The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-06-25

take them for American soldiers at little
distance.
The news coming from Jamaica that Gen.
Pando is sending heavy achievements to
the Spanish General Linares, in Santiago.
is likely to have the effect of Fastening the
campaign against that town by the Ameri-
cans. Pando has ten thousand soldiers at
Holguin, less than one hundred miles from
Santiago. They are the pick of the Spanish
army In Cuba and their commander is
known as the fighting general. Were they
70 combine with the Spanish force in San
tiago. the American campaign might be
very much prolonged, and the task set for
our troops would be much heavier Two fac
tors have been relied on to prevent this
combination. The first is the very rough ma
ture Of the country between Holguin and
Santiago. which would be exceedingly diff
cult for troops to cover in less than four or
i've days at the earliest. The second is the
active efforts of the Cubans to harass the
Spaniards on the march and retard their
movements. With the force they now have
in that country, the Cubans could do this
very effectually, but they could scarcely
undertake to absolutely check the whole
Spanish force of ten thousand men.
The reports from Santiago indicate that
the Spanish admiral is using his squadron
exactly as was anticipated, to defend the
town from attack by soldiers in the rear.
This only emphasizes, in the mind of army
officers, the necessity for speedy action on
the part of the invaders, for with Pando's
men to reinforce the garrison and Cervera's
squadron in full play, the Spanish force
would be, from a military point of view,
much stronger than the combined force OF
Americans under Shafter and Cubanss under
Garcia and Rabi.
It is believed that considerable reliance
must be placed on the American siege train,
for as soon as the heavy siege guns in
place on the crest of the hills it is expected
that the position of the Spanish admiral
below, exposed to plunging fire, will be
untenabIe. and he will be obliged either to
surrender or make a desperate attempt to
escape from Santiago harbor.
The naval authorities here are satisfied
that no Spanish war ship has escaped from
Santiago harbor so far, and the Spanish
newspaper stories to the effect that 1.-The
cruiser Reina Christina escaped from San
fiago,' etc. were received here with good
deal of amusement. AS one officer put It,
the Spaniards must be possessed of regu-
lar flying Dutchman' in the Reina Chris
tina for, at last accounts, and very recent
ones, too, that particular vessel wass1ying
in the bottom of Manila bay, where Dewey
had sunk her on May day. The story is re-
garded as a fair sample of those put afioat
to deceive the Spaniards at home and give
comfort to their friends in Europe.
The formal statement by the Spanish min
lister of marine that the Maria Christina
had succeeded in running the blockade into
Cienfuegos naturally demanded more at
tention than the first publication, although
the officials do not hesitate to express doubt
OF its accuracy. This vessel is not, as may
be supposed, formidable war craft, but
Is nothing more than one of the ships of
the Compagnie Transatlantique, of Cadiz,
hastily fitted up with few fve-and-one-
Ealf-inch Hontoria guns. She was built in
1855 and is a sixtecT-knot vessel of 4 1881 tons
displacement. If she has got into Glen
fuegos she has crossed over from some of
the smaller islands of the West Indies or
may be from Porto Rico 1t is believed,
however, that If the vessel actually reached
Cuba she has got in at Batabano per-
haps Manzanillo. both of which ports are
outside the blockade lines.
There has been so much talk of Spanish
vessels running the blockade when as
matter of fact if they came to Cuba at all
they entered some unblockaded port, that
that the officials here are beginning to
recognize deliberate purpose on the part
OF persons secretly hostile to the United
States to give basis for the Spanish repre-
sensations made to European ports that
our blockade is Intellectual. No vessel that
enters a port outside of the blockade lines
can be said to have run the blockade" and
the number of vessels that have really en-
tered or escaped from blockaded ports is
exceedingly small In fact, taking the
number actually known from the official
records, it would appear that the present
blockade of Cuba by the American fleet
has been the most successful ever known.
VIXEN the extent of the blockaded territory
ts considered.