The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-06-14
eminent if he did not send a vessel inside

eminent IL he did not send vessel inside
MORO Castle to protect the few American res
identS in Havana, especially the New York
newspaper correspondents there who were daily
subjected to every form Of insult. and were in
constant danger Of being stilettoed. The Admiral
stared at Stephens In amazeufent, but quickly
recovering himself beckoned to the officers on
the deck, to whom he gave an order In an un-
dertone Within minute the signal had been
run up 10 the masthead, Send all correspond
ents ashore" order that was promptly
obeyed for no sooner had Stephens reached the
land than trunks going over the side
of every ship in the feet, followed by their
owners, and that night there very lively
party of New York correspondents at the hotel
ir Key West, all of whom agreed that there
must be something extraordinary on the tapis
when they were sent ashore so unceremoniousy
and so quickly. l could narrate some other
vagaries Of poor Stephens by which certain cor
respondents were induced to lie off MORO Castle
all night in the United States dispatch boat
Batch in heavy sea, under the impression that
they had received from him important dispatches
which it was necessary to get to New York by
steamer. go that they should not be tempered
with; but the poor fellows head was, as the
event proved, helplessly gone, although 1t was
some time before his associates realized it. The
Batch had been put at the dispose! of the Key
West correspondents Uy Secretary Fish, they to
pay the cost of her coal alone; and yet with this
advantage on their side Mr.. Stephens beat them
all.
no picnic to use slang phrase. just then.
The Spaniards took their own time about sur
rendering the Virginius, and meanwhile she was
made the receptacle for ali the garbage, filth.
offal, swill and nameless excrement OF the Ha-
vanese.
She lay short distance from the shore, and
at night she was made the public sink. 1t would
have been worth the lives Of the American news
paper men to have written up how gleefully the
Spaniards defiled the vessel night after night,
mt sho had l1v haoouna N
nostrils of the city itself. And it was only when
the stencil from her could no longer be endured
with safety in Havana and when even the out
side of her hull had been covered with filth, that
the Spanish authorities decided to surrender her
in accordance with the agreement stated above.
Word was secretly sent to the American feet
that the surrender would be made In the harbor
of Bahia Honda. a port about hun
dred miles west OF the harDor OF IA
island. Mr. Sullivan had been watching the
Vlrginius night and day. He knew that her
condition was such that unless the Spaiards in
tended to sink her the surrender could not be
long delayed. He was also intensely curious to
know how the American commander would re-
ceive the Virginius in such a condition. One
night he noticed that the Spanish flagship In the
harbor of Havana had got up steam, and he re-
solved to spend all that night on the shore.
His vigilance was rewarded, for shortly before
daybreak he noticed that the Isabella Catolica
weighed anchor and bore down on the priva-
teer, which she took in tow and steamed quickly
out to sea; but the move was not made so
quickly as to prevent Mr. Sullivan from finding
out that her destination was Bahia Honda,
down the coast.
There was only only one course open to him
if he wanted to be witness of the historic sur
render. He purchased a horse forthwith, and
by the evening OF that day he had ridden hun
dred miles. Next morning the Virginius was
formally turned over to the American feet in
the harbor of Bahia Honda by the Isabella Ca
tolica and Mr.. William III. Sullivan. of the New
York Tribune was the only American witness
of it outside the officers and crews of the United
States war ships. Seeing the abominable condi-
ton of the privateer the officers and men Of our
war vessels were In frame of mind" over the
international insult and the deep disgrace; they
had no alternative but to accept her, though
there were scant courtesies between them and
the Spanards The Virginius was taken in tow
by the Ossipee to Key West, and after commu-
nicaton with the State Department at Wash
with her for New York. Meantime, Mr.
Sullivan rode all the way back to Havana after
the surrender, and the news was the New
York wire a few minutes after he reached the
city. Next morning the Tribune came out with
a graphic account of the historic incident, albeit
all reference to the use to which the Virginius
had been put in Havana harbor, and the condi-
ton the vessel was in when she was surrendered,
was carefully suppressed. The New York Her
aid had gone to enormous expense TO get the
earliest news of the surrender, and had some
eight or ten men at Key West on board the fleet
and at Havana. Mr.. Sullivan, however, man
aged to beat them all single handed, and on the
morning when the Tribune published the
exclusive news that Spain had fairly entered on
the process of reparation for the alleged outrage
on the stars and stripes, the Herald presses
were stopped and Mr.. Sulivan's dispatch from
Havana was reprinted in it's columns, for which
due credit was fairly given to the paper founded
by Horace Greeley.
But this brilliant feat of journalism had
tragic side. The Herald men were instantly re-
called Poor Stevens set out to return to New
York from Key West by the City of Houston, of
the Mallory line; but the knowledge that he and
his numerous associates had been outwitted by
single correspondent of a rival newspaper was
too much for the brain. already weakened by
overwork and continuous mental strain. Off
Hatteras he jumped overheard in heavy sea,
and though life buoy was thrown within his
reach he persisted. How it happened that the
Virginius never reached New York will be ex-
planned in another paper.
THOMAS J. BARRY.