St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-03-13
FLAG FIRED UPON.
Captain Of the Alliance APP
peals to Gresham for
Redress.
OUTRAGE In CUBAN WATERS
Spanish Gunboat Attempts
to Search an Ameri-
can Liner.
OUTRAGE In CUBAN WATERS
SHOTS COME TOO CLOSE
But the Fleet Steamer Soon
0utfooted the Clumsy
Man-Of-Wap.

NEW YORK, March 12.-Immedi-
ately after the steamer Alliance
reached her pier this afternoon Capt.
j. A. Crossman sent the following to
| the secretary of state at Washing
ton:
Columbian Steamship Line Steam
| ship Alliance, Pier 43, North River,
| New York, March u, 1S95.-Hon Walter
Q. Gresham, Secretary of State, Wash
/ ington = Sir: The American mail
| steamer Alliance, under my command,
while on her homeward bound voyage
from Colon, r. c., to New York, was,
| on the morning of March 8, off the
| coast of Cuba. A $50 o'clock d barken-
| tine rugged steamer was sighted under
the land, steaming directly for us. At
Tbs she set her colors, proving to be a
Spanish gunboat. 1 Immediately Or
| dered the American ensign hoisted on
| the Alliance and saluted the Span
lard, which salute was duly returned
| by her. l then saluted once more and
supposed the matter was at an end.
But about five minutes later the Span
lard fired blank cartridge, and few
moments later another one, followed
shortly afterwards by three solid shots,
all of which fell short of the Allianca
| but showing very conclusively that the
Spaniard was firing at us. l being fully
six miles off shore and on the high
seas paid no further attention to the
Spaniard but kept on my course. The
Spaniard kept up the chase although
gradually dropping astern, for fully
twenty-five miles. L desire to know if
the Spaniard has any right to fire on
my ship with the possible chance of
endangering the lives of the l,assen-
gers and crew under my charge, or to
compel me to heave to, as he probably
intended.
l respectfully ask for information on
that subject, as 1 did not and do not
propose to heave to, thereby losing
time on my voyage, to oblige the Span
ish gunboats or any other, except in
case of distress. Respectfully,
-s j. A. CROSSMAN,
Commander.
DETAILS OF THE OUTRAGE
were as follows: The American mail
steamship Alliance, while proceed
ing from Colon to New York, on the
morning of the Sth inst, started a
barkentine rugged steamer off Cape
May, the eastern edge of Cuba,
which headed directly toward her.
At o'clock, when about two miles
and a half distant, she hoisted the
Spanish flag, which was saluted by
hosting the American ensign and
| dipping it, which act of courtesy
was answered by the Spaniard. At
| 7:15 she fired a blank cartridge to
| leeward, which was soon followed
by another The American ensign
| was again hoisted and dipped, but
| the course and speed of the ship was
not changed, as no hostile demons
tratfon was anticipated, as the ALI
anca was more than six. miles off
the land at that time. The Spanish
man-of-war was not satisfied, how
ever, with even the double salute
to her flag, but proceeded to chase
the American at full speed, Judging
from the smoke that came out of her
tunnels, and seeing that the Alli-
anca was drawing away she waved
to, bringing her guns to bear, and
FIRED A SOLID SHOT,
which struck the water less than an
eighth of a mile from the ship, and
directly in line. This was followed
by two more solid shots, which, for
tunately, did not reach their mark,
though they struck the water in
plain sight of the ship. AT each
shot, however, the Spaniard waved
to get the range of the American
ship before firing on her, plainly
showing the intention to hit her if
she could. Capt. Crossman, of the
Alliance, knowing he was more than
two leagues from land, and on the
high seas, did not consider it his
duty to detain his ship to find out
the reason for such an outrage, even
for so summary demand, and so Or
dered full steam and gradually drew
out of range. The chase was kept
up for more than twenty-five miles
before it was abandoned
If the Spaniard had had more speed
or her gunners been better marks
men, no doubt the incident would
not have ended so fortunately for
the American. Capt. Crossman was
unable to get the name of the Span
ish gunboat. 1--WE We're six miles off
shore on the high seas" said he,
land I do not think we were re-
sponsible to the Cubans or anybody
else for being in their waters. Shots
were fired, doubtless, by some con-
ceited Spaniard who has an idea
that he can stop anything that
floats. However, he was disap-
pointed, as it never occurred to me
for a moment to lay to. 1t is Gus
tomary for us to run within half a
mile of the Cuban coast, and this
time we were further away from it
than ever. and 1 really cannot tell
why the shots were fired"
In answer to a question as to
whether or not the shots might
have been fired by the gunboat with
the idea that his boat belonged to
the revolutionists in Cuba, the cap-
tain said:
They might have been practicing
on u.s.
The Alliancfa has been running
between this port and Colon for
number of years, making one trip
each month. She leaves this port
on the 18th of each month, and
starts on her return trip on the 5th
OF the following month She car
RES the United States mail, and has
passenger accommoda tons for $50
cabin passengers. Including the Of
ncers' she carries crew OF sixty
men.
SPAIN MUST APOLOGIZE.