The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-05-16
SPANlARDS WERE ALERT
THEY REFUSED THE EFFORTS
OF EXPEDITION.
THE INSURGENTS FAILED TO co. OPERATE
Two Efforts Were Made TO Land, One at Ca
banas and One at Matauzas-- The Span
iards Were Alive to Both
Plans.

tdIiSs
Copyrighted 1898 by Associated Press.)
Key West Fla, May 15.-I'he steam
CT Gussie, which left Tampa, Fla, May
10, with two companies of the First In
fantry ON board, in charge of seven
thousand rifles and two hundred thous-
and rounds of ammunition. intended for
the Insurgents in the province of Pinar
del Rio, remained off the coast of Cuba
Thursday, Friday and yesterday, con-
ming, in vain attempt to land her car
20. Captain j. III. Dorst, of the staff
of General Miles and formerly United
States Military Attache at Vienna, head
ed the expedition which returned here
this morning. He says the Gussie will
go to Tampa, Fla. Previous to leaving
Cuban waters, the Dorst expeditionary
force had Il skirmish with Spanish cav
airy near Cabanas, fifteen miles west
of Havana, where an attempt was made
to land part of the cargo. On Friday
morning Captain Dorst abandoned the
attempt at that point and steamed east
ward to Matanzas, where an arrange
ment had been made with the insur-
gents to send supplies ashore at Point
Maya, mile or so east of the entrance
of the harbor.
The Gussie and her convoy yesterday
morning steamed until about two miles
off shore, when the rattle of musketry
from a considerable force of Spanish sol
diers concealed behind underbrush
ashore, warned them that they would
receive lively welcome if they landed.
The Spanish troops seemed to have been
furnished with information of the con-
tempIated landing at both points.
After this second failure Captain Dorst
decided to abandon the attempt to land
the arms and ammunition and returned
to Key West
A more Disguised looking lot of troop
ers than those aboard the Gussie this
morning. it would be hard TO find They
had received orders not to speak of their
trip and sulenly lined the rail of the
Gussie as the Associated Press launch
ran alongside of her. But grunts were
the only answers which could be obtained
to the questions asked.
Soon after the arrival of the Gussie,
Captain Dorst was rowed ashore and re-
ported the failure Of his expedition by
cable to the War Department.
Naval officers here say that if Captain
Dorst had secured the cooperation of
some the ships of the Neutrality-suspicious.
at the point selected for the landing. the
Spanish troops ashore could have been
shelled and a way would have been
cleared for the landing Of the soldiers
and the cargo they had in charge, bur
no instructions were gwen TO the ships
to cooperate with Captain Dorst's eXpe
dition and the Gussie was several times
compelled to heaye to. while cruising npl
and down the coast by the blockade YES
sells whose commanders We're under the
apprehension that she was trying to run
the blockade. The United States gun
boat Machias. which was lying off Ma
tanzas on Friday night. reported that sig
nal lights were seen ashore east of Point
Sabilla and some Of her officers say they
believe the insurgents, having ascertain
ed that the rendezvous at Point Maya
had been discovered by the enemy, de-
sired a landing to be made Mt another
point but Captain Dorst held TO his orig
inal plans and found the Spanish troops
awaiting him. He did not return empty
handed. however At Cabanas the
American party captured a prisoner of
war in a shack.
Captain Dorst says the failure of the
expedition was due to the fact that the
Cubans were unable to meet the land
ing party at the rendezvous and the
Americans could not land supplies with
no one to receive them.
The arrangements for making land
ing at Cabanas were made ten days ago
by CAPTAIN Dorst, with General Delga-
do. in command of the insurgent forces
in the province of Pinar del Rio, AMI
the supplies to be landed near Matan-
zas were 10 be conveyed to General
Gomez by force of insurgents encamp-
ed three miles back from the coast line.
Both of the Cuban parties were unable
apparently, to appear at the rendezvous
owing to the activity of the Spaniards.
Captain Dorst is convinced that the
Spaniards have good system OF com
municating along the coast and that tney
can quickly raise enough troops 10 pre-
vent the landing of a small force, such
as the one he commanded, and the cap
tain believes the only way arms anu
ammunition can be sent TO the insurg-
ents is to land them under the cover OF
war ships with guns sufficient to beat
off any attack. Then. he said, the arms
and ammunition should be conveyed
inland by United States soldiers.
The captain says the company which
landed through the surf Mt Cabanas. had
a narrow escape. The soldiers were
fired upon by Spanish cavalry concealed
in the tangled underbrush and the fire
WAS replied to with the result that ono
Spanish officer and three men were bit
Only one man on the American side was
wounded. The latter, a newspaper cor
respondent. received slight flesh wound
in the arm.
The Wasp and the Manning shelled
the woods and covered the retreat Of
the soldiers to the Gussie
On Friday the Spaniards tried to hit
the Gussie from a masked battery and
some OF their shells burst close on board
but none of the fragments struck.
Ernest Suntzenech, one Of the Amer
lean seamen wounded at Cienfugos last
Thursday. died at the Marine Hospital
here yesterday evening and was buried
today. He was a frst-class seaman APP
prentice and belonged to the United