St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-12-07
STIRRING SCENES AT RIO.
COMMANDER STANTON TALKS ABOUT
THE cARN0EaDiNG.
DESCRIPTION OF THE HARBoR.
Position of the Fleet and the De-
struction Wrought on Shore
Personal Appearance and
characteristics of the Insur-
gent Leader, Admiral Melio,
and President Peixoto.

| Stanton called at the department dur
ing the day and made his way to the
bureau of navigation. Altogether he
spent several hours at the department
today. Secretary Herbert has request
ed that his report be made in writing.
The secretary said today that he had no
intention of keeping the proceedings or
the conclusions in the Stanton matter
secret, but that he was not prepared at
this time to make statement on the
subject. The report to be made will
! not change the understanding of the
| facts materially on which was based
the recall of the commodore. 1t has
Oeen surmiSed that he would be kept
| on shore or waiting orders indefinitely,
as result of the report. without any
further formal action being taken in
the matter, but Secretary Ii erbert's
statement seems to indicate an inten-
ton to formulate the result more ex-
plicitly than this.
Commander Stanton consented tonight
to talk concerning the scenes surround
ing and stirring incidents of the harbor
OF Rio JaneirO. He made no. mention
of the incident which caused his recall,
but with this single reservation the
commander talked entertainingly con-
cerniDg the Brazilian troubles, describ-
ing the harbor and position Of the fleet.
the destruction wrought on shore and
the personal appearance and character
istics OF the insurgent leader, Admiral
Mello.
THE scene of all this cannonadIng is
most picturesque and beautiful spot"
said the commander. 1.-The harbor of
Riois surrounded by green hills and
number of sharply defined mountains.
which have never been subject to gla-
eial action, and are therefore rugged
and with acute peaks.
THE HARBoR
Is mewhatscircular, but grows narrow
as you approach the city. where the
stream is. s.about mile and a half wide.
AS we entered the harbor from the At
iantic, the Sugar Loaf mount am, 100
feet high, was on our left, and farther
on rose peak of 2.250 feet anu another
| of $500 feet. The first indications OF
hostilitiese one observes are Fort Santa
Cru zson the right and Fort Joas OH the
left. They are of white masonry. built
I very strong and heavy. and the surf
from the ocean dasheS against .<,the
| abrupt walls which run down to the
waters edge. Both of these forts are
loyal to the government.
Passing between them you find a
! small fort called Fort Lage, we'll built
and mounted, but not comparing with
the large Notifications. Fort Lage is
also loyal to the government. Still fur
ther on is Fort Vfllegaignon, OH an
island, which is in the control of the IN
surgents. 1t is powerful fortification
and is so far inside the harbor as to-
| place the insurgents dangerously near
the city of Rio and the town of Mic
theroy, across the stream.
; SThere is no regularity in the firing
of the various forts. They start up fit-
fully and continue for half an hour aud
then die down. Usually about four
| o'clock in the afternoon the cannonad-
Ing is the heaviest.
THE FLEETS
| of the various nations are scattered
considerably, although the local harbor
master still edeavors to grant anchorage
with some reference to the relations be-
| tween the various vessels. There are
lsnO great battleships i'll the harbor. nor
E<any vessels Of the dimensions seen at
\ tLS nav iONiCh 4NCW VI
| The English have three ships, with the
Sirius, protected cruiser much like the
| Charleston, as the ship of the senior
officer. One of the British ships, the
| Beagle, seems to keep away from the
others. and is evidently thrown forward
| for the purpose of close observation of
i the movements of the two contending
I forces. The French ship is the Are
|: theuse. which was at the New York
i naval revenue. The Germans have two
I good cruisers. The Italians have three,
I and another was arriving with the ltal-
! ian admiral OH board as l departed.
| The Portuguese have one ship. The
+ United States had two fine ships while
! l was there, and their appearance in
/ comparison with the fleets of other ma
| tiOns was enough to satisfy the mos
| ardent patriot" {
/ Commander Stanton was asked to
describe the personal appearance of
| President PeixOto and Admiral MelIo.
Il did not meet Peixoto personally"
said he. ''but heard much of him and
saw many of his pictures. In reality he
is the
VICE PRESIDENT OF BRAZIL.
as 1t is said that he prefers to hold the
| vice presidency and thus avoid the con-
| stitutional disqualification of presiden-
| tial second terms. AS vice president he
is again eligible as president, alth ough
as matter Of fact he rules in every
sense of the word. He is man of
firmness and great force of character.
Admiral MeIlo is man of medium
/ build, with swarthy complexion, small
moustache and clean-shaYen face. He
speaks English freely, although one can
detect the foreign accent. He is quiet
in his manner. put gives evidence of
travel and culture. The government
forces concede that Mello is a brave
officer. When l saw him he was not in
full uniform of the Brazilian navy, al
though he holds to the regular uniform
and flag. He wore what is known as
service uniform, consisting of a small
cap instead of chapeau, and frock
coat with shoulder bars instead of
epaulets. He was not accompanied by
any extended suite. A lieutenant was
withshim, acting as aide. The admiral
spoke in English, but his aide was
obliged to resort to French"
The commander then spoke of the
appearance of the city during the bonn
bardment.
"There was NO panic" said he, "and
things seemed to be going on as usual.
The women were about the streets
shopping. The theaters were closed,
though there was talk ofsa Sunday per-
formance. Evidences OF She destructive
bombardment were to be- seen here and
there. The corniee of a building had
been torn off by she'll. You could see
battered and pierced doors and win
doMs which had felt the effects of the
Maxims and other guns. Places were
pointed out where people had been
killed. On the whole, however, there
was comparatively little disorder, but
the town of Nictheroy, across the
stream. looked forlorn indeed. It had