The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1898-06-18
HE SAW THE FLEET.
Lieut.. Blue of the United States
Navy Proves Himself 20 be
True Blue,''

Washington, d. c., June 1.-THE last
| lingering doubt that may have existed as
to the presence of Cervera's fleet III its
entirety IN Santiago harbor was removed
when Admiral SIMPSONS dispatch
reached the navy department last night
| Up TO that time information as 10 the
number and character of this vessels lying
IN the harbor, shielded from observation
except from the hills, had been obtained
through Cuban sources supplemented by
such gllmpses as could be obtained by ma
val officers from the outside entrance.
Now, however, according to Lieut.
Blue, the ships have been actually seen
by an American officer, counted and in
! spected from such points of vantage as
were afforded by the high hills surround
ing the harbOr.
The officials here are full of praise for
Lieut.. Blues achievement. Victor Blue
has been long known in the navy as an
cnterprl>lng and daring Young officer
but 1t required good deal of sustained
courage for him to 90 ashore in hos
| tile country and alone make this recon
n"isance. lie was i'll the eye of military
law, nothing more or less than a spy.
ana had he been captured by the Span
lardS he would have been tried by drum
mead court-martial and executed
considering the fact that the marines
night at Guantanamo last Saturday night
! was really the first enga cement of the
war on shore, Admiral SIMPSONS refer
ence TO the affair in his dispatch this
morning was remarkably brief Hence it
Is inferred that perhaps too much lnpor-
| lance has been attached to it by the pub
| lie.
The action of Licut-Col. Huntington in
removing his men to n more secure point
| than the exposed position occupied by
Z ham
an indication that no offensive movement
is TO be attempted by the marine corps,
but that 1t will limit its operations to the
defense OF small point in Guantanamo
harhor to protect the coaling of our war
ships and perhaps to serve as a cable sta
| ton. when the necessary operators and III
strumentS are secured from Cape Haytien
to enable Sampson to reopen the cut cable
II does not follow by any means that the
place secured and held by the marines on
Guantanamo bay is to he used as il point
of dcbarkation of the United States reg
ular troops now on their way TO Cuba.
On the contrary. there is the best rea-
son to believe that another point very
much better adapted for landing has
/ been selected. But this point qIso is be
leYed to be much healthier than any point
on the shores of Guantanamo bay. where
yellow fever Is said to be epidemic all the
year round.
1 llt' bllltIdlS mere were very IplntlHi1 10
believe that the Spanish who fought the
marines ut Crest Heights had been guilty
of the horrible barbarism Of mutilating the
bodies of soldiers The first press reports
We're supposed by some of the officers 10
be based upon the horrible wounds intict
ed under certain conditions of range by
the steel-clad bullet of the Mauser rifles
Admiral SIMPSONS report, however,
seems TO remove all doubt on that point
for his surgeons undoubtedly would he
able 10 distinguish ar once between the
effects of a bullet and Of a machcto.
The navy department today posted the
following bulletin:
Mole st. Nicholas. June 14.-Lieut.
Blue just returned after detour of sew
enty statute miles of observation of the
harhor of Santiago de Cuba. He re-
ports Spanish fleet is all there. The
Spanish attacked vigorously the camp Al
Guantanamo. An outpost of four ma
rines wer" killed and their bodies mu-
tilated barbarously. Surgeon Gibbons
was killed. Sampson