Evening star., 1898-06-10
No Truth in the RumOr.

The latter report is row known to have
had no foundation, and there is a conflict
of opinion among the officers of the fleet as
| to whether the New Orleans had in reality
| met torpedo boat. When the firing was
begun on Friday night it was dark, and the
object at which the guns on our ships were
directed seemed to be moving close in shore.
A railroad line conf ects Santiago with Cave
Point at a distance OF fifteen miles, the
site of iron manufactures. The track runs
along the waters edge, and the trains,
which carry supplies and probabl war ma
terial only run at right and without
lights. Il is possible that in the darkness u
fast-moving train may have been mis- taken,
as one was last week. for a torpedo boat
But the discovery by the Porter OF two
torpedoes on Saturday afternoon floating
in the water two miles from shore tended
to strengthen the theory of those who in
sisted that a torpedo attack had been az
tempted. The torpedoes were of the
Schwartzkopf pattern, which are not used
by our ships. If they were discharged al
one of our vessels by the destroyers, the
Spaniards must have had bad case oi
nervous fright, as one had on only prac-
tice head, blank cartridge.
Fired Friday Morning.
This fact leads to the belief that the
tcrpedoes picked up by the Porter were
fired Friday morning at the Merrimac, wnen
she was discovered entering the neck OF
the harbor probably by the cruiser Reina
Mercedes, which lies dismantled
wreck off Smith Cayo, where the harbor
neck broadens. After being fired they may
have drifted out with the tide.
If this theory is confirmed the momentary
panic caused by the sudden appearance OF
our ships and the belief, which probably
prevailed, that the whole American neet
was attempting to force an entrance might
| account for a premature discharge OF
| torpedo before The war head was affixed.
With deliberate preparations for a tor
| pedo boat attack it would hardly be likely
| for any of the war heads not TO be ad-
justed OF course, it is possible there may
| have been torpedo boat attack on Friday
night ard that one of the reserve torpedoes
got adrift, or if one of the boats was
| sunk, as, some hold, the torpedo may have
| got loose fiom its moor!ngs as the ship
| plunged and went down. The torpedoes
| were evidently set to float after being dis
| charged.
| In our navy all torpedoes are set to sink
when they have run their course The
| Spahiards may have reckoned on keeping
them afloat in the hope that one of our
| ships would stumble on it in the dark and
share the fate of the Maine. King Yuen,
one of the Chinese ships at the battle of
the Yalu, is supposed by some naval ex-
Ierts to have been sunk by a floating tor
| redo discharged earlier in the acton by
one of her sister ships.
SHIPS Fire on Each Other.
A sharp lockout is maintained by the
| klockading squadron in guarding against
night torpedo attacks and it has already
| led to firing by our ships upon each other
| on at least two occasions. During the last
week the battle ship Texas fired upon the
! MarbIehead and the Vixen, and both .he
latter vessels had narrow escapes.
Only the flash of their single lights and,
| or the occasion in question, the fortunate
| bad aim of the gunners of the Texas saved
them.
Several of the newspaper dispatch boats
! have also had rather stirring experiences
| of a similar character. 1t should be said
| that on board the New York and the New
! Orleans they are quite confident torpedo
attack was repulsed on Friday night.