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Show "SINKING IHIIKI. Bravery of tho Aot Recognized by Admiral Corvora. Vtet fats teroM lt C hsnnel at lis Nr- rnwestlolnt 1 retenlln 1 o"ll llll of (efteras lrle Osltinl trsw Tlie,l I rlMiners. Waehlngtoti, Juno 6 One of tho mot daring feat ever performed by America naval heroe we that of the sinking of tho Merrlmao In tho channel at Santiago detail of which have arrived although tho daring men who performed the hntardou task are prisoner of war In Morro taslle their early release la assured and their bravery will be rewarded At soon n Sampson nrrlvcd nt San llago It wo deel led to block tho chan net The trong fortification an I the narrowness of the chnnncl would cntnll too much risk In forcing them which could not bo Justified on any pretext , a the capture of the licet held In the harbor la only a queatlon of time Having reached thl conclusion work wa Immediately liegun to put tho plan Into operation Tho Merrlmac a largo collier which had arrived with cool wa selected Her cargo wa transferred to the holds of tho war-ahlp war-ahlp and the wn Immediately pre-partd pre-partd Six torpedoes were placed along one sldo In her hull below tho water line and connected by electric wires to the brldgo from whero they were to I exploded All wn made ready Thursday morning obout tiny-light tiny-light but Sampson delayed the starting start-ing until 3 o clock i-rlday tnorntug, deeming lho chancea for success to bo hotter at that hour When the newa spread thai tho Mar-rlmao Mar-rlmao waa to be sunk In the channel and thai a call for rolunlccra would likely be mada there wnt great excitement. excite-ment. Immediately the Iowa elgnnt led that alio had 140 men who ha I volunteered vol-unteered to drive tho vessel Into the Jaw of death Soon after tho Now ork signalled 500 Other vessel followed fol-lowed rapidly unlit tho number approached ap-proached 1000 When It wax lenrncd that only alx men would lie taken there wet great disappointment Tho command of the dangerous expedition ex-pedition was given to ltlchmond Pear-ton Pear-ton llobson, a naval constructor, he being selected because of his knowledge knowl-edge of torpedo. Ills plan were a follows On deck were placed four men One wa stationed rear tho anchor to cut It loose on signal One man will bo at tho wheel and two Stallone I no that thoy could man a lifeboat which waa t being towed behind In which to ta cape. Two were to bo atatloneJ In " . the englno room Ono wa to atop tho J engine and tho other knock out the ten connection Unit Insuring the ' linking of the ahln whether tho tnrpc- 1 doea exploded or not Tho latt man to j leave the vessel wa to be Lieutenant j llobtou himself, after exploding the i lorpedoc. All tho men wtro dressed j In their underclothes, ready to awlm If j necessary They had arma In water- f tight bags strapped to themselves, and rifles lu tho llfclmnt They were after ) leaving tho ship, to row to a atcam j launch which had followed them to J the mouth of tho harbor to pick them 3 up i W hen the Merrlmao rcache 1 the liar- 3 bor alio waa discovered, and fortwenty minutes shot nnd shell rained around 1 her until ahe was sunk near Kstrella I batter) , squarely aero the channel, 1 where It wa planned to sink her It la primmed the vemel wn lilt several times butonl) two of tho men were slightly wounded lho lifeboat must have been ahot awar for tho men escaped to tho thoro In a amittl boat which was put on aa an extra sufcg' rd They were captured nnd taken to ' 1 llago and later transferred to Murro 1 Castle j Admiral Ce rtcra nvognlied the hero- s Ism of the net nialundi ruling of truco 4 suit Captnln Ovcldo to the Now ork, j where he Informed Captain Sampson ! that the men were captured nnd would j bo well treated, offering to exchnngo tin m for prisoner hi Id nt I ort Mcpherson, Mc-pherson, (in. Further detail will hardly be known until tho exchange I made The not I const Icred tho most daring dar-ing over undertaken by American naval na-val men, and reward I sure That any of them escaped with their live la miraculous lho Incident will live In history and bo an Incentive! to bravery for future generations. T.Itntcnant Hobton It an Instructor at Annapolis nnd haa been with tho fleet but a abort time |