The evening times., 1898-06-01
WEDNESDAY. JUNE /. 1895.
su,rhurou. Sound. From s.ntIas

Sulphurous Sounds From Santiago.
The bad boy at Cape Haitien has
cried wolf so often without any legit-
+" Innate reason for so doing that the
press has come to regard reports of a
: sanguinary character emanating from
that point with some suspicion. Only
the specific nature and details of the
Gtory received last night. and the fact
that it was corroborated from Port au
Prince independently, saved it from at
least temporary discredit. But 1t
doubtless was true in the main. 1t
does not seem to have bombarded all
editorial minds in exactly the same
way. One or two papers this morning
assumed that the harbor of Santiago
had been forced by our squadron. and
that it was fighting Cervera inside.
Nothing cbuld be much more improb-
able. The mouth of the harbor is only
six hundred feet wide. and within three
quarters of a mile it narrows to one
hundred feet Our ships would have
to pass in Indian file through this tor.
tuous and difficult channel, under a
dropping fire from the forts above. and
between shore batteries all along. which
could not fail to hit targets almost at
the muzzles of their guns.
The truth probably is that. for some
reason, Commodore Schiey thought it
time to knock down the medieval de-
fenses on the heights, and. retiring a
short distance to give the proper ele-
walton to his heaviest guns, proceeded
.t,o ;,l, Tt ;e a
that Cervera's ships took part in the
fight, and that may be. since he could
have moved down to near the entrance
of the bay and have been within range
of our squadron. At the hour of writ
ing there is some uncertainty about all
the minor facts, partly owing to am
biguity in the story cabled from Cape
Haitien. and which reached there from
Spanish sources, and partly from some
doubt as to what may have precipitated
the engagement; but these things may
. be cleared up today.
-, 1t is not impossible that Commodore
dSchley may have thought it necessary
: to take the aggressive on account of
the attack upon the Texas Sunday
night by two Spanish torpedo boats
They slipped out and managed to get
within five hundred yards of our bat
tleship before the fire from its sec
ondary battery caused them to retreat
At Kingston. Jamaica, it is stated that
a heavy cable correspondence was car
ried on during Monday between the
commander Of the squadron and Wash
ington. and, as this was followed by
action en- Tuesday. IL is not improbable
that the bombardment was ordered by
way Of preparation for land operations
when the troops should arrive. On this
hypothesis We should say that they
must be on the way. as IL would take
the transports about three days to go
from Tampa to Santiago.
Whatever may prove to be the in
side history of the movement. it is a
satisfaction to know that something is
being done or attempted. By tonight
there should be fairly full news of what
happened yesterday If anything decis-
i've was accomplished. A dispatch boat
could easily reach Kingston and COM
municate with Washington before mid
night. The department might or might
not let the press know what It had
heard. but. unless the cable from Santi-
ago to Cape Haitien has been cut since
last night. we shall certainly learn
something more or less reliable from
the latter station.