The herald., 1898-05-29
CUBANS COOPERATING
WITH FORCES OF THE UNITED
STATES
WORK IN Perfect HARMONY
Captain Randle Gives Details Of the
Voyage Of the Auxiliary Cruiser
st. Louis
Associated Press Special Wire

KEY WEST, Fla, May 2S.-The system
of communication between the United
States government and the insurgents has
been so we'll established that the Cuban
forces are working in perfect harmony
with those of this country. Messengers
pass between the insurgents and the
United States vessels every day. Yester
day Ernesto Cactro arrived on the Annap-
oils with news from Matanzas province
and this morning Alfred Dolima was
brought in by the Tecumseh and Manuel
Jova from Eastern Cuba by the Wampa-
tuck. In spite of all that has been said in
disparagement of the unsefulness of the
insurgents as allies, the army considers it
highly essential That for every movement
on the outside, there must be correspond
ing movement in the interior. When the
American troops land 1t will be with Cuban
guides, when they move inland they will Se
met by the veterans of Gomez and Garcia
The war department is establishing COM
plete understanding with the insurgents
and conveying arms to them. There is no
real difficulty in the way of landing small
bodies of men on the Cuban coast at night.
The shore, except at few points, is not SC
we'll guarded as 1t was year ago.
The latest arrivals declare that the re-
port of an attack by the Marblehead on
the Cienfuegos batteries in concert with a
rear invasion by the insurgents Is without
foundation.
Captain Randle's Cruise
NEW YORK, May 2S.-Captain Randle
says there is a mistake of day in the date
of the bombardment of Santiago de Cuba,
as given in the copy of the cruisers log.
He says that after the graphing on May
10th the St. Louis had to slip away on ac-
count of the presence of two Spanish gun
boats. The cruiser and the Wampatuck
remained out of sigt of Santiago all the
next day. The bombardment took place,
Castle was practically undefended, but the
new forts on the shore kept up a savage
fire. The craftsmanship of the Spaniards
behind the forts was very poor, not single
shot from their guns striking near the s..
Louis. The shells from the mortar battery
on Caspar island, inside the harbor of
Santiago were quite heavy and apparently
well directed. The cruisers six-pounder
not being able to reach the mortar battery,
after the cable had been cut, the st. Louis
and her consort retired. During the bon-
bardment the ST. Louis fired 172 shots and
the Wampatuck fired seventy-six rounds.
That night, Captain Randle says, the
cruiser and the Wampatuck lay twenty
miles to the southwark of Santiago and on
the morning of May 18th proceeded to
Guantanamo where they grappled for a
cable at the mouth of the harbor. The
cruiser was not able to make cutting be-
fore Spanish gunboats, armed with six
inch rifles, opened fire on it. A company OF
soldiers on a hill also blazed away with
their small arms. The gunboats finally
forced the st. Louis and Wampatuck out
to sea. The cutting of the cable was
abandoned.
Mole st. Nicholas was visited May Goth
and from there dispatches were sent to
Washington. The Wampatuck was ordered
TO proceed to Key West from that place.
The st. Louis proceeded along the north
coast of Hayti where it met the st. Paul.
They parted in about an hour and then the
St. Louis went to Cape SSbarajo to sever
the cable running from Porto Rico and
San Domingo but the bottom was so foul
that the submarine line could not be To-
Gated. Last Sunday the st. Louis cruised
along the coast of Porto Rico and ran
within two miles Of the batteries at Ponce.
Cape Malaspague was visited on May 23d
and at st. Thomas next day the cruiser got
orders to proceed to New York to take on
her heavy guns and then go to Cramps
ship yards at Philadelphia to be armor
plated. The big guns were put aboard the
cruiser and tomorrow at am. the St.
Louis will start for Philadelphia.
Captain Randle says that neither Schley
nor the Spanish fleet were sighted or heard
of during the trip of the ST. Louis in the
West Indies. The cruiser succeeded IN cut
ting three cables in all, one being on the
south side of Porto Rico, one at Santiago
de Cuba and the third at Guantanamo.