The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-06-06
OFFICERS REHCENT.
Plans for the Santiago At
k--Exchange Of Hob
son and His Men.

WASHINGTON, June g. 1S9S.-Naval
officers shook their heads in negation
this morning at the stories that were be-
ing circulated to the effect that troops
had been landed in force at Santiago.
They were SO confident that the reports
were premature as to warrant the be-
lief that from their knowledge of the
movements of the troop ships at Tampa
and Mobile It would not be possible for
the troop ships to have arrived by this
time on the south coast OF Cuba
The Resolute, reported yesterday as
having been at Nicholas Mole, Hayti, Tor
a brief space of time, is not a troopship
in the strict sense of the term. She IS
marine transport and has on board oOo
| marines taken to Key West on the Fan
ther. After lying in the harbOr for sew
eral weeks, suffering from close confine-
| ment on board ship. the men were landed
and went into camp near Tampa, where
they were thoroughly drilled.
The Resolute picked them up about
week ago an dstarted for Admiral Samp-
son 81 fleet. The marines wer not to be
used as was at first supposed, on board
| intended to constitute a landing force to
support the fleet in an attack upon any
| fortified point which 1T was decided TO
capture and occupy.
Now that the plan of campaign against
| Santiago is understood to contemplate
| cooperation between the fleet under
L
Genral Shafter, it is believed that to pre-
vent confusion in the direction of the
forces ashore the. marine detachment,
commanded by Lieut.. Col. Huntington,
will be placed under the orders of Gen.
i Shafter to act as part of the regular ar
my for the time being.
| The cable cutting ship sent down by the
| Signal Corps to Santiago to cut the cables
connecting Cuba with the outside world
! has not yet completed that work, for
General Greely, who is directly in charge
iofi ifc ha
| cable leading from Guantanamo to Hayti
| was still in operation
This particular cable was reported in
the press dispatches to have been cut
but it is probable a mistake was made
and one of the local cables running along
the Cuban coast was cut under the i'm
preston that 1T was the main line. 1t is
believed however, that this last link that
| remains TO connect Madrid and Havana
will not exist more than day or two
| longer.
| The cables connecting Key West and
| Havana will not be interfered with by our
Government inasmuch as the censorship
| exercised at Key West prevents them
being used in the Spanish interest. The
Government still permits commercial mes
sages to pass over these cables providing
they do not contain information that
would be of assistance to Spain in con-
Quoting the war
The War Department has supplied to
the Navy Department the list Of names
procured from the, commandant III Fort
Mcpherson, Ca, of the Spanish prisoners
of war there. The Department this
morning sent the. list TO Admiral Sampson
and the Admiral himself will enter into
communication with Admiral Cervera re-
specting the exchange of prisoners.
Cervera will he allowed to select from
the list the persons whom he is willing to
take in exchange for Constructor Hobson
and the gallant crew that manned the
Merrimae on her last run. Hobson's
| ior grade and he stands at the head of
that grade in his corps BY the ordinary
rules of exchange he would be about
| equivalent to captain II the army
| Spanish captives at Fort Mcpherson is a
| first lieutenant so that in order to equal
| ize the exchange it may be necessary for
| Admiral Sampson to throw in with the
! first lieutenant one of the dozen second
| lieutenants among the prisoners. Hob
| sons crew, none being of the commits
| stoned grade. can be exchanged man for
! man for six Spanish privates.
~ When Sampson and Cervera have ar
| ranged these details the list of prisoners
to be exchanged will be submitted to Re
| commandant at Fort Mcpherson 70 send
| them to Key West to be placed aboard 4
naval vessel ), ana e S sent sI,5 to Santlaga for
| that the officials hardly expect TO com
| plete the exchange in less than two weeks.
Captain io' gSpee his s mas gens oen as g WIFI, SsM
| in Washington he spent good dead OF
| the time before the Naval War Board.
ard It Is supposed that " the members e. % Of +
extensive knowledge of the Topography
Of Havana harbor and of the character
Of the defences there possessed by Cap
IN The friends Of Captain Sigsbee are
| som ewhat cI1agrined over the discovery
that without any intention Of WORKING 1!:
| in his standing on the naval list by his
| juniors IN consequence Of the Presidents
that the commanaers e teis o. o.