The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1898-06-10

pounds OF gun cotton, of the same ch; :.
acter as those which We're sent to the
North Atlantic squadron at the request
of Rear Admiral Sampson. Back of
these mines will be placed the monitors
Monterey and Monadnock, which will
shortly start for the far east in tow of
colliers, and there IS good reason to be-
lieve that Rear Admiral Dewey's force
will be supplemented IN the near future
by the gunboat Bennington.
Sewers the Last Gable.
The last cable strands binding Cuba
to the outside world were cut Friday by
cable vessel conveyed by the United
States dispatch boat Dolphin. This
bla~ sea crab delved all day along the
coast, hour by hour, and its powerful
claws at length brought up the barnacle-
clustered cable strands and snapped
them, and now Cuba is wholly iso-
lated. The first cable picked up was
that running to Kingston. Itwas found
early Thursday morning. The coast
loop, connecting Santiago and Guam
tanamo, was cut out. Proceeding to
Guantanamo the cable vessel finally
grappled and severed the Haytien cable.
This ends the cable cutting operations.
Combined Move on Cuba and Porto Rico.
Schley S official report on the Santiago
fight was read at Fridays cabinet meet
ing. He says he has no reasonable
doubt that Cervera's fleet is inside the
harbor, that his firing was to develop
the enemy's batteries, and was in that
respect entirely satisfactory. None of
his vessels were hit and no casualties
on our side. The cabinet meeting was
largely devoted to the discussion of
army and navy movements There
seems to be no doubt that it is the pur-
pose OF the government to push for
ward with the greatest possible expedi-
ton the military and naval movements
against Santiago and Porto Rico, and
for the purpose Of making the result of
both expeditions absolutely certain that
our military forces will be dispatched
to both places to cooperate with the
navy and insurgents The purpose is
to make them overwhelming in strength
aud numbers and SO crush the enemy
at every point and bring the war to a
speedy termination.
Sinking the Merrimac.
Admiral Sampson, early Friday morn
ing decided to close the narrow harbor
entrance to Santiago de Cuba by sink
ing the collier Merrimac, loaded with
coal in the channel. He called for
volunteers to go to almost certain death,
and four thousand men offered them
selves. Lieutenant Hobson and men
were chosen and at 3 a. m. Friday
the Merrimac, under her own
steam entered the channel under ter.
rifle Spanish fire. The vessel was rid
died with projectiles, but she anchored
and swung around. Lieutenant Hobson
then set Off an internal torpedo with
an electric attachment, there was on
explosion, the Merrimac sank and the
channel was closed, and Cervera will
be unable to escape. Lieutenant Hob
son and the hero crew of the Merrimac
were saved in the following manner:
Unable, after the sinking of their YES.
sci, to make their way back through the
storm of shot and shell, they rowed into
the harbor to the Spanish flagship and
were taken on board unharmed The
Spanish admiral, under of flag of truce,
on Friday sent word to the Amer lean
admiral that he offered to exchange the
prisoners, adding that in the meanwhile
dobson and his party would be treated
with the greatest kindness.
Report Troops Have Been Landed.
Advices just received from Santiago
says the bombardment of the port the
Notifications and the neighboring land
lngs, particularly Aguidores, continues.
Monday morning, under cover of
Admiral SIMPSONS guns. force of
United States troops were landed at
Aquidas, a short distance east of San.
tiago harbcr.
N