, 1898-07-16
To ANNEX HAWAII
FOURTH MANILA EXPEDITION
LEFT SAN FRANCISCO YES
TERDAY AFTERNOON.
About 1,750 Men on Board the Two YES
sells Which Composed the Expedi-
tion-Orders Given to the Fifth
Expedition to Sail as Soon as Pos
sible.

San Francisco. July 15.-Shortly af-
ter 3 o'clock this afternoon Major Cen
eral Otis, from his flagship. the City of
Puebla, signlaed the transport Peru to
get under way. The signals were I'M
derstood by the anxious watchers on
the shore and by those who had sur
rounded the two vessels in small boats,
and were received with great cheering
AS the vessels got under way the
cheering increased in volume, and to
the accompaniment of hundreds of
steam whistles and the firing of bombs
and cannon, the two vessels proceeded
slowly down the bay, past the water
some difficulty in making their way
through the maze of small boats, which
constantly interfered with their pas
sage until they attained such speed
that nothing but powerful tug boats,
loaded with friends and relatives of the
soldiers, could keep pace with them.
The soldiers on the transports crowd
ed into the rigging and answered the
cheering of the civilians with hearty
good will and responded to the dipping
flags of the merchant vessels by way
ing their hats and handkerchief.
AS the two vessels and the small
fleet accompanying it. passed the fort
the big guns from the batteries sent
forth their thunder in salute, to which
the transports responded with steam
sirens.
Long before dusk the last good-byes
had been said to the departing vessels
from the deck Of the tug boats. and the
heavily laden transports proceeded on
their way to Honolulu. where they will
stop to participate in the annexation
ceremonies and to take on fresh pro-
visions and refill their coal bunkers.
Major General Otis and staff have
their headquarters on the City Of
Puebla, which also carries the remain
ing companies of the Fourteenth Unit
ed States infnatry. recruits of the First
and Second %battaliOns of the
Eighteenth and Twenty-third regi-
ments, enlisted men of the First North
Dakota, First Wyoming and First Ida
no. medical officers and members of the
hospital corps, a total of S43 men.
The troops of the Peru consist of
a squadron of the Fourth United States
cavalry, light batteries of the Sixth
United States artillery, a detachment
of the Third United States artillery, 4
detachment of the signal corps under
Captain Russell. Il detachment Of vol
u~nteers, medical officers and members
OF the hospital corps, about 900 men.
The last orders of General Otis be-
fore leaving were that the remaining
transports should sail as 500 as pos
sible. irrespective of fleets or other eX-
pected vessels. Each one, he said,
should go by itself if necessary. Sur
prisingly quick work has been done on
the Pennsylvania and City of Rio de
Janeiro. They are both neraly ready
and will probably be ready to sail by
next Thursday. The loading Of the
commissary stores on these two vessels
began today.
Brigadier General H. G.. Otis has fin
ally been selected to command the fifth
expedition to Manila. His fleet will con
sist of the steamers Rio de Janerio, st.
Paul and Pennsylvania. The steamer
st. Louis is due from St. Michaels,
and should no delay in her arrival oc-
cur she will be made ready for. Manila
in a short time. Among the other Of
ficers to go on this expedition are Ma
jor Rubin. chief quartermaster, and
Lieutenant Colonel Whipple, chief ord
nance officer.
The remaining expeditions to the Phil
ippines will be repetitions OF those that
have gone already. All the troop ships
will be utilized as they return for the
purpose Of transporting the forces wait
ing here.