St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-01-31
AMERIC AN FLAG lhSUL TED.
BRAZILIAN REBELS FIRE UP0N ONE
or OUR VESSELS.
Two SHOTS GIVEN IN RETURN
BY Order of Admiral Benham on
the Detroit A dmiral da CANA
May Decide TO Surrender to
the American Commander-in-
surgents in q Very Bad Way
Indeed.


the American Commander-in-
surgents in a Very Bad Way
Indeed.
copyrighted. 1904. by the Associated Press.
Rio DE JANEIRo, Jan. 30.-ihe fol-
lowing statement has been made TO the
Associated Press correspondent by Adj
mlral Benham. commander of the United
States Meet in this herbor:
The insurgent forces OH Cobras island
last Friday fired upon ship flying the
United States flag. protested to Adj
mlral Saldanha Ola Cana against this
action. and his response was that he bad
warned the commander of the ship,
when it was at the bar at Rio Janeiro.
as to the whereabouts of the danger
line. | ordered Admiral da Cana to
cease the firing.
''Both the guns of the island of Cobras
and the guns of the insurgent war ship
Trajano opened fire Saturday upon he
bark Agate, vessel hailing from New
York. | warned Admiral da Cana at
once that if the fire were repeated
would fire back. l also warned him
that If he touched an American ship or
American goods / would consider him q
pirate. [ told him | would protect
American property from the fire of his
guns. and that should retaliate upon
him for any damage done unless it were
entirely apparent that the damage was
due to chance Shots"
Admiral Benham says that he notified
Admiral ia CANA unofficialiy that firing
by the insurgents upon the wharves for
the purpose merely Of creating terror
and to prolong a blockade, would not be
permitted, so far as Americans and
American vessels were concerned. 10
this communication the insurgent ad-
! miral made no answer
The captains of three American YES
sells, Admiral Benham continues, lnti-
mated that they wanted to go to the
wharves. and the American admiral no.
tilted Admiral da Cana that it was his
intention to convoy them at sunrise
Monday. Fearing trouble. Admiral
Benham ordered that the vessels of his
fleet be
CLEARED FOR ACTION.
The three ships referred to were the
Amy, the Good News and the Julia
Rollins.
The captains of two of the ships weak
ened and failed to come into the harbor.
The Amy was the only one that vent
| ured in, and she was escorted by the
United States cruiser Detroit. AS a
precaution against any possible agrees
slve action on the part of the insur-
gents, the cruisers New York, Charles
ton and Newark were assigned to watch
the actions of Da Gama's ship Aquida-
ban, while the Detroit and San Fran
cisco were signaled to take positions
near the Trajano and the Guanabara.
These precautions certainly proved
effective, and the insurgents, in face of
the formidable array of American ves-
seis, made but the feeblest attempt to
hluder the Amy's progress to her wharf.
No guns were opened upon her by
Da Gama's vessels, and, as matter of
course, the American vessels did not
fire upon the lnSurgent ships.
The insurgent, protest consisted of
| this; -
AS the Amy got abreast of the Guiana
bara marine on the last-named vessel
aimed musket at her and fired. Two
muSket shots were fired at the Guiana
bara and the Trajano from the Amy's
escort. the Detroit. in return.
This was all the firing done during
THE AAfY'S TRIP,
and it was enough. All opposition
ceased al once, and the use of heavy
guns was not considered necessary at
any time.
The reasons that the other two ships
which had notified Admiral Benham
that they wished to go to their wharves
failed to do so is that their commanders
were persuaded from entering the har-
Dor by man named Rollins, who is
believed to be the agent of All English
firm which has been furnishing tine
rebels with money.
At a later hour Admiral da Cana con-
ferred with his officers upon the advisa-
bility of surrendering to the Detroit, in
consequence of the musket shots fired.
He was dissuaded from doing so, but 1t
is thought possible that he may yet de-
eide to surrender to the American COM
mander.
There is no doubt that Admiral da
Cana is in bad way A proposed
compromise has been refused by Presi-
dent PeiXoto's government, and it seems
| to be only matter of time when he will
| have to give up the struggle. The COM
plications of the insurgent situation are
Increased by the absence of Admiral de
Mello. The failure of the latter admiral
to arrive here to the assistance of the
insurgent fleet has given rise to the re-
| port that he is dead.
The commanders of sixteen war ships
here, including five American and four
English and French. have sent messages
| to Admiral Benham. congratulating
! him upon his prompt action.
The Austrian commander cleared his
ships and made ready to help the
American admiral, in case help were
necessary.