Evening journal., 1898-05-16
LEVER RUSE FOILED
3lanoo Tries to Trap Our
Warships Again.
.ECONCENTRADOS ARE DYING FAST.
'ituation In Havana Grows Worse Daily.
A Land Siege Would Soon starve the
spaniards Out-Famino Food
Prices at Santiago.

KEY WEST, May 16.-Captain Gen
81 raj BlancO about two hours before |
undown last night attempted to ex-
cute ruse which If successful would
Z nave cleared the 'front.' of Havana Of six
hips on that blockading station. I'm
Bile to come out to do battle, he adopt
K I'd the tactics of the spider and cum
#ningly planned to draw the prey into
s his net, but, though a clever and pretty
a scheme as an original proposition, it
was practically a repetition of the trick
by which the gunOoat Vicksburg and
the little converted revenue cutter Nor
E |rill were last week decoyed by fishing
Esmack under the big krupp guns Of the
Santa Clara batteries. Thanks to bad
agunnery, both ships on that occasion
r managed to get out OF range without
Z being sunk, though some of the shells
burst close aboard and the Vicksburg's
NJ Jacobs ladder was cut adrift. The wary
B are never caught twice In the same
Y trap.
Fl Late this afternoon the ships on the
n Havana station were dumfounded to
N see two ships steam out of Havana har-
hoT and head east. Dense smoke was
streaming like black ribbons from their
stacks, and a glance showed that they
were under fun head of steauA BY
aid of glasses Commander Lilly Of the
Mayflower. which was flying the PEN
nant. made out the larger vessel Of the
two, which was about 200 feet long and
about 4.5O0 tons displacement. to he the
n cruiser Alfonso XII and the small one
TO be tho gunboat Legazpi. both OF
E which were known to be bottled up in
| Havana harbor At first no supposed
that they were taking advantage OF the
absence Of the heavy fighting ships and
Z were making bona fide run for the
& open sea. As superior officer he immel
4 diately sisnaled the other ships on the
station. the Vicksburg, Annapolis.
4 Wasp, Tecumseh and Osceola, which
4 were moving In to form q column
en- echelon. with gunboats on the right
flank. The little squadron moved in
obliquity toward tho fleeing Spaniards,
keeping up a running fire as they went.
The Alfonso and her consort circled in
shore about five. miles below Havana
and after running In for half a mile
headed back for MORO castle. Our gum
boats and the vessels of the mosquito
4 feet did not follow them in.
Commander Lilly saw that the willy
Spanish ruse was to draw them in un-
der the guns Of the heavy batteries
where Spanish artillery officers could
plot out the exact range with their tele-
meters and pot them. So the return
was made in line ahead parallel with
the shore. Commander Lilly he'd not
been mistaken. AS his ships came
abreast OF the Santa Clara battery the
big guns opened and fired IS shells al a
distance OF about five miles. The range
was badly judged. as more than hal
tho shells overshot the mark and others
fell short. some as much as mile
The big Alfonso and her CONVOY
steamed swiftly from tho dark shadow
of the harbor's mouth and turning
sharply east ran along the coast as
though to slip through the Gordon OF
blockade II was a bold trick and not
at first transparent. although the folly
Of It created a suspicion, as there was
no hope Of ultimate escape and nc
object in escaping the Mayfower
which dashed in to cut them off. The
Spanish boats crowded on steam and
stood along the coast as long as they
dared. to give zest to the chase. Tine
Mayfiower sigRaled her consorts, "Closc
in and charge" Word was passed
from ship to ship as they steamed IN
column en- echelon. Seeing the bait had
apparently taken. the Spaniards veered
about and bringing their stern chasers
to bear on the Americans doubled bach
LOT MOTTO. II was Il UtdullLul .IullllNH
fire, viewed from where the Kate Spen-
Ger lay seven miles off Morro castle
little puffs Of white smoke burst from
the sides OF the gunboats. and occasion
ally an explosion of a shell in the ali
like a spark of fire could be dlscernet
with the aid of glasses. The flash o.
the Spaniards guns was plainly vis
BILE reports of the same were dull anC
indistinct. Two of the shells from th'
,.Vicksburg burst In the rigging Of TIT
Alfonso, and some Of Il came down
but it was of course impossible to know
whether any fatalities occurred. Th
American fire was much more accurate
than the Spanish, as every shell of tn
latter fell short.
The Spaniards were a mile of Morr
and our ships fully four miles furthe
out, when flames leaped from the bat
teries of Santa Clara forts and cloud
Of white smoke drifted up the coast
Half a minute later the dull, heavy roa
of a great gun sounded above tn
smaller ones. IL was from one of tn
y inch Krupps mounted there, and a
$50 pound prOjcctile plunged into tn
water half mile inside OF the Amer
can line, throwing up q tower of whit
spray 1t ricochetted and struck agai
half a mile outside.
The mask was now off. Maddened b
the failure of their plot. the Spaniard
continued to fire at intervals of abot
ten minutes. In all 13 shots were fire,
but not one struck within 200 yards ,
one Of our ships. AS soon as the bal
terry opened Commander Lilly and n
fleet stood off shore. CAPTAIN McKer
zie. on the bridge of the ViclsburI
watched the fall of the shells, but !
considered il useless to waste ammun
ton at that distance. He appeased II
desire OF the men with the guns how
ever, by letting go final broadside
the Spanish ships, in the hope
making them pay for their daring b'
fore they gained the harbor. but the
steamed under Morros guns untoucht
and as they disappeared fired sever
shots Several shots We're sent aft
them at that moment by the Annapoli
which dropped inside the harbor, prol
ably creating CONSERVATION amor
scores Of boats on the water front.
At the close OF the action, just