The times., 1898-02-23
s0BRAL At THE LEGATION
The Spanish Lieutenant Returns
to Washington.
HE DOES NOT GO TO A HOTEL,
A Deviation From His Usual Custom
when In the City-sIore Eviden CO
to Prove That the Naval Attache
Examined the American Coast De-
lenses

Lieut.. Sobrai, who is, or is not. tn,
naval attache of the Spanish legation
arrived i'll the city last night and is nov
quartered at the legation
Sobral has always made it rule t,
stay at one of the hotels when he was il
for many months at a time Now, when
| according to Senor Du Bose, the charge
d'affaires. he is no longer connected with
the Spanish legation. he makes it his
home while here
I There is no doubt felt by anybody now
/ that Sobral did give utterance to the
| words derogatory TO the American Navy
that We're attributed to him by New
| York newspaper man on Saturday 1t is
not doubted either that he was connected
! with the legation at the time he talked
I so loudly. despite the assertion of the
/ Spanish charge d'affaires that he had
/ been relieved by the Spanish government
nearly a month before. Mr.. Du Bose was
not aware of the message Of coincidence
that Sobral sent to the State Department
last week when he told the story of So
brai's recall. This is indisputable evil
dence that Du Bose was using ''diplo-
macy" when he made this statement. di-
plomacy of the Spanish kind. 1t is sur
prising that Sobral did not keep Du Bose
better informed of his movements.
More evidence Of an indisputabIe kind
that Sobral wars making no untruthfui
boast when he told of his thorough
knowledge of the secret charts and maps
of the Government Notifications, and of
mis- complete understanding of the entire
defense of every city on the Atlantic and
Gulf coasts, was discovered last night.
He not only did visit all the Notifications
and make accurate observations. and
even obtain maps of them, with the help
of some person or persons connected with
this Government. but he employed assist
ants in his work. who travelled through
the country as tourists and he did it
all for the Spanish government and at
their orders and at their expense,
When the charge was made some
months ago that Sobral was doing this
he was seen by reporter at his hotel
and asked the direct question if he had
been South on such mission. He said:
"I have been in New York. l have just
arrived from there on the last train |
have not been in the South"
This was wholly untrue. The gentle
man had only little while before arrived
from the South by train from Charles
ton He had been seen to leave this train
and the porter at the time gave OFT the
information that he had travelled from the
South on it. on this trip sobraI had been
on a visit to one of the coast defenses.
Another incident af not iong since is
very easy of yerificatioD- Two seedy-
looking and altogether unpleasant ap-
pearIng specimens registered at one OF
the prominent hotels in the early part
of December They signed their names on
the register Carlos Buono-Cores and Luis
Chumada. and told the story that they
were ChiIeans on a "trip of pleasure.
These men were interview by Times
reporter They stated that they had been
induced by the Cuban junta in Chile to
go to Cuba and jsin the Cuban army.
They had been captured by the Spanish
and were confined in Spanish pris ln
for long time, they aid. These enter
tanning fakirs said that they We're pre-
paring a statement for a New YORK news
paper with "a reporters help that would
explode many of the stories of the Span
ish cruelty to the Cuban prisoners. They
said that they had been most humane!y
treated by the prison authorities. More
than that they stated that they had OBJ
served the war for many months. and
were very sure that if Spain were allowed
to prosecute the determination of the
Cubans a short time longer the complete
victory of Spain would be assured.
The Times reporter denounced the two
men the next day as Spanish employees
They had promised TO give him copy of
their valuable newspaper story, but were
hustled out of town the next day as soon
as the interview in The Times was pub
lished.
1t is now learned that these men were
met by a messenger from the Spanish
legation as soon as they reached the
city. that they had several long talks
with the legation peaple, although they
never visited the legation, and that. they
were the guests of De LONE at their hotel
during their stay. 1t is also ascertained
that they went South with Sobral to Fort
Monroe and very likely TO other Iortili-
cations.