The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1898-06-15

o.
WASHINGTON, June 1i.-Tne de-
partment to-day posted tho following
bulletin:
MOLE ST. NICHOLAS. June Ia
sLieutenant Blue just returned after a
! detour OF seventy statute miles OF OBJ
sservation Of the harbor OF Santiago de
1 Cuba, He reports Spanish fleet Is all
there. The Spanish attacked vigorously
tho camp at Guantanamo. An outpost
4 OF four marines were killed and their
bodies mutllated ,barbarously. Surgeon
Gibbs was killed,
tslgned.) SAMPSON.
The last lingering doubt that may have
EXISTED as to the presence of Cervera's
! fleet in Its entirety in Santiago l1arbor,
s was removed when Admiral SIMPSONS
dispatch reached the navy department
last night Up to that time Information
as to the number and character Of the
vessels lying In the harbor shielded from
observation in great part by the hills at
< the entrance, had been obtained through
Cuban sources supplanted blu such
gllmpses as could be obtained by naval
officers from the outside entrance. Now,
!. however, according to Lieutenant Blue,
the ships have been actually seen by an
american officer, counted and Inspected
from such points of vantage as were af-,
forded by the high hills surrounding the
a., 31ata -, t,nr f,,ti -
praise for Lieutenant Blues achieve
3ment.
Victor Blue has long been. known IN
Z the navy as an enterprls!ng and daring
{ young officer, but II required good deal
eof sustained courage for him to go
I. ashore In a hostile country and alone
make this reconnaissance. He was In
\ the eye Of military law, nothing more
NOR less than a spy, and had he been
captured by the Spanlards he would
q have been tried by erumhead court mar
4 tlal and executed.
Considering the fact that the marines
fight AZ Guatanamo last Saturday night
was really the first engagement of the
Z ence to the affair in his dispatch posted
lfilllS was iSiiLdL Many
\ Hence, it Is inferred that perhaps too
much Importance has been attached to
4 II by THE public. The action Of Lieuten-
I. ant Colonel Huntington in removing his
men to q more secure point than the eX-
Z posed position occupied by them on
Crest Heights Is taken here as an indi-
: cation that no offensive movement is to
d be attempted by the marine corps but
that 1t will limit its operations TO the de-
Tense ola small point in Guantanamo
Il tarbor to protect the coaling Of our
! warships and perhaps to serve as a cable
Z station when the necessary operators
and instruments are secured from Cape
Haihhn, to enable Sampson to reopen
{ the cut cable. It does not follow by any
means that the place seized and held by
I the marines on Guantanamo bay Is to be
used as a point of debarkation of the
limited States regular troops now on
Il their way to Cuba. On the contrary,
there Is Sthe best reason to believe that
another point very much better adapted
for q landing has been selected. But
4 this point also, Is believed to be much
: healthier than any point on the shores
I. of the Guantanamo bay, where yellow
fever-is said to be endemic all the year
j round.
The officials here were very reluctant
Ito believe that the Spanish who fought
the. marines at Crest Heights had been
Z guilty Of the horrible barbarlem Of mutt
& latIng, the bodies OF soldiers. The first
s press reports. by. some Of the officers,
were supposed to be based upon the hor-
rtble wounds inflicted under certain con-
X dItions OF range by the steel clad bullet
Z of the Mauser rifles. Admiral Samp-
: sons report, however, seems to remove
i.all doubt on that point, for his surgeons
8 undoubtedly would be able to dlstin-
4 guish at once between the effects Of q
= bullet and of a machete.