New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1897-01-06
0Cubans Suspicious Regarding
the Fate Of the Filibuster
Commodore. j.
Believe Some One in Spanish
Pay Was the Cause OF
the Wreck.
OF the Twenty-eight Men on
Board Eleven Are Unac-
counted For.

teen men accounted Tor out OF the % on
the Cuban flibuster, Commodore, is
the record here, with slight chance Of
seven more yet alive. Five men came
ashore at Dayton at noon, Captain MUIR
ply, Stephen Crane, the novelist, the
cook and two sailors, one Of the latter,
William Higgins of Rhode Island, died
soon after reaching land from the eff
fects of the high surf. One of tho sur
vivors gives the following graphic de-
tails:
The tug sunk at o'clock Saturday
morning 20 miles off New Smyrna All
the Americans on board remain ed till
the last moment. A traitor in Spanish
pay was the cause of the leak. He will
be found and dealt with later. The
spumps would not work long, though
they did good service;R awhile. Find
ing that
the captain called all hands and the
vessel was turned shoreward. As she
still continued tosikk, two boatloads of
'Cubans, 10 men in all, were first sent
off. One boat containing six men cap
sized and I am afraid that the men
were lost. One of the ifeboats con-
tanning nine men was swamped and a
hastily constructed raft was made up
from materials thrown to them and
they then disappeared from our sight.
Captains Murphy, Stephen Crane, the
newspaper man, Higgins, myself and
one other sailor took to the 1O-foot
dingey at the hast moment. We tried
to save the men in the water around
ussbut the heavy seas and binding
wind swept them from us. The spray
was SO thick that we could see only a
few rods. Their cries were heart.
srending, but we could do nothing. 1t
required all our efforts to keep our
small boat right side up. For "a hours
we
Battled With the Heavy Sea
and at last land was sighted AS we
attempted to land, the wind drove US
into the breakers and in an instant the
boat was overturned and we were
struggling for life. Foe an hour we
battled for life and then managed to
crawl out ON the sands almost dead.
captain Murphy saved Mr.. Crane by
helping him when a cramp caught him.
Higgins was struck ON the head BY
floating timbers and he died soon after
landing. He was good sailor and a
brave man. He worked hard to save
his comrades. The government off
cials at Washington were promptly
wired to allow the Three Friends to 20
to the aid of the shipwrecked men, but
not until "a hours later and after sew
eral messages had been sent begging
in the name Of humanity to allow the
vessel to go was the necessary permits
sion granted
Was Loaded With Arms.
The Commodore left Jacksonville
Thursday with cargo of arms and
ammunition for Cienfuegos, Cuba.
The papers show that Captain Murphy
was master Of the vessel and that
Frank p. Grain is first mate, Felix De-
los Rios second mate, James Redd1ng
chief engineer, and Ed p Ritter assist
ant engineer. The manifest shows the
cargo and value of the same to be as
follows: u 81 ~
Two hundred and three thousand
cartridges, $1,000; 1000 pounds giant
powder, 1900; 40 bundles of rifles,
81. 400; . electric batteries, $50; 800
machetes, $500; IA cases of drugs, $3.50:
4 bundles of clothing, $50. Total.
"a, 465.
The cargo was shipped by Henry P.
Tritot to Salvador Cisneros, CienfueRos.
Cuba.