Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1900-12-06
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.,
! ADMIRAL OERvERA AT HONE.


There a Moslem mnaret. Such Il
Puerto Real, In Spain, the home OF Ad
miral Cervera, as l saw 1t from tn,
low deck of wabbling, nondescrip,
craft one winter afternoon. A soldier
directed me to the Admiral's resi-
dence, In Sanbo Domingo street, Z
modest, unpretenhous house, witt
plain white walls rising from the edge
OF the narrow sidewalk.
Come right in, sir; you are wei.
come. The Admiral Don Pascual il
away, but come In; l will go and
fetch "a light"
The youth then showed me into the
Admira's study, a cozy little room
with IA fiat.top desk at one end, book
case filled with books, and pictures on
the wallis, mostly photographs OF
ships and naval officers, among them
a group of the Admiral and his Of
Ulcers, taken when prisoners at Anna.
polls. He brought large square box
containing photographs - removing
the cover, the first picture was the
familiar one of Lieut.. Hobson. Hold.
Ing vt up, 1.-The boy laughed.
Sunny, Wasn't It?" he said. "You
fellows blew us out of the water, and
then rescued us, clothed and fed us,
and treated us royalty"
1 spent IA pleasant hour with the
trusted servant On my return several
days later I was ,lshered into the
study, where the Admiral received me,
With an air that this settled the OBJ.
jedi of my visit he began to ask me
questions as though we had been old
friends. First he wanted TO know the
meaning Of an English word he had
found in an English periodical, saying
that he read English, but did not
speak 1t, for the pronunciation was
Voc difficult. He asked me to recon-
mend him good English dictionary,
lone not Ito heavy ITO carry about"
and then, turning to the desk, he
reached for a red.covered book which
shone consplciously among the SOM
bre brown and black volumes. By the
way he chuckled, one might have
thought that 1T was one at Mark
Twain's stories. But ut was only a
copy of Senator Lodges History Of
the Spanish-American War; He said
with another chuckle that the This.
tory" was full Of inaccuracies, and,
like Lieut.. Hobson's account Of the
sinking Of the Merrimac, must be to
the American people a pretty novel,
I asked him df he had any idea of the
prominence Of the man who wrote the
book. He did not, nor did he appear
TO take any particular offence at amy
OF Senator Lodges statements. simply
combining himself to saying that thu
book was all wrong, and worthless "a
history. I told him then that was q
reason why he should write ain &C.
count of his per>cnN experiences, that
we might get at the truth, but ha
shook his head.
ibid the fact that Admiral Camp.
son was away from the blockading
fleet on the morning of July In.
fiuenee you in selecting the time to
leave Santiago ha lor?" / asked.
Nothing influenced me-" he an.
wered. my orders, telegraphed from
Havana, were to leave Immediately. !
received them ON the I'd and prepared
no obey them"
He argued with me THAT such events
were common in war, especially where
there We're volunteer troops, but ha
seemed to blame our authorities for
not making any kind of an attempt to
punish the men responsible for this
act As for my own treatment, /"
said he, =" VIC t'Ao were sent to Anna.
polls were treated more as comrades
than as prisoners, while those who
were sent to Ne Nix were trea4 I'd
strictly as pnisoaers-of-war. Then
there were those who were sent ITO
Portsmouth; they were not treated
ait all, but put in wooden sheds and
to hook out for themselves
The American officer in command
there was lax, and EVIDENTLY didn't
understand his duty. | was allowed to
visit the place, and when | saw the
conditions, | mildly called the atten-
tion of your government Ito them, and
was very much gratified latter to learn
of the removal of the officer
When l told him that we didn't in-
tend to take Cuba, he exclaimed,
what! You have been after Cuba
for half a century, You helped Lopez
fit out his first expedition, and nearly
every man in his outfit was an Anne.
mean. And what have you got no say
about the Maine disaster and THAT
farce CT an investigation? If your
president did not want the war, why
did he allow that ais an excuse? You
tried us by your own court, your own
witnesses and your own attorneys,
allowing us no defence. We wanted
the investigation carried on by an in.
ternationaq board, but you wouldn't
allow 1t, and then condemned U.S."
Evidently the Admiral, Like all
Spanfards, was earnest In his belief
that the Maine had not been blown
up by the hand Of his own people. He
scorned the idea THAT Cuba would be |
but part Of the United
States and agreed with me that Cuba
would become a second Hayti and
Santo Domingo If left to herself. As
ventured to remark that Cuba would
not have been lost to Spain had 1t not
been for General Weyler, he WINGED
1neasely, saying:
ooh won xvnuld hava had tha Island |