The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-04-01

cargo or that vessel into our own schooner
Inc vessel that had come alon gside of us
was the Platte 1t had brought a full
cargo OF ammunition. The Platte had sail
ed from Washington down the Potomac in
70 Chesapeake bay, and down the bay to
the ocean.
IL TOOK only three hours to throw our
cargo Of potatoes overheard and TO take
on the guns from the Platte The Platte
mad left Washington almost openly with
the merest pretense of fruit spread over
her ammunition. We took all aboard and
started south for Cuba.
IL S a mighty ticklish thing taking a
hhbustering expedition into the heart of
warning country, especially when vo,l,ve
got ices on all sides of you.
The Montgomery lay off North Carolina
anc the Indiana was down off Savannah
ms we knew, because we had taken note
or their location before Our only saliva
non lay in keeping well out from the coast
and in codging the places where the cruis-
ers lay anchored I kept watch that night
IN one direction and my mate kept watch
IN another Our best men were placed as
pickets, keeping a lookout on all the
points OF the compass, and so with 100000
IN dynamite and guns aboard bought by
American capitalists, we sailed on with
the heart of Cuba in our keeping. l.
You get mighty brave when you are
right in danger. We had been trembling
before we got the ammunition aboard, but
with our feet on the guns and the smell
OF powder around us we took heart and
Kept right on, even laughing and singing
songs ana making merry, as we had new +
done with our simple cargo aboard.
our plan was to go south to the TWEEN
tieth parallel and then to sail directly
west. We intended to pass San Diego. and
II possible to land our cargo within thirty
miles OF the insurgent camp. Within thir-
| ~ miles of Cuba there would be a little
| Cuban war vessel watching for us. It's
signal would be the flag of Cuba and the
sign of Maxine Gomez This would be
raised in answer to our own signal, and
theh we would make a quick transfer of
| cargo.
That night we took the quickest trip
| ever made We sailed hard and fast. and
the next morning when day broke we were
on the parallel of st. Augustine We had
intended to continue on our way in day.
! ught and TO make the transfer the next
night, but to our surprise there was moth
| ing in sight, so we decided to cast anchor
| and wait. Once the tall tunnels of a cruis-
er came looming up over the horizon and
| straighC towards us. Suddenly a light
Hooded us. 1t was their searchIight. But TO
| our surprise they turned away again. and
DIODaDlX
| the Spanish cruiser Vizcaya on its way to
New York harbor, but we decided to let
| her pass us as quietly as possible. If she
noticed us at all 1t was only to take pass
| ing glance at the insignificant little fruit
vessel off there in the Atlantic
That night we put west and kept In as
| straight line as we could until we got
In the Bahamas Here to our consterna-
| ton, we saw before us coming straight
| on steamship 1t looked like an ocean
liner, but for the life of US we could not
| tell whittier she was bound or what she
| was doing there. That there was no
steamship line crossing that point we
knew What then did a steamship mean
ana was she an improvised Spanish war
vessel on the look out for filibusters?
We decided to pull off so far from her
that she could not examine our cargo with
her glasses, and await developments. To
our surprise and joy she turned north
and continued on her way to Florida. we
! afterwards learned that she contained
some of the board of inquiry and the Init
| ed states officials that were at that time
! plying between Florida and Cuba. For a
! few days there was great running from
| Key West 10 Cuba with messages Ten
| steamships with friends of the Names
crew and navy officers put out within three
days for Cuba.
Toward dusk we saw ahead of us If
| tie vessel, and as soon as il was dusk we
! gave the light signal 1t was instantly
answered with a white light, in front Of
| which the flag of Cuba for an instant
| flashed, then the signal of Gomez-a red
| star on a white field. IL was in the form
of a huge lantern, with a flash of red
across the front and then we knew that
| we were near our friends.
We were strangers to the Cubans but
| our interests were one, and when we
| touched sides we all went to work with a
| will to transfer our cargo.
| 1t was a long job but we got il over
safe. then turned back again and at noon
the next day we were in Atlantic waters.
A government guard got hold of us that
| day and gave us an overhauling but there
was not much TO see aboard. Just a little
dust from a spilled bag of powder and
twenty pairs of dingy hands, but thew
were suspicious of us and did not want
| to let us so.
We got away from them and came on
north, but did not stop until we reached
New York harbor
And that was where they found us whan
they came to investigate the filIbusterinr
vessels two weeks ago, but they couldn't
prove it on us. And we've taken several
since. Amos j. Cunningham