng befo'-'e this ; method proved effective. By '5:30 in j the af tern con we had joined the j forces that were detained to take the northern part of the city. At 6. o'clock, after an hour's rest, the South Caro una Da.iajuon received orders to i march out o:' the city about three miles and take up a position to defend the city against a night a:tack from :he direction of Mexico City. We occupied a small hill that overlooked both the railroad and the wagon road. Our trenches were finished by 8 o'clock and then began a long night of "watchful waiting." All night we lay in the trenches without covering. We had eaten nothing since j 1 a. m. the morning before. But! this gave us little concern, thanks to the excitement o?f the day, and the suspense respecting what was yet to come. It turned out that nothing happened, ar.d we returned to the city nex: morning. The remainder of our s?tay on land was taken up with routine duties. The arrival of the army was wel- j corned by all, and now we are safely j aboard ship, hoping for orders to re-j [ turn home, having been in the | tropices for nearly five months. It was my good fortune to hear j Cap:. Anderson remark to our Cap- j ! tain on the return of the Sourh Caro- i 1 lina battalion: "Capt. Russell, may it j always be my good fortune oo com-! mand such men as yours. Their con-! . due: on and off the field is all that' | any one c:uld desire." HOUSE IS BURNED. i ! Manning, May 13.?A six r:om j ' dwelling situated on Church street! on r l-i next to Clarke's tobacco ware-! : ho" e was totally destroyed by fire' 1 early tonight. The building belonged' o !> '. W. M. Brockington and was! worth about $2,000. It was occupied ( W TT Prppfv arirl familv wnn wara ' up town when the fire was discov1 ered. The origin of the fire is un-! known, but it started in the upper j back part the building. There was $1,000 in<ii ranee on the h:use and' $500 on iy> ? furni1 ure. A large par-' tion o- ' ie household goods was saved by people who responded early to the alarm. I i i J PERI BROI A steak broiled Perfection Oil tender and del The New Per special broiler, sits away from which gets all broils both si All the flavor o saved. New Pci OilCool means easier wc clean kitchen. Made with 1,2, ers; also a nev ifireless cookini. At all hardware and dc STANDARD 01 Washington, D. C. (New Jc Norfolk, Va. BALTEV Richmond Va. Pleasure and "One of the best reas without telephone service, mer, "is the pleasure it tnnwlpd ere th at while T ar tection that the telephone On the farm the telej and is the means of bring gency that may arise. If you haven't a telep the nearest Bell Telephon our free booklet and learr costs. FARMERS' LINE SOUTHERN BELL TE AND TELEGRAPH C TO DRAW JURY. |< Notice is hereby given :hat we, the j undersigned Jury Commissioners for Xew'oerry county, S. C., will at the office of the clerk of court for said ! c.un y, at 9 o'clock a. m., May 22nd, j 1014, openely and publicly draw the | nam- s of 30 men, who shall serve as ( I etit jurors at the c:ur: o: general. i !p^ ECT LING [ on the New Cook-stove is icious. fection has a i I I a hood that the flame but the heat. It des at once, if the meat is r/Setioit k-stovc Drk and a cool, 3, and 4 burns' stove with oven. ;partment stores. [L COMPANY rsey) Charlotte, N. C. IORE Charlcstown, W. Va. Charleston, S? G. I Protection ons why I would not be writes a Georgia far gives my wire and the n away, she has the progives. )hone dispels loneliness ing help in any emerhone on your farm see e Manager or write for l how little this service DEPARTMENT XEPHONE COMPANY ? AS sessions, which shall convene at Newberry court house, S. C., June 8th, 1914. Jno. ij. Lpps, Eug. S. Werts, Jno. C. Goggans, Jury Commissioners for Newberry County, S. C. May 11th, 1014. fw8| No. 3022. ? Russet Calf C Oxford GINK, $ Jjjlxs Short forepart, well raised toe c Medium height h< 22SbS When everythii and before an done, the issue down to just *rr a H t| Are you going to get t i? the $3.50 or $4.00 or / intend to spend or are yoi II It's up to you. B ^To our way of thinkii many hundreds of thousai I can't get a better shoe thar ? J But don't take our word for yourself. The reasonable thin | i 1 Copeland | I Newberry," S J]'{FansDrink- ft". -;4 JlQ)omans DrinkQverijbcdtjs Drink ^ ^ . % igjgsgsp .;. ^ '' '' .* ' ."' * '' ' ." v* A \ /igorously good ? ? delicious. Thirs ? and refreshing. 1 The national be 1 ?and yow Demand the genuine by fu Nicknames encourage sub: THE COCA-COLA CO Whoever At] you see an Arrow think of Coca-Cola. _ I I Mayes' Bugi Spring Cl< MAYES' DRU< | ? 400 YW*&m 1 !J ll ng 15 ScUU' |Mi <ything is ill narrows Ifif this:? yf he best shoe for $5.00 that you Ik i not? 1| i H if ig, together with m nas of folks, you 9 1 the shoe. it. Examine them g to do, isn't it? #1 Bros. 11 w B , ',?,,'i*,???%??<v.?v?i'?v ; ' j :.v.y??y.s'v onJ Lopnlt/ I ' CU1U xvv^v/iuj t-quenching verage |S| m * A * if* icicle tor waning ^ STORE j '