New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-05-01
FIRST SHOT OF THE WAR.
FIRED AT THE TORPEDo-BoAT FooTE
ON APRIL %.
1T CAME FROM THE MASKED BATTERIES OF
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS NOTES OF THE
OPENING WEEK OF TIE Blockade.

MISUNDERSTANDING NOTES OF THE
OPENING WEEK OF THE BLOCKADE.
Copyright, 1898 BY the Associated Press
Key West. April 27-The United States tor
pedo boat Foote. black and sinister as only
these little devils Of the sea- can be. will figure
in history as the vessel Of the American fleet
which drew the first fire from the enemy in the
Spanish American War OF 1898. The Foote was
fred a little after o'clock last Saturday
afternoon by a masked battery at Matanzas
This fact. which practically marked the open
ing OF the war. has already been capled to the
Associated Press but It may not have passed
the censor. who has ideas of his own concerning
news. This important Information was OBJ
tained exclusively by this correspondent
The Foote had been making soundings close
IN to shore on Saturday afternoon. when she
had finished her work Lieutenant rogers III
command. took her back to the Cincinnati. ne
reported In the most business like way In the
world that he had found the twenty fathom
line. which vas easily discernible by the color
OF the water Then he added, as II 1t were an
afterthought. that when within three hundred
yards Off shore the masked battery OF Matanzas
fired at him three times. All the shots went
wild Captain Chester OF the Cincinnati thought
this vas too good chance to be lost and ne
wanted to lombard the MatanzhS p"'
Captain Harrington of the Puritan. command
Ing officer Of the Matanzas division. refused per
mission.
THE DAUNTLESS IN TROUBLE.
The Associated Press dispatch boat Dauntless
slipped away from the other newspaper boats on
Sunday afternoon and started to speak the
Matanzas feet. 1t was a perilous undertaking.
as the sequel shows. The Dauntless was about
two miles out from the Cuban shore at about
o o'clock in the evening. 1t tropical
night stars gmmering brightly from the DARK
skies. Through the haze could be seen sheets o.
fame spouting from the signal fires on the
mountain tops Of Cuba The once saucy little
snbuster Dauntless scudded toward the coast.
when suddenly a black streak darted along the
waters a little distance ahead and. apparently
from the sea. shot up two streams OF red fire
and then n gr zen one Then the news-gatherers
knew they had been held up on the high seas
by a torpedo boat and that the pyrotechnics
were rocket signals. which It would be wise 70
heed The hall was answered. and a voice cried
across the night:
What boat. Is that? Keep out Of this Keep
out Of the sixmile line or you will get a shot
through you"
The Daun,lcss stopped without any unneces-
sary delay. The mpish little craft came along
side and we made her out as the Dupont when
we had made our apologies. they told us. with
no waste Of urbanity. to proceed to tho cruiser
Cincinnati. the warlke structure ~ which
doomed not far away. The Dauntlcss was ODE
dent enough hu, she hadn't moved n hundred
yards before :he Cincinnatrs powerful search
light blinded the yes Of her navigators. In IN"
glare they lost their bearings. and found II out
when a blank shot from one q the cruisers
kaIr
frightened war correspondents were again ad-
v,sed in no uncertain terms to reverse their
engines unless they were yearning for a shell
We backed pretty quickly. and then The Dupont
reported 20 the cruiser This boat We sighten
in shore"
The cruiser sent over n small boat and Ensign
Mcintyre boarded VS.. After our papers had
satisfied him. he told us the story - the Aring
on the Foote. From the sailors we also learned
that there were two Spanish gunooltr At Car
dcnas The Cincinnati the Amphirri;e. tho
Puritan and ;hc Dupont were hlockad!i & Matnn-
zas the Wlnslpw having sailed ior INC Havana
fleet that afternoon. Tho boarding party. after
a word u advice returned T. their ship and the
Dauntlcss Was permitted 10 proceed 20 Key
West
ANOTHER CLAIMANT FOR THE FIRST SHOT
Curously enough another torpedo boat. tho
Ericsson. claims the honor - having been til"
Spaniards first target. Her men declare that on
Saturday night they were living airnos, und"r
the guns II MORO. whose light vas OUT when
the Santa Clara batteries began 10 shoot toward
the American feet and maintained a dcsultory
Are until dawn. The story has since been con
tradicted on the theory that II merely
gun practice. although the Ericssons men are
emphatic In their assertions.
ipotH Has ~
reach here since the sailing Of the feet WAS
brought yesterday 10y the British steamer Myr-
tledene. Captain Milburn. from Philadelphia for
Havana and Cardenas she left Havana
Friday aftern )On, passing the Meet az !; nearcc
IT'S blockade position. Captain Milburn shouted
his story from the deck OF his ship 10 an Ass"-
ciated Press correspondent tossing In a launch
alongside He said the utmost haste was being
exercised 10 ruild new for;ihcations all along
the north coast. east OF Havana. and work
thereon was in progress night and day. This ala
not indicate that the Spaniards feared lombard
mcnt on the contrary said Captain Miiburn.
they declared that as the United States began
the In the interest OF humanity she could
not afford 20 take such inconsistent action while
the capital crowded with the cuban suffer
ers whose condition she sought to ameliorate.
MARTIAL ASPECT OF HAVANA
Specifically the city is much IT has been,
except that IT is well filed with troops. whose
presence adds TO the He and movement. Drills
are almost constantly going on. and the au-
thoritics are pressing into the ranks every
patriot who can shoulder z gun. even II he
doesn't know low TO fire 1t. which is the rule
rnther than The exception with the" raw re-
cruits. There ere many experienced campnIsn-
crg in the royal service. however. end, as the
British skipper said They'll give you all the
fighting you want when you get ashore
British Vice-C Consul Arostrgu sent HIS FAMILY
he
not the only fleeing for safety. There was
a stampede for the open country In all dl:cc-
TONS and the greatest excitement prevailed
among the masses. At Mariana 80 panic stricken
was the crowd that II held up an outbound train
II, order to get out Of the city. The firing from
the Santa Clara batteries in the direction of the
fee: on Saturday night was really thu cause Of
the scare ns II was taken Cor granted that bonn
bardment would follow