The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, May 15, 1898, Page 1

The Call VOLUME LXXXIII.—NO. 166. SAN FRANCISCO, SUNDAY, MAY 15, 1898—THIRTY-TWO PAGES. MOVEMENTS OF SHIPS OF THE RIVAL FORCES Sampson Sends Dispatches to Washington From Puerto Some of the Vessels of the Spanish Fleet Plata. PRICE FIVE CENTS. MONSTER FLEETS AT HIDE AND SEEK SPAIN'S CAPE VERDE FLEET NOW HEADED FOR CUBA'S COAST Cienfuegos. At Last It Would Appear the Dons Are Seeking to Reach Havana or Sampson and Schley in Quest of the Enemy’s Ves- Are Yet Hovering Around .~ sels and May Soon Co-operate in a Great Sea Martinique. Copyrighted, 189, by James Gordon Bennett. ‘ harbor this morning. The ap- |8t Louls sailed from here this morning, | Call Office Riggs House B 3 | 3 - hi ¢ | going in a westerly direction. The | i ¢ PUERTO PLATA, San Do-|proach of the warships to this port| fniteq states cruiser Montgomery ar- Washington, May 14. m May 14.—The this afternoon. s torpedo-boat Porter arrived | She | United | created the greatest excitement. The cruisers Maria Teresa and Vizcaya later in the day entered rived hére at 7 o’clock in order to take on coal. The United States auxiliary | cruiser Yale, formerly the American line steamer Paris, has also called here Last night every one in Washington was speculating s idly past old Colum- | the harbor. The cruisers Almi- | and it is understood she will clear with | 35 to the whereabouts of the ; et ; | | the Montgomery for Key West. 5 : bus Fort, where no flags were dis- | rante Oquendo and Cristobal | N My {4 —The Starisacnia | various fleets and their prob- played nor any other official recog- | Colon are cruising out at sea with i en of her presence, and | two torpedo-boat destroyers, 1| teresting light gathered from an offi- : . | cial source on Admiral Cervera’s | have been unable to ascertain how‘ ek hA ol i ek | enough, not even the Presi- Lieutenant Vincent came ashore | long the Spanish warships will re- | Verde Islands. It appears that he tn p lheaded for St. Pierre Miquelon, en the | dent or members (}!; e War in the Health Officer’s boat and|main here, but it is believed they | 3 : | : | f Newfoundland, wh 2 cent dispatches to Washington to| stopped_ here only to receive and | iiulons waitd hin. Thers e [EORGARE S jetermine the future course of |send dispatches. | liers from Sydney were met and the | SamPSOH s fleet was at that Madrid dispatch via Paris throws in- |able destination. = Strangely ak nit cast anchor in the harbor. = < e Spanish fleet coaled. Rear Admiral Sampson’s fleet. | vera's instructions then were to raid | Other ships are sailing along the | the war between the United States | portiana, Boston and Newport, and if | would be, for coast of San Domingo awaiting a | reply searchlight thrown ashore t is believed to have come an American hospital ship go- west. The Porter was not hurt at San | Juan, although she went within | 1500 yards of Fort Morro beside lowa. Lieutenant Vincent y got in very close with- | seen, although the light- | lighted. There was no | s for fifteen min- | 1e men in the San Juani obably being asleep. pson had no intention | barding the town, purpos-| ing only to attack the fortifications. He did not wish particularly to de- molish Morro, but the stronger works on top of the bluff to the east. Shots fired at these works | must have done some damage to the city beyond. The barracks appeared to have been destroyed, and some of the guns were hit, but the fort was not silenced and was peppering away heavier than ever when the Porter left on Thursday, sailing first to- ward St. Thomas and then coming back here. The Porter occupied a position where Fort Morro’s guns would have told but for the fact that the best of the Spanish marksmen could not fire straight. Some of the Spanish guns used projectiles which tumbled in the air, revolving as they fell. The Americans pointed at them in as- tonishment. No Spanish warships have been sighted by Sampson’s fleet. The Porter expects to leave here as soon as she gets word from Wash- ington. The sailors who came ashore from the Porter complain of the heat, and say accommodations on her for a sea trip are very poor. The belief aboard is that the Spanish squadron may try to cap- ture the battleship Oregon. ST ST SPANISH WARSHIPS OFF CURACOA ISLAND Arrival of Some of the Enemy’s Fleet Caused a Belief That a Battle ‘Was Imminent. Copyrighted, 15, by James Gordon Bennatt. WILLEMSTAD, CURACAO IS- | lief that there may be a battle in Great interest is taken here in | | and Spain, and the appearance of | the Spanish warships caused a be- | this vicinity. The harbor was | thronged all day with sightseers. | —_——- | | SOME OF THE FLEET | SEEN OFF MARTINIQUE Signal Lights Back of St. Pierre| Cause Consul Darte to Enter a Protest. | Copyrighted, 1898, by James Gordon Bennett. | ST. PIERRE, Martinique, May | 14.—The general situation here re-i mains unchanged. What was sup- posed to be part of the Spanish fleet was seen again to-day off the southwest point of the island. The | Spanish torpedo-boat destroyer | Terror remains at Fort de France. | The Spanish warship Alicante is | also in the harbor. Signal lights | have been seen along the hills back of the city for two nights. | Consul Darte saw the Governor of Martinique at Fort de France| and lodged a protest. He was told that everything in the world would be done to put a stop to the sig- nals. It was noticed that the sig- nals seemed to have decreased after this. Captain Cotton of the United States cruiser Harvard is being treated very courteously by the authorities here. It is impossible to state how long he will remain. The Harvard is still in a disabled condition. Her mooring in the har- bor has been changed. REPORTS FROM VARIOUS VESSELS From Paris Comes a Story Showing How Cervera’s Movements Were Changed. CAPE HAYTIEN, May 14.—The steamer Supply (formerly the American steamer Illinois) under command of Lieutenant Roberts from Philadelphia arrived here at 5:30 o'clock to-day. Upon his arrival Lieutenant Roberts wired to Admiral Sampson for orders Admiral Sampson is at Puerto Plata, on the north coast of Santo Domingo. He communicated to-day with the American Consul at Cape Haytlen. BUENOS AYRES, May 14.—Advices from Rio Janeiro confirm the reports of the arrival at Bahia, Brazil, of the United States warships Oregon, Mari- etta and Nictheroy. The steamer Rio Janeiro, which has arrived at Pernam- buco, reports having seen during the night Wednesday last three vessels supposed to be Spanish warships, cruising before Cape San Anostinogo. LAND, May 14. — Six Spanish men-of-war were sighted off this ST. THOMAS, Danish W. L, May 14 —The United States auxillary cruiser Admiral Cer!time or what its destination Rear Admiral Sampson bombarded | : Sarn'pson’s e e O e aangea |O7ders were discretionary. B proposed move was 1o as. | 500N after the cablegram was S S chd rapity Tor Havana | Feceived from Captain Cotton Bl Toenia i “betters: | Of the Harvard locating the sfier reaching Sentase de Cube|Spaniards off the island jof avoid them, sail stralght for Charles- i Cabinet had given a brief Santiago ton and bombard that city. half hour’s consideration to the matter, Secretary Long of the Spaniards unless he was apprised by cable via St. Thomas or by his scouting cruisers that the enemy had sailed from Martinique in a conttary direction, in which case he was to steam as rapidly as possible for Ha- vana. This cablegram of necessity passed through St. Pierre, | Martinique, and there was §delayed in telegraphic trans- | mission or else the dispatch cruiser Yale delayed its trans- filed a cablegram to Sampson | it directing him to go in questE Sampson received news from | Straits to Sampson at San Juan. However that may be, is certain that Admiral Martin:que that the Spaniards had sailed southwesterly, for early this morning he was reported off the north coast of Hayti, near Puerto Plata, steaming rapidly westward. When the department this afternoon received reliable news that the Spaniards had been sighted off the island of Curacao, Venezuela, 5oo miles west-southwest of Martinique, the officials could account for its arrival there on no other hypothesis than that reports HATTERAS fLYING @ &%fifibpoh & GO DEcyBA JAMAICA CARIBBEAN_SEA ATL 2 (,, TAMPA - ‘\’\, - S 85 e eln Tk el o Ke Wi s7 @ BLOLKADING FLEE , :fl:Ld, ‘ ! HAVANA o o T e P 2 S e Gitp e iy z PORTO RICO - | SAN DUAR, e ST THOY AR e S MTIGUA &5' TWADALOUPE @ € miruca MARTINIQUE A LA 5 W BARHBADGES “RINIDAD S P2 ('AYENNE' squadrons. Bir;dseye view of the West Indies and a&jacerit waters and coas mately, according to the latest reports, of the Spanish fleet and the several American ts, showing the posit ions, approxi- Battle With the Hostile Ships. the effect that the Spaniards were still in that vicinity were willfully misleading. To have traversed this distance would have required at least forty- eight hours, so that the ves- | sels must have left Martinique some time on Thursday. It is considered barely possible that Spain has more vessels on this side of the Atlantia than we are aware of. It has been suggested that | possibly the vessels observed near Martinique for the last day or two did not belong to the Cape Verde fleet, but | were some small men-of-war [belonging to Spain, which mission across the Virgin|from St. Pierre last night toihovered in those waters for | the purpose of deceiving and | distracting attention from the Cape Verde fleet. It was sug= | gested that Spain might have assembled a “quaker fleet” off Martinique, while the Cape Verde fleet might be moving in some other direction. This, of course, is the merest spec- ulation, but illustrates the |condition of uncertainty | which prevails here. The de- 3 partment officials insist there is absolutely no doubt that the vessels at Martinique on Wednesday comprised what is known as the Cape Verde fleet, but they do not know whether this_fleet has been augmented. The press dis- patches contained in several of the morning papers, stat= ing that the fleet is composed of eight war vessels and seven torpedo-boat destroy= ers and torpedo-boats, was puzzling to the department, but whatever uncertainty may have existed heretofore it is pretty well settled to- night that a powerful Span= ish fleet was this morning |off the coast of Venezuela, near Curacoa, steaming west= ward. It was at first sur mised that the Spaniards had taken this route with the hope that they might be able to intercept the Oregon and Marietta, but if such is their intention they will be woefully disappointed, for