The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-03-13

New York March 1.-THE American
mail steamship ALAMEDA. which was pro
ceeding from Colon to New York on the
9Th, sighted the barkentine-rfggo1 steam
er Underland off Cape May, the eastern
edge of Cuba, which was head ID directly
towards her. At z, when about tWo-and-
a-half miles distant she hoisted the
Spanish flag, which was salured by tue
hosting of the American ensign and dip
ping it, which act of couc:esY Was an
swered by the Spaniard.
At 7:15, she fired a blank cartridge to
the leeward. soon followed by anotner.
The American ensign was again noisred
and dipped but the course and speed Of
the ship was not changed, no hostile
demonstration being anticip 4ted. az the
ALAMEDA was more than six miles OF
land.
The Spanish man-of-war was not gatis-
hed, however, with even n double salute,
the fullest speed Seeing the Altaneia
drawing away, she waved to, and fired n
SOLID shot, which struck the Wa.er less
than an eighth Of a mile away from the
ship, and directly in line.
Solid Shot Sent.
This was followed by two more solid
shots, Which fortunately did not reach
the mark, the second striking the wafer
in plain sight Of the ship.
AT each shot, however. the Spanish ship
waved to get range of the American shiT,
before firing on her, plainly showing the
intention to hit her if she could.
Captain Crossmap, Of Alit9ncla, know
from land and on the high seas. ordered
full steam on and gradually drew out Of
range.
The chase was kept up more than
twenty-five miles, however.
This outrage has been reported to the
secretary of state by Captain Crossman,
anu no doubt a prompt demand viii be
explanation of the insult and reason
required for an attempt made to stop an
American mail steamer on the high seas
in time of peace.
Captain j. a Crossmau, of the Al
hancia, has written a letter to Secre-
tary Gresham, giving a full statement
of the Spanish war ships conduct, and
closes as follows:
i desire to know if the Spaniard has
any right to fire on my ship with the
possible chance Of endangering the
lives of the passengers and crew under
my charge, or to compel me TO heaVe
too, as he probably intended. I re-
( spectfully ask for Information on that
subject, as I did not and DO not pro-
I pose to have to heave to, thereby
4 losing time on my voyage in order to
oblige the Spanish gun boats or any
! others except in cases of distress.
The Captains story,
| Captain Crossnan was unable to get
! the name Of the Spanish gunboat
I'VE were six miles off the shore on the
high seas" he said, land I do not think
we were responsible to the Cubans or
+ anybody else for being in those waters.
/ The shots were fred, doubtless, by some
! conceited Spaniard, who has an idea that
! he can stop anything that floats. How
ever, he was disappointed. as it never
4 occurred to me for a moment to lay to.
1T IS customary for us TO run within
half a mile of the Cuban coast, and this
4 time we were further away from 1t than
ever. and really cannot tell why the
I shots were fred
In answer to a question az to whether
or not the shots might have been fred BY
the Sunboat with the idea that his boat
belonged to the reVoluttonists in Cuba.
the captain said:
u.s. -
The Alliancia has been running between
this port and Colon for a number OF
years. making one trip each month. Sht
leaves here on the 26th day of each
month. and starts on her return trip or
the 9th of the following month She car
ries the United States mail and has pas
senger accommodations for 80 cabin pas
sengers. Including the officers she car
ries crew of sixty men.