The herald., 1898-06-05

the spaniards kept up their flre. and then
1t became known, by the placement of the
shot. that the enemy had plotted a neat
little plan that might have succeeded had
there been good gunnery. The Colon had
dropped down the harbor into a position
which she occupied to act as bait. The
modern guns on shore had found the range
of the place where the flying squadron
would have to lie in order to fire on the
Cristobal Colon, and had trained their
guns to play on that place. But Commo-
dore Schley beat them at their own game
by going by it at a ten knot speed and
firing on the fly. The firing also disclosed
the existence Of a new battery, mounted
with ten-inch modern guns, just east of
Moro castle, and it also revealed the fact
that two modern guns were mounted to
the rear of Moro.
Then it was seen that to the west of the
entrance and opposite MORO castle are
two batteries of earthworks with modern
guns. Still further back in the harbor
Cayo Smith has modern battery. Besides
this the Reina Mercedes has two loaded
torpedo tubes looking down the harbor,
and as al one place the channel Is only 100
yards wide and five fathoms deep, 1t can
be seen that the entrance of the harbor of
Santiago de Cuba Is easily defended ane
is almost impossible of ingress without
meeting fire that would sink ship and
prevent anything from coming in after
it, In addition to its coast defense. the
channel is mined.
On Wednesday afternoon q Cuban pilot
was landed sixteen miles from Santiago
de Cuba with Instructions to communicate
with the insurgents. Several of the latter
were found, and they reported that the
fire of the American ships was disastrous.
They added that part of MORO castle had
been demolished and that the shot which
struck the Reina Mercedes killed eight
Spaniards. The pilot was landed again on
Thursday morning, in order to communi-
cate with the city and find out the loca-
ton, number and names of the Spanish
ships in the harbor
The arrival of the torpedo boat Porter
on Wednesday night evidently scared the
Cristobal Colon into moving UP into the
harbor, for at daylight this morning she
had disappeared from the position which
he has occupied for the last few days.
Formidable Defenses
NEW YORK, June 4.-Louis Duany has
arrived in this city from Jamaica. He left
Santiago de Cuba May 1S Mr.. Duany does
not believe that Cervera's fleet is at Santi-
ago, and he says
II think that Cervera's fleet may have
beer confused with five Spanish boats
which were in the harbor when left These
were Ell Reina Mercedes, second-class
cruiser; Ell Conde Vtnndito, Ell Marques
de Molina, auxiliary cruisers with heavy
guns, and two gunboats, El Sandoval and
La Estrela.
''Ths cruiser El Reina Mercedes is dis
abled, her boilers having broken down,
and she was lying just inside the entrance
to the harbor. Her guns were removed to
the Notifications.
1.-THE Spaniards laid a few mines last
winter, but on May the work began on
larger scale. saw men at this work in the
harbor for some time afterward, and about
seventy mines have been laid altogether.
The first line of six mines is laid directly
across the mouth of the harbor from Moro
Castle to the buoy which marks the shallow
water line near Zacopata, the fortress op-
posite. Directly behind the first mines are
lines of four and three mines each, so that
the entrance to the harbor is we'll laid
with mines. The other mines are all along
the ship channel for six miles to the docks.
The mines are all connected py WIRES 10 the
shore.
II visited all Of the forts. and am sure
that the only modern guns are those taken
from the cruiser Reina Mercedes. There
are two Of these guns at Moro and the
others are at La Zocopota and Punta Gorda.
''There are 140 soldiers at Moro, 80 at
La Zacopata, thirty at Punta Gorda and
100 at Punta Blanca. The principal maga-
zine Is at Ell Pollvan. The soldiers at the
forts are we'll armed and we'll equipped. but
I Go not believe that they are good gun
ners, at least I never saw them practice
during my stay Of eight months. There are
IS 900 troops in the Province Of Santiago.
under the command of Gen. Pando, and 5000
in the city of Santiago and outlying towns,
under the command of Gen. Towel and
Gen. Lilarez. They are we'll ordered troops
and we'll drilled
Mr.. Dunay said that there was supply
of 1000 tons of coal at Santiago when he
left. Fresh meat was very dear.