The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-03-13
AN AMERICAN SHIP FIRED ON.
THE SHOTS CAME FROM A SPANISH
MAN-OF-wAR OFF CUBA.

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the United States MnII-Secretary
Gresham Notified of the AFFAIR.
New York. March l2.-The mail steamer
Alliance Of the New York and Colon line.
which arrived to-day. was fired upon and
chased by Spanish gunboat when of the
east end Of Cuba on March s. The ar
fair is likely 10 lead TO International COM
plications.
The owners Of the line are very in
dignant at the insult. and say they win
demand a reason for attempting to stop an
American mail steamship on the high seas
in time Of peace. The following letter
has been sent to Secretary Gresham:
To the Hon. Walter @. Gresham, Sec
retary Of State; The American mail
steamship Allianca, under my command.
while on her homewarI voyage from
Colon, r. G., to New York, was. on the
morning OF March Off the coast OF
Cuba. At $50 o'clock barkentine rigged
steamship was sighted under the land
bearing directly for us. AT 7:l5 O'Clock
she set her colors. proving to be Span
ish gunboat. l at once ordered the
American ensign hoisted On the Alliance
and saluted the Spaniard which salute
was duly returned by her. L then sa-
luted once more. and supposed the mat
ter was at an end.
But about five minutes later the Span
lard fired blank cartridge and "a few
moments later another ona followed
shortly afterward by three solid shots.
all Of which fell short OF the Allianca.
but showing conclusively that the Span
lard was firing at us. l being nlly six
miles Off shore and on the high seas. paid
no further attention to the Spaniard
but kept upon my course. The Spanard
kept up the chase, although gradually
dropping astern, fully twenty-five miles.
l desire to know If the Spaniard had
any right to fire on my ship, with the
probable chance of endangerlng the lives
of the passengers and crew under my
charge, or compel me to heave to, as he
probably intended.
l respectfully ask for information on
that subject as / did not and DO not pro-
pose to heave to, thereby losing time on
my voyage, to oblige Spanish gunboats
or any other except in cases OF distress.
Respectfully, James A. Crossman, com
mander.
The story told by the ships officers is,
that at daylight last Friday morning
about $3.50 o'clock while going through
the windward passage from the Carib-
bean sea to the Atlantic, a ship was seen
coming out from under the land Of Cape
Maysi. the eastern point Of Cuba. The
stranger laid her course with the evident
object Of intercepting the Allianca and al
I o'clock she hoisted the orange and
crimson colors which, taken with her
Nauufl HtwtI
doubt in the minds of those aboard the
Allianca that she was Spanish man-or-
war No sooner were the gunboats colors
seen at her mizzen peak than Capt Cross
man of the Alliance ordered the stars and
stripes to be hoisted on the jackstaf over
the taifrai and dipped three times in sa-
Lutte. The marine courtesy was returned
In kind by the warship and the AlHanca's
ensign was unbent from its halyards and
slowed away
Hardly had this been accomplished than
the Spaniard again displayed his coIorR
and as a mark of extra politeness Cant.
Crossman ordered the Allianca's flag to
be run up and dipped again and then left
flying. Again was the salute acknowt-
edged, and then, to the utter amazement
of those aboard the American steamer.
a blank shot was fired from one of the
war vessels forward port guns
The shot was probably meant as an in
vitation to the Allianca to heave fo
but Capt. Crossman had no intention Of
obeying the summons. He remarked to
Second Officer Russell who was on duty
on the bridge, the Spaniard seems to
be firing shot" and then calmly kept
on his course. Soon another blank shot
was fired, which the captain greeted by
saying, "all right. let him shoot" A
third shot was fired, but this time II was
a snot IN earnest It was a solid shot
and not a harmless blank cartridge with
which the gunboat next charged her
port bow rife, and she yawed from her
course that the gun might be aimed at
the Yankee merchantmen. The course
of the shot could be seen where Ii rico
chetted along the water before finally
going to the bottom a full quarter of a
mile short of its mark Still Capt Cross
man kept his course and waited for the
gunboat to overtake him If It could The
black smoke began to pour from the gun
boats funnel and the water around her
bow to heap up in way that showed
that her fires were being vigorously
stocked and steam forced up to its big
heat limit The gunboat fired again, ten
minutes later, and still again after another
interval Of time. But observation through
the glass showed that she was gradually
falling astern, and after a chase lasting
for twenty-five miles she gave 1t up
and laid away on her course.
Capt. Crossman was very indignant over
the occurrence. He said: I'VE were from
six to eight miles off shore when the oc-
currcnce took place, and not in Spanish
jurisdiction at all. We were to the south
ward of Cuba when we first sighted the
war ship and far away from Guantana-
mo, where 1 understand they have been
having trouble in that country
Il had seen in the Panama Star and
Herald of Feb. 2s, before / sailed from
Colon, a dispatch from Paris which said
that advices from Madrid told that It WAS
known that a considerable body Of troops
had been sent to the disturbed provinces
and that gunboats were cruising along the
eastern coast of Cuba in order to prevent
the landing Of filibusters
In consequence Of this, took partic-
ular pains to keep off my ordinary course.
/ usually pass within a mile Of Cape
Maysi. but on this trip / was from to
~ miles from the Spanish shore.
''tf 1 had been within one marine league
of shore / would have stopped my ship.
but 1 was not and he had no right to
stop me. We were going along at our
usual speed of 13 knots when we met the
warship, and we kept it up. Although he
fired up he could not make more than
about 11k knots and we slowly dropped
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