The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 1898-05-22
ANXIETY AT KEY WEST
Is SHARED BY THE REST OF THE
COUNTRY
SPAIN'S FLEET ONCE LOCATED
Events Will Occur in Which All the
World Will Be interested.
Some Speculation
Associated Press Special Wire


KEY WEST, Fla. May 10, via Jackson
vile, May 20. delayed in transmission.) y
Tonight sees the close of the most intensely
anxious and most vexatious day Key West
has known since the war began. Every
thing indicates the proximity II big naval
battle, but with an unforeseen foe, who may
appear at any one Of several points and
possibly strike blow and get away before
force can be massed to crush them.
At this hour the whereabouts Of Schley's
and Sampson's squadrons are the fixed
quantities In the equation the Spaniards
are represented by. Daybreak found Com
mander Schley's squadron which had sailed
=, from Hampton Roads on Friday, anchored
off Sand Key lighthouse, six miles below
Key West. They had Joined Captain Sigs-
bees big greyhound, the st. Paul. which,
leaving the Roads a day later, had beat
them here almost by day and half.
The appearance of the flying squadron
was supplemented about $3.50 o'clock by two
Of the dispatch boats that had been with
| Admiral SIMPSONS fleet, racing neck and
neck. the Associated Press dispatch boat
Dauntless In the lead.
! The necessity of cutting the cable at
Santiago de Cuba has already been ev:-
denced in Key West by several Madrid
cablegrams via London, sent after the
bloody fight at Cienfuegos last week, when
the boat crew cut tho cable at that point.
Admiral SIMPSONS fleet arrived here at
5 pm. This confirmed the forecast made
In these dispatches Sunday as to the
| whereabouts and intentions of these two
fleets, though both had been slower in ar
irving than well posted naval officers here
supposed at that time. All this was inter-
esting enough, but not word of 1t was
allowed past the censor's office, and a
score of correspondents who had been be-
sieging the cable office all the morning
wilted down into the hotel veranda chairs
out of the broiling sun, helpless to get a
word of the real news of the situation
to their papers.
The naval officers for the most part
were as ignorant as the correspondents as
to how matters stood in the world outside
Of Key West and whether or not the mat
ter being censored had not already leaked
out through the less CONSTRUCTED channels
at Washington. Naval men, however, had
less time for speculation, for the fleet was
busily engaged in preparing for some move,
details of which were known only to Com
modore Watson and those nearest him.
Every officer ashore was on the alert for
orders to hurry aboard his ship. Such last
night was the fate Of the men from the
Bancroft, the Castine, the Helena and the
Wilmington. Hurry orders" reached
them about $50. The Bancroft's quarter
master was ashore looking after stores
when word was sent him to cancel pro-
vision contract and come aboard
he reached there and the Bancrofts gig
was snatched UP to her davits while she
was steaming out of the harbor.. Where
the small fleet went Is still mystery. all
being too slow to act as scouts in the
hunt for the Spanish fleet and not strong
enough to do more than help at Havana,
where there are already more boats than
are actually needed. The most plausible
theory advanced to account for the quick
| departure was that they were to form a
second line of scouts to the southwest.
! where the Cincinnati and the vesuvius are
! supposed to be watching the narrows Of
the Yucatan channel. These two vessels
moved quickly out Thursday morning and
disappeared at leisurely pace to the
southwest.
1t may be candidly admitted that all dis
cussion Of the Spanish feet here is specu-
lative. Key West is lamentably isolated
from the current news, save such as is
furnished by daily bulletins. The UNDER
standing Of the intention here, however ia
that Sampson counted confidently on
finding the Spanish squadron bottled up
in San Juan as did Dewey the Spaniards at
Manila. 1t was not until daylight on the
morning Of the bombardment that he
learned the harbor was empty.
Meantime, according to the best informa-
ton here, the fleet of seven Spanish ships.
probably including the Vizcaya, Oquendo.
Cristobal Colon, Maria Theresa and three
destroyers, have been moving west along
the southern shore Of the Caribbean Sea.
Later reports from Mole st. Nicholas, Cape
Haytien and other points make it seem