Evening journal., 1898-04-30
QUIET AT KEY WEST
No Late Dispatches From
Admiral Sampson.
SPY STORY PROVES TO Be A FAKE.
Sailors Eccentricities the Cause of the
Absurd Report-Cafdenas Has Not
Been BOmbarded-C Clara Bar
ton at the Front.

KEY WEST, April SO.-Yesterday was
day Of wild rumor and little action.
FIRST came the story Of the lombard
ment OF Cardenas by the ships of the
Meet stationed there. The rumors sud
denly developed from nowhere and
thnVed Justify, acquiring an elaborate
finish Of detail and ornamentation. Then
the monitor Puritan steamed into port
ana Captain Harrington, the command
lng oihcer Of the Cardenas fleet, gave
the story its quietus by a firm declara-
ton that there had been no lombard
ment Of the Cardenas batteries, incl
dentally adding that there were no bat
teries there and only one or two insig
niicant gunboats, which had given no
sign of offense.
The Puritan was hardly in port, to
which she came for coal, when another
picturesque story appeared. This was
that a SpaRiard was in the crew OF the
monitor and had been detected with
bunch Of skeleton keys attempting to
tick the lock of one Of the powder mag
azines with intent to blow up the ship.
This thrilling tale was industriOusly
spread by the Purltans patriotic crew,
who knew only few of the facts, and
1t, too, was summarily nipped in the
bud by the highest officers of the ship.
According to them, the story arose from
the fact that in the Puritan's crew is a
Spaniard or Cuban by name Yglesias,
eccentric and a trihe unbalanced, but
VIII never was suspected Of anything
but the heartiest loyalty to the United
States, in whose navy he has been for
seven years.
He was seen the other day in one Of
fbsa &c I.r~ Col ap
ported an attempt to break open the
magazine door, adding that cotton
waste and rockets had been found on
Yglesias. The latter was Immediately
put under restraint and a court Of in
quiry had been appointed to make an
investigation. No court martial has
been ordered or recommended and
while Captain Harrington refuses to
discuss the affair pro or con other
high officers say that a reasonable in
depreciation Of the incident is prepos-
terous
The chief incident of the day was the
arrival of the troopship Panther with
nearly 700 marines on board. She comes
from Hampton roads in convoy of the
Montgomery. Lieutenant Colonel Hunt
ingdon is in command Of the marines.
He said the only event Of the trip was
a squall on Tuesday night which lasted
IS hours. The men stood it well.
The Mascotte arrived yesterday after
noon, bringing Miss Clara Barton and q
corps Of Red Cross workers, consisting
of DR.. and Mrs. J. Gardner, Dr. T.. w
Egan, D. s. Cobb, c. II. Cottrell. j. A.
Mcdowell, ]. X. Elwell and Sisters
Blanche McCorrister, Anna McCun
Minnie Royal Isabelle Chen and Lucy
Graves. The party did not come ashore
but were taken down stream TO the Red
Cross ship state Of Texas, which has
beeasawaiting their arrival. The STATE
of Texas, under Captain Young has
four other Red Cross workers on boart
and / 400 tons of provisions. clothing
and medicines. She will await instruc
tions from Washington before proceed
ing for Cuba. The State of Texas viii
probably serve as a hospital ship FOL
the fleet and troops.
No news was received from the fee
Yesterday