The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-12-22
United States Gunboat Bancroft Fired
On at smyrna by the Troops in
Charge of Fort YeniLale.
APOLOGY At ONCE DEMANDED
MINISTER ANGELES REQUEST CON-
Piled WITH LAST SUNDAY.
Two. Turkish Officers Also Dismissed
HeImbOld Probably Insane.

LONDON, Dec. 21.-An international incl
dent in which Turkey and the United States
were involved has just come to light. 1t
occurred over two weeks ago, and how it
has been kept secret so long is a mystery.
1t seems according to a dispatch from Con-
stantinople, that when the United States
gunboat Bancroft arrived at Smyrna on the
night of Dec. she was greeted with
blank cannon shot and rifled bullets from
the fort of Yenikale. A boat from the war
ship, sent ShorewardS to ask for eXplana-
lions, was fired on and compelled to return.
Thereupon, the American admiral lodged
protest with the United States minister at
ConStantinople, Mr.. James b. Angel, who
demanded the punishment of the guilty per-
sons and an apology from the Turkish gov
eminent, which was given on Sunday last.
In addition two Turkish officers were dis
missed and sentenced to weeks arrest.
This is record-breakng haste for the Sui
tan of Turkey, who usually requires from
a month to years to make reparation for
outrages, unless the demand is backed with
an ultimatum and a fleet OF war ships, as
was the case in the recent Austrian Incl
dent 1t is not believed here that Minister
Angel threatened to shell Constantinople
unless PREPARATION was promptly made, for
such an order would necessarily have come
through the authorities at Washington, and
it is therefore more surprising that the
Porte was so prompt in making the apology
and furnishing the guilty.
WASHINGTON,.Dec. 21.-The Navy De-
partmeht received news of the firing on the
Bancroft today from the State Department,
which had been informed through Minister
Angel at Constantinople of the outcome of
the incident. The matter was not regarded
as of great Importance. In fact, several
instances have occurred within the memory
of naval officers stationed at the depart
ment, of just such arbitrary efforts to en-
force vexatious port regulations which are
common to Oriental seaports. similar
rule is applied at Havana, where the guns
of Moro Castle do not hesitate to fre at
any vessel passing in or out of the harbor
after nightfail, and the Russians established
a similar rule Though more liberal in scope
at Vfadivostock, the great Pacific fortress,
after the guards had awakened one foggy
morning to find that large British squad
ron was lying under the guns of the forts,
having entered unseen in the night.
Two Yankee Tars Shot in Japan.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 21.-The Department
of State has undertaken an investigation of
in themselves the germs of serious trouble
in the near future. These are the killing by
Japanese of two sailors attached to the
United States fleet on the Asiatic station.
The exact conditions under which the killing
occurred are not known here yet, and the
State Department is trying to learn through
the United States minister TO Toxic and the
United States consulS in Japan. preliminary
to determining what steps shall be taken to
secure reparation, if it shall be found that
the killing was as expected, unjustifable.
The I'll st k ling was of a a or named Mont
gomery, formerly attacned to the yorktown
while she was on the Asiatic station, and
the last was that of Frank Epps, a sailor,
native of New York and an apprentice on
the flagship Olympia. He killed at
Nagasaki. The officials here have been adj
vised of the bare facts only, but following
so closely on the terrible assault at KOba
last September of a Japanese mob upon the
sailors of the Yorktown, these killings have
aroused them to a determination to secure
protection for our" sailors in Japanese ports.