Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1898-06-23
INVADERS LANDING
DiseMbarking Troops of Gem
eral Skaters Expedition.
VERY LITTLE RESISTANCE.
Direct Communication With Shat
ter and Sampson.
A DEMONSTRATION AT CABANAS

A DEMONSTRATION AT CABANAS
To Engage the Attention of the Enemy
While the Soldiers Were Being Landed.
The Texas Engaged the West Battery
and Had One Man Killed The Work Of
Landing the Expedition Will Require
Several Days.
Washington, June 23-Official dis
patches received last night by both
Secretary Alger and Secretary Long
indicated that the landing of troops
near Santiago was progressing most
favorably. The first landing was eff
fected at Daiquiri in the morning, and
met with comparatively slight resist
ance. This was stated in dispatch
received in the evening from General
Shafter by Secretary Alger, which,
though brief. was full of news and
meaning. 1t said:
Landing at Daiquiri this morning
successful. Very little, if any, resist
ance."
Secretary Alger expressed himself
as delighted at the expedition with
which the landing of the troops was
being effected, and with the fact that
no serious obstacle was being offered
by the enemy. He construed the text
of General Skaters message to mean
that the enemy had made merely a
nominal and ineffective resistance by
firing from the hills at long range
Shortly after Secretary Alger re-
ceived his dispatch Secretary Long re-
ceived more extended cablegram
from Admiral Sampson. It, too, was
dated at Playa del Este, at $50 last
evening. The text of the dispatch,
translated from the navy department
cipher, is as follows:
Landing of the army is progressing
favorably at Daiquiri. There is very
little, if any, resistance. The New
Orleans, Detroit, Castine, Wasp and
Suwanee shelled vicinity before land
ing. We made a demonstration at
Cabanas to engage the attention of the
enemy. The Texas engaged the west
battery for some hours She had one
man killed Ten submarine mines
have been recovered from the channel
of Guantanamo. Communication by
telegraph has been established at
Guantanamo"
In both army and navy circles the
information contained in the dispatch
es of General Shafter and Admiral
Sampson was received with intense
satisfaction. The landing of SO large
a body of troops as General Shafter
at present has under his command is
task of immense proportions. A
prominent official of the war depart
ment said that the complete debarka-
ton of the troops, animals, field guns
and supplies within a week after their
arrival off the Cuban coast would be
task well accomplished. 1t is prob
able, in the opinion of the officer re-
ferred to, that only partial landing
of the troops was effected yesterday,
and that the landing will be continued
from day until day until completed.
1t is not unlikely, too, that the troops
will be landed at several places along
the coast. of course within a short
distance of the headquarters which
General Shafter will establish for him
self
Admiral SIMPSONS dispatch indi-
Gated that he was carrying out his in
structions thoroughly to clear a way
for the landing of troops. The demon
stration which he made with the Texas
before Cabanas, which is just east of
Guantanamo, may easily have led the
Spaniards to suppose that a general
landing was to be attempted in that
| immediate vicinity. 1t was evident
from the text of Admiral. Simpsons S
dispatch that considerable landing
had already been effected near Guam
tanamo, as he noted that communica-
| tion by telegraph had been re-estab-
lished at that point, and that the
channel had been cleared of subma-
rine mines. In the opinion of naval
officers the landing at Guantanamo was
of marines rather than of land forces.
The cable stations through which the
| American commanders will commune
cate with the departments i'm this city
have been established, as shown by
the dates of TIE dispatches received, at
Playa del Este. small place directly
on the coast and about Is miles east
of Santiago. The change was made
from Camp McCalla to Playa del Este
in order that the station might be
nearer the scene of action
The medical authorities here are
anxious that the troops should be
landed at tfe earliest possible moment
from the transports off Santiago, and
believe to effect this the commanders
would be justified in exposing the men
to some considerable degree of risk
from attack rather than to continue
their confinement on board the trans
/ ports. The fact that the animals taken
along have suffered heavy mortality
is an indication that the lot of the
troops cannot be very comfortable
/ The appearance Of typhoid fever
among the soldiers, as reported from
Santiago, is said at medical headQuar-
ters to be due not to conditions ON the
transports, but to bad water or food
taken in Florida before the transports
embarked.