The sun., 1897-12-30
MYSTERIOUS MOVEMENTS.
Locomotive for Fort Delaware
Goes Through This City.
OPERATIONS LITTLE KNOWN.
The Federal Government Work ing
Secretly In Sight Of Whining
tOn.-Its Significance.

Anot her addition to Fort Delaware
passed through this city Yesterday.
A locomotive built in Philadel phia and
sent over to the historic fort where it
will materially assist in the great work
going on there.
Fort Delaware il not already, will soof
be one OF the greatest dcicnseS in the
United States.
The guns to be used there are the
largest and most powerful made. The
fact that he fort is the only defence Of
the second city Of the Union and
also the great manufacturing city
Of Wilmington neccssitatc- his.
The locomotive which passed through
here yesterday is to be used by the
government for hauling guns and ether
material at the fort. 1t weighs 10000
pounds and is the third one OF its kind
built for the government.
There iS much significance attached to
the placing OF this engine at Fort Della
ware.
Sometime ago it was officially given
ont by the War Department that a very
small number OF soldiers were to be
sent to Fort Delaware, but persons who
have watched the operations down here
say the presence I'll Il few soldiers would
hardly warrant the government in cX-
pending IL sum approaching well into a
mi iIlioH dollars for the nodcrnization Of
what a few years ago was considered a
fairly crcdtable fort.
only thc government officials really
know whether the defense OF the Della
ware is to be confined to the forts or
whether the repairing OF the forts is a
bluff intended to deceive any possible
visitors who might happen to attempt to
come up the river. II a host lie fleet were
to try to come up. thinking they had
only to deal with the forts, they might
fall into a trap, for it is said that the bot
tom of the river around Fort Delaware is
covered with torpedoes which could blow
up the biggest fleet in the world if it
came within blowing distance.
For three years government wOl kmcn
have been busy around the river at that
point, but no one n3t connected wi.h the
! War Department knows what they have
been doing.
Many laborcrs have been working at a
rapid gait for some time. and in addi-
ton it has been learned that the Mid
vale Steel Works are working night and
day with three shifts Of skilled men
rushing an order for fifty lO-inch cannon,
ten Pinch mortars and 1900 tons OF
projectilcs.
Not one Of the officers having charge
of affairs will give the slightest hint as to
the meaning OF all these warlike prepara-
tions, and even at the foundrics and the
steel works the greatest secrecy is and
has been observed.
/ No one in this city knows anything
of the great operations taking place
within sight OF this city. And the few
ones who happen to be acquainted with
the character Of the work, arc afraid to
talk.
No person except the government en-
ployes is admitted inside the battery.
The employees about the fort are caution
cd not to speak relative to any plans.
From the air Of mystery that surrounds
the opera, ions at these places, and from
the studied suppression Of all details by
officials of the War Department, the
question arises, Is Uncle Sam preparing
for war on the quiet, or is the sudden
impetus just at present being given to
the work merely y the reflex action OF Il
| big war scare?
At Finns Point opposite the fort on
the New Jersey shore of the Delaware
River, carthwOrks have been raised, be-
hind which modern guns OF great power
are being quietly placed one by one. The
! old battery in the little town Of Delaware
City has been transformed into Il power
full mortar station. These three fortiii-
cations when finished will form Il chain
of defense across the Delaware ut that
point which would cffrctually bar the
passage of the largest hostile fleet any
power could conveniently assemble there.
The locomotive which passed through
this city yesterday, will operate over a
narrow gauge railway which circles the
fort inside and out. Over this road the
immense guns will be carried to their
positions.
That the new batteries will be ofthc
very latest design is obvious from the
continual issuance of orders by the War
Department to keep the details OF gun
construction a secret.
Besides the force already stationed at
Fort Delaware, there will be II large gar
rison, and.with the arrival Of the add,
tona members of Battery at Finn's
Point will be taken, in the assumption OF
gun practice involving the above tactics,
the first active steps toward placing the
lower Delaware Bay and the harbor OF
Philadelphia and Wilmington in posi-.
1 e.
The movements at Old Fort Delaware
will now be watched with patriotic in.
tcrcSt.