The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-06-18
TWlCKENHAM'S CASE.
What Steward of the Captured Collier
Says.

4 Key West, Fla, June II, Ills a. H.
William Thompson, the steward of the
British collier Twickenham, which was
captured off Kingston, Ja., on June 10
by the auxiliary cruiser st. Louis, today
said to representative of the Associated
Press:
The steamer and 1 believe, the cargo
are owned by Watts, Watts Il Co., Of Lon
don. We sailed from Newcastle-on-T Tyne
with full cargo of coal at half past mid
night on April az, the day after war had
been declared. None of the crew knew
that war had been declared and I don't
know whether the captain did. Our
destination was ST. Thomas for orders.
We reached st. Thomas Oh May 16 and re.
ceiyed orders to proceed to Martinique and
report to the Spanish consul there 'Take
orders from the Spanish CONSUL the cable
orders read.
"At Martinique, the Spanish consul
paid our bills. We took aboard chief off,
Ger James Fornie of the alleged Spanish
hospital ship Alicante. He was to be su.
per-cargo and take charge of the coal
when we reached our destination. The
consul cleared the ship for Dominica,
Hayti, the owners refusing to let her clear
aboard after dark, just before we sailed.
l saw Fornie's chart of our sailing course,
after passing Cape Maysi, which had
Santiago as our destination. Fornie was
formerly an officer in the Spanish navy.
When we We're well on our way the
captain notified the officers and engineers
that they would go to Santiago. They
held consultation and refused to take
the steamer to any but u neutral port.
The engineers decided they would disable
the engines If the navigator sUeered for
Santiago.
"The captain was very angry and said
he would get new crew, but the officers
captain headed for Kingston. -
An officer of the st. Louis in speaking
of the captain said:
'We had been laying for the Twicken-
ham two days on orders from Washing
ton. We kept ten miles off the coast.
When we sighted the Britisher we got in
front of him and fired blank shot, fol-
lowing 1t at once with solid shot. The
ship hove to promptly and the captain
came off to US in a small boat, protesting
vigorously against what he called an
indignity to a law.abiding British ma
riner. He said the cargo was consigned
to himself, but afterwards contradictsd
this statement, by saying he did not
know the consignee. We put prize
crew aboard and brought the Twicken-
ham to Key Vest
Steward Thompson said:
"The Alicante Is a 5000 ton steamer
chartered from Henderson of Glasgow
She is fitted out as a hospitable boat and
painted white, but at the same time she
is collier and Spanish warship. She COR
ries 300 men. l myself, saw her coal the
Spanish torpedo boat destroyer Terror
at Fort de France, in Port Royal bay, 10
miles below ST. Pierre, Martinique. An
American on shore told me to watch the
Spanish ships that night and / kept a
sharp lookout .and saw the hospital ship
coaling the torpedo boat destroyer. The
Alicante can make IA knots Her engi-
neers are English and the engineers of
Cervera's fleet are Englisnmen who are
strving unwillingly against the United
States but stick to their posts because
they were enlisted
The evidence in the Twickenham case
Is all In and it will be sent to Jackson
Vile where the Federal court is sitting
and where decisions will be rendered.