The herald and news. (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, May 15, 1914, Page THREE, Image 3
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
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