New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-09-15
nnoOK BISMARCK TOSAN JUAN
oaps WE'LL RECEIVED INCIDENTS
!, or THE THREE DAYS JOURNEY
ACROSS PORTO RICO

l
1uan. Porto Rico. Sept. AFTER a three
r,arch over the magnificent military road
'a, ,., extends from Ponce on the south 10 the
rs. IN the north General Brooke. command
oat .he American forces in Porto Rico. reached
no subnrbs Of this city at noon to-day For
~ ,,esent the American General is occupying
" GUNNER home Of Captain-General Macias. at
~. p,edras. General Macas had placed his
.ss AZ the disposal Of General Brooke and
.se latter arrived he found everything
80, for his reception. even down 10 the small
est detail
The tourney from Guayana. where General
n,oore had established his headquarters after
featuring the place, was devoid Of unpleasant
~yasnts despite the fact that all Of it, save five
ines was through the "enemy's country" On
-. contrary. there was much that indicated
~. desire Of the inhabitants Cor peaceful solu-
.,o, ~ the difficulties between the United States
"A Spain. and more that proved that the
reformation Of tho island from province Of
e.,n to all American colony will not be an ex
,remely difficult task
when General Brooke learned that Admiral
eobIey and Brigadier General Gordon, his fellow
commissioners had left New-York he decided
- start for san Juan on Saturday. September
Q and 10 lake tHe UP slONiy anu "itHout Us
..rtat,ous display. In addition to his staff. he
.oos with him only Troop H. 9th United States
cavalry Captain Scott. and Company F. Sth
United States Infantry Captain Pitcher. as an
escort besides thirty wagons laden with pro-
visions baggage and forage. Not flag, save
,,A red and white gudon Of the cavalry.
taken along and every precaution was observed
~ give as little offence as possible to the Span
he nil CHI Citizang
the route
GENERAL BROOKE WELL RECEIVED.
From all appearances the cavalcade might
have been taken for the escort Of one COM
msnder on q visit to another That General
Rrooke's courteous observance OF the proprieties
was we'll received vas apparent as he entered
the cities Of Cayey and Caguas. through which
he passed Ar the outskirts OF each Of these he
was met by officials. who invited him to occupy
the houses Of prominent citizens during his stay.
These invitations were accepted In the spirit In
which they were offered. and when the American
General departed IL was with the goodwin or
most II not all Of the inhabitants
Shortly after o 3 m. on Saturday the start
was made All the wagon trains had gone
ahead earlier in the day. SO that there would be
little II any delay IN making camp at the end
of the DAVIS tourney General Brooke rode at
the head Of a cavaloade of officers OF his staff
and that Of Brlgadier-General Frederick u.
Grant who accompanied him as far as the
snanish outpost about eight miles from Quay
ANA The road shortly after leaving Guayama
heg1ns the ascent Of the Cayey Mountains,
PERCEPTIONS range extending almost due east and
west Progress was extremely slow, and II was
not until noon that the Spanish outpost was
reached on the way two stone bridges, which
had been partially destroyed by the Spaniards
after TIE defeat at Gueyama. were crossed
From the imperfect way In which the damage
was done n appeared that the Spanierds had
used gunpowder instead Of high explosive as
the destructive agent. In one Of them the key
stone Of the arch had been blown out and the
SIDES, bad partly fallen in. In the other only
the floor was disrupted Haste. rather than lack
q knowledge, was probably responsible for the
lack Of completeness in the work Inc meTe
mr. tfaf these bridges had so we'll resisted the
Efforts TO destroy them speaks well for ne ex-
celIence OF the work Of the Spanish roadbuiders.
ASCENT FROM CAYEY MOUNTAINS
The ascent from Cayey Mountains begins In
mos; abrupt manner. short distance from
Cayey. II winds around the foothills In curves
now wide. narrow. until the range II
reached crossing arrows filled with tropical
vAgeta ton. and occasionally mountain stream
which leaps from knows where Az
times the broad and fertile valley IN which
Guayama lies appears. spread out like a green
fan
Just before the summit Of the first range or
the Cayey Mountains was crossed crowd or
Spanish soldiers. clad in the light blue cotton
uniform worn in the tropics. could he seen
clustered a bout small house on the top Of
low hill. intently gazing AZ the approaching
oavalcsde Not a sound did they utter as the
column came nearer. and It was not until Gen
ersl Brooke reached the spot where they stood
that it was known that an officer vas present.
Then Comrnandant jose Reyes Calvo. with
whom General Brooke had had several COM
munications came forward and greeted the
Americans After brief halt. the column
moved ahead and after pursuing It's way along
comparatively level stretch Of road for several
miles came 70 the summit of the main range.
Then another beautiful panorama unveiled It.
self The broad valley OF the Rio Grande which
flows to the north. formed the base Of this new
picture
The descent into Cayey. along an exception
ally good part OF the road was easy and the dis
lance was covered In good time. As one ap-
proaches the town from the south the road be-
comes broad avenue lined with cocoanut and
other palm and fern trees. Al the head OF the
party General Brooke. with Brigadier- General
Sheridan al his right. rode magnificent charger.
Behind him the staff. clad in the campaign uni
form Of KHAKI. kept pace with the commander
batch OF orderlies. IN blue shirts and trousers,
followed and at the rear came the Regular cav
airy All along the route the natives gathered
at the roadside and looked wonderingly at the
invaders. Occasionally. in some secluded spot
when no one near 10 hear native would
cry out 'Vivos Amercanos''
MET BY A SPANISH OFFICER
Al the gates Of the. municipality a Spanish
omcer met the General and invited him to occu-
" one Of the N. ioiie daxallin0s