The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-05-25
GREAT NEWS PREDICTED.
Cervera VIII Soon Be DESTROYED or
Bottled Up.


New York, May 25-A special to the
Times from Washington says: Letters
from Key West arriving late are be-
coming public TO limited extent long
after they have reached Washington.
and convey the information that about
everything that can steam, sail or be
toWed has been forced into the serz~ :e
10 assist Admiral Sampson and Com
modore Schley to box UP Admiral Ger
vera and force him TO give battle, if
he has not escaped. Not a word of the
elaborate preparations except by way
OF roundabout hints has come from
Key West, the newspaper correspond
entS having been put on their honor
not to give limitations of operations
that can assist the enemy in the slight
est particular.
All the talk in the meeting of the
cabinet today indicated the confidence
of the administration in the early re-
ceipt Of good news from Admiral
Sampson. One cabinet officer who eX-
pressed great eagerness to hear from
Sampson and Schley, and who has 40
doubt that the news, when it comes,
VIII be great admitted that the out
side limit of time in which it was eX-
pected that the vessels of the United
States and Spain must meet had pass
ed, and that official information might
arrive at any moment, either that Ger
vera was bottled up or that his fleet
was at the bottom of the ocean.
7 do not look for unofficial inforna-
ton said he, for the reason that the
commanding officer of the United
States forces has concluded that ne can
get along quite as we'll and without SC
much possibility of injurious observa-
ton, if he excludes newspaper boats, as
he has done.
The administration is determined
that if Cervera viii not fight, but man
ifests a determination to get away and
return to Spain, to follow him up and
kill his fleet before it can reach its
own side of the Atlantic. To do this
might require the sending Of coal ships
along with the United States fleet for
some distance, but il any accident
should happen to any Of the Spanish
vessels or the supply of coal should run
out, Admiral Cervcra would have to
run the risk of destruction, or else
abandon a disabled vessel, in the hope
of getting of with the others, or, per-
haps, be overtaken by single ships, un-
til the whole fleet was gobbled up. 1t
is calculated by naval officers that the
Spanish fleet has now about exhausted
its fuel, and that it cannot undertake !
the difficult task of retreating. The on |
~ honorable outcome to Spain is for /
SPANS ships to try conclusions at once, !
while the coal bunkerS and the food |
supplies ere not completely exhausted. !
There will be no news from Samp- |
son or Schley until one or both of them |
has tested the inclination or ability Of
Admiral Cervera to fight. Naval Of |
ficers laugh at the suggestion that if
CerVera should give the United States /
ships the slip, the vessels of Samp- !
sons and Schley's fleets would be again /!
withdrawn TO Key West, to be used /
as conveys to protect the transports in /
moving the army to Cuba, leaving Ger |
vera to stay. in these waters or to re- |
turn, as he pleaSCS.
Admiral Sampson" said a naval Of !
fcer of experience and spirit, is rea- |
sonably free to move and act as he /
chooses. He has the opportunity to |
carve a place in our history alongside /
that Of Dewey. You viii not catch him
coming back empty handed to hear the /
jibeS Of the disappointed people. EX-
plantations will be of no avail if he
does not render a good account of
himself under his Instructions to seek
and destroy the Spanish fleet. If he
does that, explanations viii never be
asked for by anybody, and I think that
tomorrow viii bring the opportunity
for US TO cheer Sampson and Schley
along with Dewey"
In addition 20 the belated policy of
censorship adopted in regard to the
transmission Of reports Of naval move
ments by telegraph, it appears that the
navy department has decided to dis
pense with the attendance Of news
paper dispatch boats upon the fleet in
Cuban waters.
The information reached here that
before the beginning of the recent op-
erations Of the squadrOns Of Sampson
and Schley against the Spanish fleet
notification was given TO ali the news
paper boats which have been watching
and reporting the blockade that they
would not be allowed to follow the war
ships on their cruise. The notice was
peremptory, it is understood, and its
strict enforcement is supposed here to
account for the lack of news from the
fleets which has amounted to famine
for the last week. Had the newspaper
boats been with Sampson and Schley
in their pursuit Of the Spanish squad
ron, it is reasoned that the Geographic
at Florida points would not
have prevented the receipt of informa-
ton by other routes from some one of
the many cable stations in the West In
dies.
The permission given by the navy de-
partment to the dispatch boats to fol-
low the fleets on previous cruises has
been very seriously characterized here
as inimical to the hest interests Of the
service, and altogether an undignified
1t has given rise to con-
siderable unfaVOrable comment abroad
also and has been the particular butt
of sarcasm from the German emperor,
BILE amusement from the spectacle of
a fleet Of warships attended by a con-
voy Of newspaper boats.
SPANIARDS WILL NOT FIGHT.