Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1898-07-21

Washington. July 17.-There was a
long and anxious wait yesterday to
hear further news from the commits
sioners who had been charged to make
arrangements for the surrender of the
Spanish army at Santiago. For eigh-
teen hours no word came from either
Gen. Shafter or Gen. Miles. although
there was the keenest desire on the
part Of the president and cabinet ad-
visers to learn what had been done,
and particularly to know whether the
actual surrender of Santiago and the
Spanish troops had been carried out.
When the cabinet met at IL o'clock
there was positively nothing from the
front which would serve as guide for
the deliberations. 1t was thought the
cable had been interrupted, but on in
Quiry Of Gen. Gridley, chief signal Of
ficer, he gave assurance that the cable
was intact. Thereupon, Secretary
Alger sent a dispatch asking for the
situation up to the latest moment. and
particularly inquiring as to how far
the surrender had proceeded. No an
swer came while the cabinet was in
session. In the meantime Gen. Greedy
had cabled and he was the first official
to
Hear From the Front.
A dispatch from Lieut. Jones. military
censor at Playa del Este. reported that
the message from the secretary of war
to Gen. Shafter was only six minutes
in passage from Washington to Playa.
The message received by Gen. Greelv
came at 2:23 p. m, and indicated that
negotiations were yet in progress, but
as the dispatch was submitted to the
| president no details We're given out.
| Toward the middle Of the afternoon
| dispatches from Gen. Miles and Gen.
| Shafter began to arrive in response to
| Secretary Ayers rather imperative re-
quest. They We're not given out in
full but such portions as We're made
| public showed that the negotiations
were still in progress and that the
| Spaniards had raised some rather I'M
expected questions. Most important of
these was an insistance that the Span
ish troops hould retain their arms
when they returned to Spain. There
was entire willingness on the part of
Gen. Toral to turn over the arms to
Gen. Shafter at the time of the SUR
render. but with this was to be the
understanding that the
| Arms Were to Be Returned
to the Spanish troops when Spanish
soil was reached. This was a condi-
ton which had not been anticipated.
The authorities here did not regard it
as serious or as likely to overcome a
final settlement, as it was attributed to
the Spanish sensitiveness against the
humiliation involved in the laying
down of their arms. At the Same time
it was a point on which neither side
appeared to be ready to yield. One of
the dispatches from the front, after
specifying that this difference had
arisen, added that it was believed a
settlement would be reached before
the day closed. Gen. Shafter himself
summed up the situation by saying:
ut cannot be possible that there will
be failure in completing arrange
ments." No question whatever has
been raised as to the surrender itself.
Not only has Gen. Toral agreed to it
but this agreement has been ratified
by Gen. Blanco at Havana and by the
Spanish authorities at Madrid. Gen.
Greedy received another dispatch at )
p. IN. containing the information that
Col. Allen had landed the shore end of
the signal corps cable at Playa del
Este from the cable steamer Adria.