The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, February 26, 1898, Page 3

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL ATURDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1898. PLANS OF NAVAL MEN FOR WAR Important Steps Ordered by Assistant Secre- tary Roosevelt. One of the Most Interesting Matters Is the Preparation of Auxiliary Cruisers for Hostilities. NEW YORK, Feb. 25.—A Washing- ton special to the Herald says: ge ¥ preparations of the most import- t character yet attempted by the Navy Department were formally de- cided upon to-day and necessary orders carrying them out were issued by Chief ng Secretary Roosevelt. These pre- arations include: First—Orders to vessels in different parts of the world, looking,to their bet- ter strategic disposition. nd — Shipment of guns mounts for auxiliary -cruisers the Washington foundry to the New York Navy Yard, where in a few hou they can be placed on board vesse the International Navigation Compan: Columbia Steamship Company. Re “D" Steamship Company, and New York and Cuba Mail Steamship Com- a and ions of stores and com- isers Minne- monitor Mianto- n Katahdin. hipment to works of the of torpedo tubes and appli- and torpedoes for the torpedo Talbot d Gwin, which will shortly undergo their steam trials. The authorities have given up all idea f keep ecret the preparations which being made, and while d clining to go into the details as to or- which are being given, it is gen- known what steps are being to put the country in condition that orders have sels which entail movements to different points, what vessels are ‘affected and y questions which the ine to answer. stated, the Asiatic ling at Hongkong, away from the Philippines. It is generally ed that before decis ive action is taken by the administra- tion the cruiser San Francisco ar gunboats t being appreciated that not be effective armored cruisers of the Spanish navy. The cruiser Cincinnati and gunboat Castine will probably re- n at th rbadoes until the arri al t the armored cruiser, will with Captain C. M. Ches- er commanding the Cin- 1 the Castine, and these three 1l then probably proceed to ayra, where they will join the ts Wilmington, Vicksburg and gunhc Annapc Quite a large number of guns and mounts for auxiliary cruisers will be shipped, commencing to-morrow, to the Brooklyn Navy Yard. There are now available for auxiliary cruisers forty nine 4-inch, forty 5-inch and forty-o 6-inch guns. There is hand a large number of six and one pounder guns and machine guns. The Herald showed several days ago that the St. Paul, St. Louis, New York and Paris would require forty 6-inch guns, twenty 6-pounders and sixteen machine guns. It is evident that these vessels could be transformed into auxiliary cruisers without delay. The Advance and Alliance of the Co- lumbia ~ Steamship Company will re- quire twelve 5-inch and twelve ma- chine guns. Twenty-eight 5-inch guns would thus be left, and eight of these also on vould be placed on board the Segur- | tF0ODS be withdrawn from the island | Paratory work is being done on the would be placed on Aelx‘:;l and the insurgent army who hnlrlsr:Rk' new mortar batery at Fort Preble by and title be recognized as leaders in | Captain ance, Vigilencia and Concho. of eighty 4-inch guns will he needed to equip the remaining vessels which would be available for duty as auxil- fary cruisers, forty-nine of which will be shipped to New York. The gun foundry is now assembling a number of 4-inch guns, and it is expected that within the next few months forty-five guns of this caliber will be ready for service. For six and four inch guns for aux- iliary cruisers the department designed ome months ago a pedestal mount. ixty-six feur-inch and twenty-seven five-inch guns were reported as com- pleted some months ago, at which time forty-five were being pushed to com- | pletion. The Columbia and Minneapo- are commerce-destroyers. They have been in reserve for some months, idea being when they are assigned they could be got at placed in commission in ten days. Their | st have been assembled and are now ready to be placed on board. This Will probably be done, so when the de- partment directs that they be placed In commission all that will be neces- sary for officers and crew is to go aboard. The monitor Miantonomoh, which is also at League Isiand, has been re- ' paired, and minor repairs required will be made as rapidly as possible. Like the Terror, she has a displacement of 3390 tons. The ram Katahdin, which was placed in ordinary some months ago, 18 also in need of some minor re- pairs. These will be completed as qulcklgl:‘s possible, her stores will be assem! , and, like other ®hips at Lepgue Island, she will be put in condi- Emer- | from | Bancroft and Helena will be | ready and | tion to go to ea just as soon as her officers and men may arrive on board. The Katahdin is the only representa- tive of her type in the world, her prin- cipal arm of defense being her ram. There have been a number of applica- tions made to the department by offi- cers of the commander rank desiring to be assigned to her in case of war, Com- mander G. H. H. Wilde being especially desirous of receiving this billet. The Navy Department was informed some d ago that the torpedo boats Tal- bot and Gwin had been launched and would undergo their stem trials in a few days. The Talbot and Gwin are mazll boats equipped with two torpedo tubes. Lieutenant Commander T. C. McLean, in charge of the torpedo sta- tion at Newport, has been directed to ship to the works of the Herreshoffs torpedo tubes and appliances and tor- | pedoes for the Gwin and Talbot so that | these vess can be placed in commis- i sion immediately upon the conclusion | of their steam trials. The department has prepared a cir- | cular letter, which will be sent as a re- ply to hundreds of men who are desir- ous of entering the naval service in the | event of war. This letter states that applications will be placed on file and the candidates for enlistment will be | called upon if needed. | AMERICANS IN HAVANA ARE GREATLY ALARMED. | They Fear an Outbreak During a Big Demonstration to Be Held Sunday. | NEW YORK, Feb. 21.—A cable to a morning paper from Havana says: Americans in Havana are special | | the Government at once if necessary. | used for testing purposes. One is three- |MEMBERS OF A GUN Lalarmed to-day over the probability of | an outbreak. There is serious trouble | brewing and the Spanish authorities are alarmed. Yesterday was an excit- ing day. The Spanish vessel Monte- video arrived and anchored within a pebble’s throw from the wreck of the ‘! Maine. The Montevideo brought from Spain a thousand soldiers. When the Span- ish soldiery learned of the appalling disaster to the Maine they could not refrain from displaying their joy. The wreckers and marines engaged in ghastly work of recovering the [ bodies were compelled to listen to cold- blooded taunts and sneers. | “Death to Americans,” was the yell. | Later when the officers of the palace visited the Montevideo there was a | such exclamation. | _The soldiers were marched to the | Prado and later to the Castle of Prin- | cipe, where they were supplied with | rations. A few days ago It was said at the palace the soldiers were to be pushed into the interior at once. Doubtless this was Blanc intention then, but conditions have changed. There is to be a big demonstration in Havana on Sunday, and the cap- tain-general will retain his troops in the city. The demonstration to be | held Sunday has been on foot for more than a month. The efforts of Blanco to crush it out by commands and threats have proved fruitless. The element which is opposed to au- tonomy and which favors the bringing back of Weyler is growing all the time, It proposes to be heard, and heard it will be on Sunday. That is why Blan- co has retained the scldiers. | The autonomist party has ben split, and the so-called Radical wing has re- organized and formed a new plan of autonomy. This plan is that Spanish what shall be known a: | militia. This plan is t great protest on the Spaniards. It.is felt in Havana to-day on the part of Conservatives that Sunday’s he { demonstration is the beginning of a | studied movement to depose Blanco. General Arolas, the military Governor | of Havana, whose military stren=th as- | sisted in promptly crushing out the last | demonstration, is in the hands of weak- | er leaders in whom the foreign consuls ; have lost confidenc Bt ] Sicard Yet in Charge. KEY WEST, Fla., Feb. 25.—Com- | mander Clifford H. West, chief of Ad- miral Sicard’s staff, sailed on the Mas- | cotte to-day for Havana. When asked | tbe purpose of his visit to Havana he | replied: “I cannot say anythin- for publlcati(&n i Ve Rear Admiral Sicard is still in ch: | of the fleet, which with the ex(‘epat‘;g: of the New York and Towa, remains at the Dry Tortugas. | The New York and Iowa lie off this | harbor. The admiral says to-night | that he expected to be there soon, and | he looked much improved. The ad- miral expects the Marblehead and the | Detroit on Sunday, but says the fleet | will not be brought in a body to this | harbor. A No Extra Powder Ordered. SANTA CRUZ, Feb. 25.—Although war rumors are prevalent there are | no indications at the California Pow- | der Works here of any orders being re- ceived for an increased output of Gov- ernment powder. The works are en- gaged In filling the usual contract for powder for the Government. There is always on hand about two hundred tons of sporting and blasting | companies are being formed, which will | | s the colonial | under the general supervision of Major cause of a | Hexie and Lieutenant Howell of part of many | United States Engineer Corps. | | | ~ il " Iglesia Mercedes in Havana, Where the Funeral Services for the Maine’s Dead Were Held. powder, which can be turned over to| At the works there are three big guns | inch, another six-inch and a third eight-inch. The largest can throw pro- Jjectiles nine miles. — CLUB AS VOLUNTEERS. Five Hundred Sharpshooters Proffer Their Assistance to the Government. NEW YORK, Feb. 25.—The prospect of war with Spain is stirring the people | in Port'Chester and other villages in Weschester County. The war spirit is so strong that two volunteer ndlitary tender their assistance to the Govern- ment in case war really does come. The Port Chester company is already 200 strong. At Rye a company of rifle rangers is organizing. Port ester was more keenly shocked at the disaster to the Maine because Newell Rising Jr., a young man popular in the village, was one of the victims. Rising’s father is a prominent mem- ber of Charles Lawrence G. A. R. post of this village. The post met last night and passed resolutions of eulogy on the dead saitor and of condolence to his famtly. It was decided to erect a | granite shaft to young Newell Rising’s memory on the post plot in Rye ceme- tery. Jeremiah Byron, president of the Mount Vernon Gun Club, sent a letter to the Secretary of War last night vol- | unteering the services of the club, in’| all 500 accurate marksmen. To-day Mr. | Byron received a letter from Secretary | Long, thanking the gun club and stat- ing that the letter had een duly filed for refetence in case of need. MOUNTING THE FORT PREBLE MORTAR BATTERY. Soldiers Detachment of Regular Placing the Big Ten- Inch Guns. NEW YORK, Feb. 25.—A Portland (Me.) special to the Herald says: Pre- Field and two assistants | A de- tachment of Fort Preble soldiers sta- tioned at the fortifications at Portland Head is being utilized in the prelimi- nary work pertaining to the mounting of the big 10-inch guns. _— Six of the Wounded at Havana. HAVANA, Feb. 25.—At 6 o'clock, when this dispatch was sent, Holzer is | still sleeping under the influence of an | opiate. He is no worse than he was | this morning, but is very low. Includ- | ing him, there are six wounded left | here, and all are reasonably certain | of recovery except him. Some difficulty will arise in removing them to the United States, for all have been ex- | posed to contagious fevers, and | the quarantine laws forbid their | being taken direct to Key West. These | regulations were disregarded in case of | the first lot of wounded taken there on | the next day after the explosion, be- | cause of the extreme exigencies of the | case. R e | Bodies Cannot Be Disinterred. | | ‘ | | ‘ WASHINGTON, Feb. 25.—The friends | of the victims of the Maine disaster have discovered that they cannot have their bodies brought to this country in cases where they have already been in- terred. This is due to the fact that the Spanish laws forbid the exhumation of corpses until the expiration of the period of five years ofter burial. The prohibition had its origin in the fear of infectlon from contagious dis- eases. Bome applications have already been made to have bodies brought to the United States by private individ- uals, and they have encountered this obstacle. = SIGNIFICANT ORDERS COME Northern National Guard Ordered to Prepare for Emergencies. All Companies to Be FilledeUp and Placed on a War Footing. In the Event of Hostilities the Militia Will Man the the Forts. Guns at Spectal Dispatch to The Call. SPOKANE, Wash., Feb. —Signifi- cant orders were to-day issued from the headquarters of the State National Guard at Olympia for the commanders of infantry companies to immediately | recruit their companies to their full strength and increasing the maximum strength of the two cavalry troops in the State to eighty men each. The wording of the orders follow: 1. Thecaptain of each company of infan- try in the National Guard of Washington will proceed without delay to recruit his command to its maximum strensth of sixty_enlisted men. 2. 'Each troop of cavalry is authorized hereby to increase its maximum strength from sixty to eighty enlisted men. By order of the Commander-in-Chfef. Official: J. E. BALLAINE, Adjutant-General. | Orders have also been issued gazet- ting new officers to fill all vacancies. Everything is evidently being done to put the National Guard in the best of condition. The light battery of artil- lery stationed at Spokane has been try- ing for several years to secure modern machine guns, and is now informed it may secure them in the course of a few weeks. The battery had almost given up hope of securing them. National Guard officers say the issu- ance of orders to recruit up to the full authorized strength is the result of or- ders issued from the War Department | to the adjutant-general of every State in the Union. have the orders been issued so far. It is understood that General Ballaine re- ceived his orders by telegraph while in the interjor States the orders are sent by mail. So far as can be learned from officers of the National Guard and army officers, plans are being prepared under the direction of the Secretary of ‘War whereby the volunteer troops in the border States will in event of war be placed to garrison the seacoast and other important army posts, save those | that are equipped With heavy artillery, while the full strength of the regular army will be mobilized on the Guif coast. According tc an officer, the Ore- gon Guard will be called upon to garri- son Fort Vancouver and Fort Stevens, while the Washington Guard will be placed at Fort Townsend, now aban- doned, Magnolia Bluffs, Fort Walla Walla and Fort Spokane, while the Ida- ho Guard will garrison Fort Sherman and Fort Boise Barracks in Idaho, the one in the Department of the.Colum- bia, and the other in the Department of the Platte. ROOSEVELT IN CHARGE OF THE NAVY DEPARTMENT. Worn Out by His Tireless Exertions, Secretary Long Leaves for a Brief Rest. " WASHINGTON, Feb. 25.—Secretary Long has been under a heavy and al- most constant strain ever since he was awakened in the m'ddie of tha nizht In not all the States | | a week ago last Tuesday by the news | of the loss of the Maine, and now that matters are, at least for the present, in r state, he has withdrawn from v Department and gone away for a few da rest, leaving Assistant Secretary Roosevelt to manage the de- partment.g The latter has been thor- dvised at every step of the ’'s policy of the treatment of ine affairs, so that there is not the M likely to be any change in that respect caused by the temporary assumption of | the duties of Secretary by Mr. Roose- velt. Just before the department closed he had word of the sailing of the cruiser Montgomery from Tampa for Key West. Up to that time the vessel had been given no orders, so that the date of her departure for Havana, if she is | to go at all, is conjectural. The ;ship went to Tampa instead of Key West on her return from San Domingo. in or- der to facilitate the speedy return to his duties in Washington of Captain Crowninshield, the chief of the Naviga- | tion Bureau, who saved a full day by | the movement. | The Castine, the second of the United | States warships on the South Atlantic station, arrived to-day at Barbadoes, | where she joined the Cincinnati. It may be that the Castine may go to Martinique to be docked, as she is in need of cleaning after her trip. |WRECK OF THE MAINE | SINKING INTO THE MUD. ‘ It Will Be Necessary to Remove Guns | " and Deck Debris Before Rais- ing the Hull. HAVANA, Feb. 25.—The wreck of the Maine is slowly but surely sinking into | the mud. Before the hull \could be | raised it would be necessary to move | the guns and deck debris. For lack of | proper appliances practically nothing in | this line has been accomplished. Aside | from the officers’ cabin effects, the sal- | vage thus far has ben pitifully small. The cloudy weather and rain made the work of the divers unsatisfactory to- day, and very little was done. It is said that a hole has been made by thé divers in one of the forward hatches, and it is hoped that a number of bodies will be recovered. The court of inquiry sat longer than usual to-day, the six divers being ex- amined miore in detail than heretofore. The Spanish cruiser Alfonso XIIT has been towed to a buoy further within the harbor to maké room for the cruiser Vizcaya, which is expected here to-morrow or the next day from the north. No word has been received at the Consul-General's office from Mr. Bar- ker, the United States Consul at Sa- guala Grande, and it is believed that the report of Mr. Barker’'s illness is untrue. NICARAG UA AWAITS COSTA RICA’S REPLY. If Her Demands Are Not Acceded to War Is Likely to Follow. Copyrighted, 1598, by James Gordon Bennett. MANAGUA, Nicaragua, Feb. 2%.—To the Editor of the Herald: The Diet has demanded an explanation of Costa Rica. Nicaragua, in accordance with her agree- ment, awaits developments before acting. ELAYA, President. PANAMA, Feb. %.—Telegraphic advices from the Herald's correspondent in Ma- nagua, Nicaragua, state that the press and people are adverse to war with Costa Rica and the Government desires peace, provided it is Fuamntee«i by Costa Rica acceding to Nicaragua's just demands, thus avoiding future trouble. Otherwise the Government wants war. The Govern- ment of Costa Rica has not yet answered the Diet of the greater republic, therefore relations remain bitter. It is reported that President Iglesias has held a meet- ing for the discussion of war, and.that the meeting was strongly opposed to it. Special envoys are en route to Salvador, N‘l’cungun, and Costa Rica for mediation. T e Jockey George Barrett Dead. LONDON, Feb. 2%.—George Bartrett, the iockaev. is dead. N SHAPE FOR ACTIVE HOSTILITIES. | | CONTRACTS ARE TO BE HASTENED Ammunition and Guns for the Army Are in Demand. Quicker Deliveries of Ordnance and Ordnance Stores Now Required by Chiefs of the War Department. NEW YORK,, Feb. 25—A Washing- | ton special to the Herald says: Pres- | sure is being brought to bear by the chief of the ordnance and the chief of the engineers of the army on the con- tractors who are behind in the fulfill- | ment of their contracts with the de- partment, and instructions have been | issued directing them to hasten partic- | ularly the completion of contracts for | suns and ammunition. The work has | been progressing quite as rapidly as| practicable for months at all points | where seacoast fortifications are under | way, and the rate of progress of the | engineering work on emplacements | cannot be greatly accelerated, except‘ on Southern coasts, where weather con- | ditions do not affect excavations and buildings. Quicker deliveries of ordnance and | ordnance stores are, however, possible. | It is understood that the Bethlehem | Iron Company has been asked to hasten | their deliveries of eight-inch, ten-inch | and twelve-inch guns, and the Tredegar | Iron Works of Richmond, Va., the| Rome (N. Y.) Locomotive and Machine Works and the Driggs-Seabury Ord- | nance Company, to push the delivery | of shells for guns and mortars of various caliber. The Government gun carriage fac- | tories at Rock Island, Tll, and Water- | town, Mass., the arsenals at Water- | vleit and’ Frankford and Springfield | Armory have all received orders to in- | crease their rate of supply. Ammuni- | tion is just now the great need of the | department, and for this reason the small arms and ammunition plant at Frankford is expected to turn out not less than 40,000 ball cartridges, caliber 30, for the Krug-Jorgensen army rifle, and 20,000 miscellaneous cart- | ridges, most of them of the caliber of 45, for use in Springfield rifles, only supplied to the National Guard. Re- | quisitions have alse been made on the | Frankford arsenal for shrapnel, canis- ter and sights for cannon. Ordnance officials decline to make | public the amount of ammunition now on hand, but it is known to be so small as to induce the department to mak- every possible effort to increase it at the shortest notice. In the event of an outbreak of actual hostilities purchases of ammunition abroad wouid be necessary, and is contem- plated. No anxiety is felt with re- gard to supplying the militia with am- munition. Their small arm Spring- field rifle can easily be supplied from private manufacturers of the Eastern States. The Scott Foundry at Reading, Pa., is working night and day in the hope of completing by the last of June the 16-inch. Brown segmental wire-wound gun which it is building for the War Department. This will be the largest gun manufactured for the army until the 16-inch built-up gun now building at Watervleit is completed. The wire gun will weigh twenty-six tons, its muzzle velocity will be 3000 feet per second and its muzzle energy over 35,- 000 foot tons, which it is estimated would penetrate both sides (projectile entering on one side and going out on the other side) of the armor plates of a modern battleship. The gun has a tensile strength of 150,000 pounds to the square inch. The wire jacket, which takes up the entire circumferential bursting strain of the powder, has a tensile strength of 250,000 pounds to the square inch. The steel in the Govern- ment built gun has a tensile strength of less than 100,000 pounds per square inch. The calculated muzzle velocity of the Brown segmental tube wire- wound gun is 3000 feet per second, and the calculated muzzle energy is over 35,000 foot tons. The muzzle energy is greater than the muzzle energy of the Government thirteen-inch gun, which is the largest and most powerful gun, in the service. The Government thirteen-inch gun weighs fifty-one and a half tons; its muzzle velocity is 2100 feet per second, and its muzzle energy is 34,155 foot tons. In the event of successful tests of this gun it will be placed in some important position of coast defense. Many stories are current respecting the plans of the War Department for transporting troops and for conducting a possible campaign in Cuba.* It is not expected that the authorities will con- fide to the puBlic at this juncture such plans as may have been formed in this direction. It is a well known fact the Quartermaster’s” Department is pre- pared to furnish transportation for large bodies of troops at the shortest notice to the Atlantic Coast and to the Gulf, and steamship lines have been approached and are prepared to furnish adequate transportation to the Cuban coast if necessary. The military information division, through its various agencies, is amply equipped to furnish a store of informa- tion and maps, and it may be said that the army, if called into action, will not be found unprepared for decisive work without the loss of valuable time. The presence at Atlanta, Ga., of Ma- Jor General Wesley Merritt, command- ing the Department of the East, is not an indination that ha hae aséablichaed headquarters there for the direction of the movements of troops in the South. General Merritt is making his annual inspection of the posts of his depart- ment, which includes all the States on the Atlantic Coast and the Guif, except Texas, and the States east of Missis- sippi, south of the lakes, excepting In- diana and Illinois. His inspection at this time will naturally have more than ordinary importance, and is calculated to increase the efficiency and economig distribution of the troops of the depart- ment. Major General Miles, commanding the army, to-day emphatically said to me that reports of a rupture between him and General Merritt on account of the latter officer’'s making public informa- tion about orders and department plans is entirely unfounded. He said he has no occasion to criticize General Merritt, and that he has his entire‘confidence. DIVERS AND A CONSUL ARRIVE FROM CUBA. But the Official Will Hurry Back to Protect His Family From the Spaniards KEY WEST, Feb. 25.—On the steam- er Mascotte, from Tampa for Havana this evening, were Captain Everett and John Hagerty, divers of the Merritt and Chapman Wrecking Company, who are going to work on the Maine. They take with them two assistants and a large quantity of wrecking machinery. Carlos Yznaga, United States Consu- | lar Agent at Trinidad de Cuba, is also a passenger. He left Havana two weeks ago on a three months' leave, but is now hurrying home from New York to protect his wife and children at Trinidad, as he fears the Spaniards there will provoke a riot. After consul- tation with Consul General Lee, Mr. Yznaga will decided whether to take his family from Cuba. The Mascotte replaces the steamer Olivette while the latter is laid up tem- porarily for repairs. Out of the seventy passengers from Tampa, only about a dozen went to Havana. The traffic is all the other way. ADVERTISEMENTS. 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