Arizona republican., 1899-01-05

and selected him for the eXtremeiy dan-
 gerous mission of seeing it carrisd out 1 There was to be no general call for
 volunteers.
 | Colonel Humphreys first step was to select a suitable steamer and a pilot sufficiently familiar with the channel to take the boat in. After careful study the transport Aransas was chosen as filling all the requirements. She had good strong hull; her light draft would permit her to run over any ground mines without coming in con tact with them. Furthermore she was the only vessel in the l3et with twin screws, necessary to insure quick ma neuvering in the tortuous channel
 Captain Faircloth, commanding one of the transports, was thoroughly fla miliar with the channel, and volun- teered to steer in the ship. His terms were a few thousand dollars to be paid his wife in case of death. General Shafter readily assented to pay the amount, for, as he said, Everybody who goes aboard will stand more chances of being killed than of coming through alive
 That Hobson had succeeded in fore ing the Merrimac so far into the har- bor before sinking her was a good ar gument in favor of the plan. The fail ure of the batteries or mines to destroy her was proof that the Aransas could repeat the exploit, push farther in, and drag the channel at the same time. As subsequently proved, the strength of the land batteries and the number of mines in the channel wsre greatly overestimated. At that time the army and navy were in ignorance of the aX- act state of the defences, and some hes itatiCn was shown before ordering men to what appeared to be certain de- struction.
 Captain Stewart M Brice, commis- sary officer of Shutters staff, immsdi- ately volunteered and was accepted. Humphreys then selected dozen more trusted officers and men, mostly of the staff
 The secret of the expedition was con- fded to the writer of this article, and he was asked to form one of the party. The offer was accepted.
 Every one of these men was willing to sacrifice hIs life in the ende8vor to hasten the surrender and prevent loss of life incident to assault or sickness.
 Secrecy was enjoined on everybody, and the secret would still have been kept if the war department had not published the cablegrams to General Shafter, approving of the plan.
 The transport was prepared for the desperate rush through. The men were notified that their services would prob ably be required on the night of July 10, and everything was in readiness.
 At the last minute General Shafter received information that the Span iardls would certainly surrender. He then forbade the execution of the plan Tho DicI1ed crew was still anxious to carry out the programme, but the general refused to risk so many lives He believed his point could be gained without that risk.
 This is the exact inside history of 2 plan that, if carried out, would have rivaled the exploit Of Hobson and opsn- ed the way foc the feet. Santiago might, if it had been carried out, have fallen on the 10th instead of the 17th
 Colonel Humphreys (now brigadier generaD and Captain Stewart M. Brice showed their courage in the conception and development of the plan.-George Bronson Req in the New York World