The Topeka state journal., 1898-07-04

fleet lying in the bay, General Skaters
forces would have been able safely to
occupy Santiago. After the reduction
and capture of the outer defenses of
the city by General Smarter. 1t became
necessary that Admiral Cervera's fleet
be eliminated from the equation. Its
elimination was executed by Admiral
Sampson, thus leaving the way open
for the continued advance OF Skaters
troops upon the city.
News at Washington
Washington, July 4-Adjutant Gen
eral Corbin voiced the feelings of every
one of the officials when he said:
"I don't care how the fleet was de-
stroyed. 1t was destroyed That is
enough for me. It is great news for
the Fourth of July"
The fleet Of Admiral Cervera was one
of the finest Spain possessed Three of
the vessels, the Almirante OquendO, the
Vizcaya and the Cristobal Colon, were
modern armored cruisers of the frst-
class. The Vizcaya which visited this
country soon after the Maine was sent
to Havana and was in New York har-
Dor when the news Of the destruction OF
the American battleShip was taken TO
her commander She was of 1000 tons
displacement, $40 feet long, ana heaVlly
armOred, her belt armor being Il 1ncheS
in thickness and her deck armor three
inches. Her armament consisted OF two
11-i1lch ten 5-inch Hontoria guns,
inch rapid fire guns and two mitra1l-
IeuseS. She had two maStS with mill
tary tops, two turrets two smokesacks
and a. ram bow. She carried six tor
pedO tubes, was capable of Il speed rate
of 20 knots and her complement was 500
men.
| most every respect duplicate of the
| Vizcaya-
The ChristobaI Colon, had displace-
] ment of 6S,40 tons and was 32S feet
| long. She had six inch armor, both at
| the water line and at the gun position
| and Is inch deck armor. Her armament
/ consisted of two 10-inch, ten 6-inch rap
| id fire guns, six AT inch, ten % inch
and ten IA inch guns, two mitrailleuses
| and four torpedo tubes. She was capa-
| BILE of a speed of 25 knots and carried
! a complement of 450 men. OF the re-
| naming vessels of the fleet the Furor
| and Terror were torpedo boat destroy
| ers and the Riena Mercedes was an old
| vessel that was sunk a short time ago
! by a shell from Simpsons fleet. The
! Terror was not with the fleet at Santi-
| ago, but is supposed to be at San Juan,
| Porto Rico, undergoing repairs made
| necessary by an encounter with the st.
| Paul a few days ago.
In addition to the above mentioned
| vessels there were two torpedo boats
| and collier in the Spanish fleet origi-
| nally. Whether the collier was at San
tiagO or not is not known.
Skaters Dispatch.
General Shafter teIegraphed:
playa del Este, July 3.
Early this morning I sent a demand
for the immediate surrender of San
tiagO, threatening to lombard the city
I believe the place viii be surrendered" :"
| This contradicts the report that Gem
eral Shafter has fallen back.
The information contained in the
above statements was received early in
| the evening, but it was not announced
! officially until several hours later. As
a result of it's receipt, however, a con
| ference of prominent officials was held
| at the White House Immediately. Those
present at the conference besides the
| president, were Vice President Hobart,
Secretary Day, Secretary Long, Secre-
tary Alger, Postmaster General Smith,
! General Miles, Adjutant General Cor
bin. General Guy V. Henry and Senator
| Hanna. The information was discussed
in all it's phases. The news sent by
General Shafter and Lieutenant Colonel
Allen was received with intense salts
faction. 1t was taken to indicate not
only that Admiral Sampson had ac-
| cOmplished magnificently the task to
which he had been set, but it was
clearly proved that General Shafter
| was in a much stronger position than
the war officials had been led to be-
| lieve he held. One OF the off1clalS VINO
! attended the conference said, after the
news had been officially announced that
it very materially modified the serious
ness of the situation. The destruction
| OF the fleet, which was not confirmed un-
til a few minutes before the news was
given to the public, removed by far
the most serious obstruction toward
the capture of Santiago by the land
forces.
ReinfOrcements For Shafter.
washington, July 4.-The officials hope
to rush the reinforcements to General
Shafter so that there will be from 5000
to 5000 men under his comma,pd Wlt.lil y. ~ n
the next ten days, and sooner II TINS can
: be arranged. This is exclusive OF tne
, insurgents, of whom General Garcia mas
been able to bring to General ShaT{eT I75 ;
| command approximately 1000 men 1ne,Ls
were about 15O00 men and officers IN the
| eyueditiou that set out from Tampa less
than a month ago. These have since Deen
reinforced by troops of Brigadier General
men and consisting of the Thirty-t bird
and Thirty-fourth Michigan and the NlnLh
Massachusetts regiments The First 14Oo
1Continued on Firth Page.l