The San Francisco call., 1898-05-16
FAILS TO LAND " AR SUPPLIES Dorst Expedition Returns to Key West From
 Cuba.
Insurgents Unable to Reach the Rendezvous on the
 Coast.
Finding Themselves Opposed by Large Bodies of Troops, the
 Americans Turn Back
Special Dispatch to The Call.

KEY WEST, May 15.-The steamer Gussie, which left Tampa, Fla, on May 10, with two companies of the First Tn- fantry on board in charge of 1000 rifles and 100000 rounds of ammunition in- tended for the insurgents in the pro- vince of Pinar del Rio, remained eff the coast of Cuba on Thursday, Friday and yesterday, conveyed by the auxiliary gunboat Manning. in vain attempt to land her cargo. Captain J. H. Dorst, of the staff of General Miles, and formerly United States military attache at Vienna, headed the expedition, which returned here this morning.
 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 Del gado, in command of the insurgent forces in the province of Pinar del Rio, and the supplies to be landed near MatanZaS were to be conveyed to Gen eraI Gomez by a force of insurgents encamped 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 a good system of communication along the coast, and they can quickly raise enough troops to prevent the landing or a small force, such as the one he com manded, and the captain believes the only way arms and ammunition can De sent to the insurgents is to land them under the cover of warships with guns sufficient to beat off any attack. Then. he adds, the arms and ammunition should be conveyed inland by United States soldiers.
 The captain says the company which landed through the surf at Cabanas had a narrow escape. The soldiers were fired upon by Spanish cavalry con- cealed in the tangled underbrush, and the fire was replied to with the result that one Spanish officer and three men were hit Only one man on the Amer ican side was wounded He was J. +. ]. Archibald, newspaper correspond ent of San Francisco, who received slight flesh wound in the arm. The Wasp and 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. The American party captured a prisoner of war in shack at Ca banas.
 near Cabanas, Captain Dorst aban- doned the attempt at that point and steamed eastward to Matanzas, where an arrangement had been made with te fn ashore at Point Maya, a 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 soldiers. concealed behind underbrush ashore, warned them that they would receive a lively welcome if they landed. The Spanish troops seemed to have been given information of the contem- plated 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 disgusted looking lot of troopers than those aboard the Gussie this morning it would be hard to find. They had received orders not to speak of their trip and sullenly lined the rail of the Gussie as a launch ran alongside of her. But grunts were the only an- swers which could be obtained to ques- tions asked.
 Soon after the arrival of the Gussie Captain Dorst was rowed ashore and reported the failure of his expedition to the War Department
 Ernest Suntzenech, one of the Ameri can seamen wounded at Cienfuegos last Thursday, died at the Marine Hospital here Thursday evening and was buried to-day. He was a first-class seaman and belonged to the United States cruiser Marblehead. He was shot through the left leg in boat while as- sisting in cutting the cable off Cien- fuegos. He died after his limb had been amputated. Deceased lived in Brooklyn.