Daily new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1897-1906, 1898-05-24

WASHINGTON, May 24.-It Is said by
those best acquainted with the situation
that a decisive battle may occur within
a few hours, or may not occur for sew
eral days, possibly weeks At the same
time the authorities believe that the
chances are greatly lessened of Admiral
Oervera prolonging his elusive plan for
any considerable time.
There are several reasons for this,
but the main one is that the Spanish
ships have made inroads on their coal
supply, The run across from Cape De
Verde used up the greater part, If not
all, of this supply. Since then stops
have been made at Martinique, Cura-
Gao and Santiago, but at no one of these
places has it been possible to take on
more than enough coal for temporary
uses. AT Martinique the French de-
cree Of neutrality prevented the Span
ish ships from getting more than
enough coal to carry them to the next
port, which would be 800 to 400 tons at
most. At Curacao the amount of coal
secured did not exceed 700 tons. At
Santiago there is no coal, unless Golfers
have brought it there recently, which
is not believed to have occurred. AS
against these small supplies the Span
ish ships have been consuming much
coal on their elusive runs.
There are no other coaling depots in
the West Indian islands open to the
Spanish ships, except for their most
temporary needs. The British islands,
Jamaica, Barbados and others, are
closed against them by the decree MAX
ing coal contraband of war. The Dutch
islands will give them no further coal
relief, as a result of negotiations with
the Dutch authorities, following the
coaling of the Spanish ships at Curacao.
The Danish island of st. Thomas is
similarly closed against them. Guada-
loupe and other French islands have
the same restrictions as Martinique
Haitian ports are closed to them by a
strict treaty provision between Haiti
and the United States, which the Hal
tian authorities will see is not waived
in the present case. Santo Domingo
ports are similarly protected against the
chance OF recoaling by Admiral Ger
vera's feet
Spanish admiral is now inside the Carib-
bean sea with his original stock of coal
used up, with scant additions already
WON OAiiNAooSNi, etANA liz ICPObo LII SlRuG
for complete recoaling This, in
naval parlance, would starve the ships
before long. The only relief possible
for this dangerous condition is juno
ture with golfers from the other side.
A good collier carries from 1000 to
1900 tons Of coal, and two or three of
them could completely recoal Admiral
Cervera's fleet. Whether the Spanish
will succeed in accomplishing this is
still in doubt, and it is a doubt on which
large results depend.
There has been unofficial reports stat
ing that British Golfers were sighted
off Martinique and also off the Vene-
zuelan coast, and reports from London
have stated that Spain took the precau-
ton of buying and shipping large
quantities of British coal before the dec
laration of war. But there has been
no official confirmation that these col
Tiers made juncture with Admiral
Cervera's fleet. and the naval authori-
ties are inclined to the belief that the
Spanish commander is dangerously
near coal famine.