The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, May 28, 1898, Page 1

% powerful marine glass, said he discerned four others. ( Y - The VOLUME LXXXIIL—NO. 179. SAN FRANCISCO, SATURDAY, MAY 28, 1898. PRICE FIVE CENTS. CERVERA HAS OUTWITTED SAMPSON AND SCHLEY, BIG FLEET STEAMING NORTHWARD Conflicting Reports as to the Whereabouts of Cervera. Madrid Declares He Is Yet at San- tiago, but Doubt Is Expressed Elsewhere. Copyrighted, 189, by James Gordon Bennett. ORT AU PRINCE, Hayti, May 27.—It is reported here that a Spanish fleet of fourteen vessels passed Mole St. Nicholas, going northward through the Windward Passage. SPANISH FLEET OFF COSTA RICA. Copyrighted, 1898, by James Gordon Bennett PANAMA, May 27.—Passengers arriving here yesterday on an Italian steamer from Cartagena report that they saw three warships, supposed to belong to the Spanish fleet. One passenger, who hada The ships were apparently heading for Port Limon, Costa Rica. * The Herald’s correspondent at Port Limon cables that at about s o’clock yesterday eight ships were sighted about ten miles from port. Owing to a heavy fog it was impossible to distinguish the flags of the fleet, but from the size and form of the vessels, it is believed that they were warships. The eight vessels were going in a northerly direction and at about 6:30 o’clock disappeared from view. CERVERA YET AT SANTIAGO. CHICAGO, May 27.—A private cable to the Associated Press from a reliable person in Port Au Prince, Hayti, dated May 25, asserts that he had positive information that at that time Admiral Cervera’s fleet was in the harbor of Santiago de Cuba. REPORTS FROM SPANISH SOURCES. MADRID, May 27.—Blanco cables that Cervera’s squadron is still at Santiago and that the bulk of Sampson’s squadron is blockad- | ing that port. Schley’s squadron is watching the Yucatan Passage. Blanco cables that the destroyer Terror arrived at Fajardo, Porto | Rico. She intended to go to San Juan, but found four American war- ships cruising in front of the harbor. SCHLEY'S CHALLENGE TO CERVERA. NEW YORK, May 27.—A dispatch from Key West says: Schley is reported to be master of the situation at Santiago and is seeking all means to make the Spanish fleet come out and give battle. Yesterday, it is reported, he sent a boat with a white flag into the harbor with this message: ““The Spanish fleet has the alternative of cominrg out and fighting or remaining in and starving.”’ Another Key West dispatch says: Itis reported on the best au- thority that Cervera has escaped, having left Santiago on Saturday. It is believed he intends to attack the Atlantic cities, and one of the American fleets is watching for such a move. Cervera may possibly go to Porto Rico, but he cannot get into Havana. THE YALE OFF MOLE ST. NICHOLAS. Copyrighted, 1898, by James Gordon Bennett. KINGSTON, Jamaica, May 27.—The steamer Beda, from Halifax, arrived at Kingston to-day. She reports having passed the United States cruiser Yale at 6 o’clock yesterday morning. then cruising in the Windward Passage, off the Mole St. Nicholas. DISPATCHES FROM @ADMIRAL SAMPSON. WASHINGTON, May 27.—There is reason to believe the navy officials to-night received dispatches from Admiral Sampson although at 11:30 P. M. no bulletins had been made public. At 2 o’clock this morning the dispatch-boat Dolphin of Commodore Schley’s squadron ran alongside the flagship New York, which was then off Havana, and informed her that she bore dispatches for Admiral Sampson from Com- modore Schley. It was considered probable these dispatches contained information of the precise whereabouts of the Cape Verde squadron, and, quite naturally, the information would be sent to the naval authorities here as soon as boats and telegraph wires could carry it. That the naval officials have received information is not doubted, but as yet they have not admitted the fact. CERVERA AWAITS RE-ENFORCEMENTS. LONDON, May 28 —A dispatch to the Financial News from Kingston, Jamaica, says: The master of the fishing schooner Jane, which has arrived here, reports having picked up a yawl containing two reconcentrados who had escaped from Santiago de Cuba. He says they told him that Admiral Cervera’s squadron was in the | harbor; that the vessels were coaled and victualed and were ready to sail ““when the Cadiz squadron arrives next week and breaks the blockade."’ The Yale was | A Story That the Spanish eet Has Never Been dl Santiago. CHICAGO, May 28.—The Inter Ocean prints the followingi this morning: KINGSTON, Jamaica, May 26 (Held by Press Censor and re- lecased on order of General A. W. Greely, May 28, I A. M.)—Admiral Cervera’s fleet is not now nor has it been at Santiago de Cuba. This is the statement of Licutenant-Commander Marix, United} States steamship Scorpion, who boarded the Premier in latitude 20:30, longitude 79, early this morning, after firing a shot across her bows, Liistaking her inthe darkness for a Spaniard. Marix was on his way to Cienfuegos, where he believed Schley had | Cervera bottled up. Upon being told that Schley had gone to Santiago de| Cuba, where he supposed the Spanish fleet to be, Marix made the state-| ment that Cervera was not in Santiago now, and had not been, and said he knew what he was talking about, as he had left there but a few hours | before. : | He then returned in haste to the Scorpion, and crowding on all possible steam sailed away in the direction taken by Schley’s fleet. The Premier has been with Schley’s fleet since leaving Key West and a record of the movements of the celebrated squadron may be of interest. After being for three days on the razor edge of momentary expectation of doing tattle with the Spanish fleet, Commodore Schley’s squadron, composed of the powerful battle-ships lowa, Massachusetts and Texas, the armored cruiser Brooklyn, the commo- dore’s flagship; the cruiser Marblehead. the gunboat Castine, the torpedo boat Dupont and the torpedo destroyers Vixen and Eagle, sailed out of Cienfuegos Tuesday night. Every man aboard was disappointed and cursing mad. For three days they had watched the 100-yard wide entrance of the harbor of Cienfuegos with every gun shotted %and fully manned, every moment of the night and day. They were almost positive that the Spaniards were inside and that if they had any fighting blood in them they would come out and take a licking. Over a depression in the hills between the city and the Caribbean Sea the men aloft could see the topmasts of four big ships that were in the harbor, and they watched hungrily as reconcentrados might watch a shipload of food. In the dark of the night a torpado boat even sneaked inside the harbor to within little more than half a mile of the ships, and the men aboard feasted their eyes on four big, dark forms and twelve smaller ones floating in the bay. They figured these out to be the four cruisers and the three torpedo-boat destroy- ers from Cape Verde and several small gunboats that that fleet had picked up along the coast and further whetted the appetites of the boysoutside by telling them all about it. It was not until dusk of Tuesday, when the Marblehead and the Eagle returned from a scouting ex- pedition, in the course of which they had communicated with the insurgents ashore, that it was learned positively that the Spanish fleet was not inside. There was nothing left then but to start out again on the hunt, and this was done within an hour. | | Schley’s fleet left Key West Thursday night, May 19, and ariived sixty miles off Cienfuegos | | Saturday night. It lay there all night, and early Sunday morning ran in toward shore. The squadron formed into line about eight miles cff the entrance to the harbor. The fortifications at the entrance had already been destroyed by the cruiser Marblehead when two of her boats’ crews were engaged in cutting| cables there. On Sunday afternoon cannonading was heard and in the evening searchlights were seen to play over the harbor and town. On Monday morning the British steamer Adula arrived from Jamaica. Her captain showed a per- mit from the State Department at Washington to pass the blockade and take cff several hundred refugees under the protection of the British Consul. The captain of the Adula reported to Commodore Schley that on the Friday night preceding he had sighted seven ships in a bunch off Santiago, apparently bound for Cienfuegos. The captain of the Adula said when he was at Santiago Saturday the Spanish fleet was not there. Acting on this information and under the belief that the cannonading he had heard was an ad- miral’s salute, Commodore Schiey felt justified in remaining off the harbor. Instantly the signal, ““‘Clear ships for immzdiate action,”” was run up on the flagship. movable staff went overboard. | All the way from Hampton Roads the ships had been dropping things overboard. When they came | to Cienfuegos there did not seem to be anything left, but in a minute the bay was full of floating wood- work. On the Texas even | saw a chest take a header into the sea. The ships were kept close together. Bugle calls and beating drums calling men to quarters were heard from one ship to the other. The navigating officers ran up to the bridges. There was not a “conning-tower captain’’ in the outfit. Every man from the commodore down went to the bridge to fight the ship. Next came the command, *‘Silence,” from ship to ship. A little iater came, * Cast loose and provide.” Every gun was manned. Al that could be brought to bear were pointed at the harbor’s mouth. The Massachusetts stood on with the heaviest batteries. The flagship twisted around, bringing her broadside to bear on the entrance. The Texas brought her eight-inch guns to bear, and the others their heaviest. There were enough guns pointed at the hole in the shore line to cut a new passage clear through to Cientuegos. Then came a wait. Five, ten, fifteen minutes passed. There was a signal on the flagsMip, and a torpedo-boat cam= around from behind the other ships where she had been hiding. She dashed up to the entrance, then away, and back again. Firing was still heard inland, but she could not get sight of the enemy. For half an hour the ships stood ready to pulverize anything that appeared. When “return from quarters the gunners were ready to cry from disappointment. ‘ Some time afterward two Cubans came from the westward in a small boat and reported that there had been an engagement inland been the Cuban and Spanish forces. The Spaniards wers forced to retire to the city. The Cubans said the Spanish had lost 300 killed. They also said that there were 12,000 Spanish troops in the city well supp'ied with arms and ammunition, and that the entrance to the harbor was a narrow passage twelve miles iong and well mined. Theré were schooners inside that the Spaniards intended to sink in case of attack. The Cubans had not bzen in the city for some days and knew nothing about the fleet supposed to be hiding there. Before dark there was a consultation On Sunday Commodore Schley's between the officers of the Dupont and | ships moved up closer to the shore and the Commodore. After dark the Du-|formed a crescent about the entrance. loont disappeared. The torpedo boat staved inside the | | Then the " sounded crescent, patrolling close in shore. Ev- ery man on every ship, including the chaplains, was on watch. There was no light on shore. No smoking was al- lowed on the ships. White suits and hats were laid aside. Every man wore blue. ¢ The gun crews their slept “beside guns. Fighting tops were manned. All the officers stayed on deck. Thev | spoke only in _whispers. Everybody | was so on edge that in the gra dawn the Iowa narrowly missed bein~ fired on when she arrived from Key West. She was not identified quickly in the haze. There was a second call to quarters and an order to pregare for immediate action. Preprations this time cc :sisted mere- Iy of the men jumping up to the guns beside which they were lying. The sig- nals of the Jowa we e made out before any damage had been done. Next came the Adula incident, when the captain was taken aboard the flag- ship. Later on Monday the Hawk ar- rived with dispatches from Key West, and the latest news there was to the ef- fect that the Spanish fleet was reported to be at Santiago. Commodore Schley sent the Scorpion off to Santiago to scout about, and the Hawk returned to Key West with the news that the Spaniards were probably bottled up at Cienfuegos. During the day all the boats of the squadron passed up and down in front of the depression in the hills, so that all hands had a chance to whet their appetites with a sight of what were be- lieved to be the topmasts of the ene- my’s ships The night passed like Sunday night. At 6 o’clock on Tuesday r.orning three ships were sighted coming from the south. When they were still almost hull down the thunder of shots was heard again and the signal “Clear for action” went up on the flagship. Word went from ship to ship that there was no doubt about it this time. Nine shots were counted. That is the | Commander Marix, Commodore’s salute. With a sigh of disappointment Commodore Schley answered from the flagship with seven guns and instantly issued orders: “No more firing salutes.” The approaching ships were the Marblehead, Vixen and FEagle. The Marblehead and Eagle started on a scouting trip an hour later and return- ed at 6 o'clock in the evening. Signals went up on the flagship again, and it was known that the watch had been in vain. Just at sunset the fleet lined up In double column, the Brooklyn and Mar- ble head in the lead, next the Massa- chusetts and Iowa, then the Texas and Dupont, the Vixen and Collier and last the Eagle and Castine. The dispatch-boat continued with the fleet for several hundred miles. A gale was howling. the rain was falling, the seas were high, and the smaller boats of the fleet were having a hard time. The only light in the fleet was the stern light on the flagship. The gale increased in fury, and about 8 o'clock Wednesday morning the light of the flagship was,'a’t. The dispatch boat continued on ¥ _.course long after daylight, but got no further sight of the. fleet, and, short of coal and water, put into Kingston to send the news and replenish. In latitude 20.30, longitude 79, Premier was fired on at close quar- ters by the Scorpion, which was return- ing from Santiago, suppc the fleet to be still at Cienfuegos. Lieutenant | the commander, | thought he had a prize and sent a boarding party out. The officer was surprised to learn | that Schley’s fleet had lef: Cienfuegos. | He said the Spanish fleet was not at | Santlago and had not been. | He learned the rendezvous point of | Schley’s fleet from the correspondents | and started off to meet Schley as set | forth above. the ALL NIGHT CONFERENCE AT WASHINGTON. WASHINGTON, D. C., May 28— News of importance, understood to be from Commaodore Schley, was received by the Navy Depart ent late last night. Contrary to his custom, Secretary Long went to the depirtment at a late hour and was closeted with Assistant Secretary Allen, Lieutenant Whittelsey, the cipher expert of the Bureau of Navi- gation, and Generat A. W. Greely. | chief of the Signal Service, who has charge of the military telegraph system. They remained at the Navy Depart- ment until morning. | A cipher message was translated and | read at the conference. | In view ofthe arrange- | |the press any advices from Schley to the ef- fect that Cervera’s fleet was still at Santiago, the failure to make public |anything about the mes- sage would indicate that | Cervera has escaped. No positive statement to that effect can be made, however. The officers of the Navy Departnient declire to say whether anything cams from Schlev. ments made for giving to | The only answer to inquiries was “No bulletins.” LAND FORCE mMmd@y dATTACK SANTIAGO Call Office, Riggs House, Washington, May 27. Secretary Long still insists that nothing has been received from either Schley or Sampson, or from any other official source, confirming a general im. pression that the Spaniards are in San. tiago harbor. The dispatch-boat Dolphin arrived at Key West to-night with dispatches from Commodore Schley, dated “Off Cienfuegos.” They have not yet reached the Navy Department—at least have not been given out for publication. They will, it is thought, contain little news, however, for it is well known that Schley’s squadron, when it left Key West last Friday, a week ago, sailed for Cienfuegos, believing that the Spaniards were there. Press dispatches have already related how Schley’s vessels steamed all around Cienfuegos, that 30,000 rounds of ammunition were delivered to the in- surgents on last Sunday, and that af- ter destroying several blockhouses scattered along the coast in the vicin- ity of Clenfuegos, Commodore Schley steamed for Santiago, 300 miles dis- tant, while the Dolphin made for Key West with the dispatches. Therefore, it is not probable that the Dolphin brings any news from Santiago about the whereabouts of the Spanish squad- ron. It has been suggested that, if it seem to be inexpedient for Schley to land a party for the purpose of ascertaining whether or not the much-wanted Spaniards are in the har- bor, the big war signal balloon be used for this purpose. It is now at Tampa, whither it was transported from Fort Logan for use in the Cuban campaign. The War Department has a portable apparatus charged with gas, by which means it could be inflated from aboard ship, and then elevated from the deck by a windlass. The War Department is willing to loan it to the navy for thiy purpose, and unless some definite news is received within a day or two the of- fer will be accepted. It will be sent to Commodore Schley on a fast boat. It was suggested to-day that the Spaniards might shoot the balloon full of holes with their rapid-fire guns, but the Signal Service officers of the War Department believe that if it were ele- vated to a height of about a mile from one of Schley's vessels standing a few miles out to sea, a good view might be obtained of Santiago harbor and its occupants located without any result- ant harm to the balloon or aeronauts. Inthe absence of definite information Commodore | concerning Cervera’s whereabouts the ‘War Department will proceed with its | preparation for invading Cuba, and, it is believed, Admiral Sampsn upon ar- riving before Havana will immediately begin tc bombard Santa Clara and Torro batterfes. Troops will be landed t the eastern end of Cuba and will ;Jnin with General Garcia in a siege of | Santiago as soon as that can be done after positive information has been re- | ceived as to the location of the Spanish fleet. It is believed that the conference between Secretary Alger and General | Miles and two members of General | Garcia’s ‘'staff had some relation to this plan for a land attack on Santiago. Garcia’s aids claim he has 8000 well- armed men within thirty miles of San- tiago and nearly as many more that he could arm if he only had the rifles and ammunition. There may be a combi- nation between American forces and those of Garcia, which willclosearcund Santlago by land so as to shut it off from supplies. In that event it will | soon starve out. It is said that there | are some high bluffs overlooking San- tiago harbor on which siege guns can | be placed so as to fire on the fleet in the harbor, and that, owing to the height | of the bluffs, the guns of the fleet could | not be sufficiently elevated to make | any reply. The War Department has arranged for the departure of a second expedi- lon of 5000 men to the Philippines on | Sunday or Monday. Assistant Secre- tary of War Meikeljohn to-day suc- ceeded in chartering two more large | transports which will be ready to leave San Francisco early next week. It was at first expected to send 2500 men | on the second expedition, but the pro- | curing of the two steamers, the Colon | and the China, to-day, will enable the department to embark 5000 men. Mr. | Meikeljohn, who has charge of the pro- | curing of transperts, said to The Call | correspondent: s “The department to-day secured the transport Colon, now at San Francisco, and the China, which arrived at the same port from Yokohama to-day. I succeeded in communicating with Mr. C. P. Huntington in Jowa en routé for New York, who, as president of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, made a proposition to the department regarding the chartering of the afore- | mentioned ships, which I accepted by wire this morning. This gives a fleet of five transports, namely, the Zealan- dia, Centennial, Ohio, Colon and China, which will carry about 5000 troops. I hope to have them ready for sailing from San Francisco for Manila early jn the week.” A | |