The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-08-22

in from various points. from Portland
70 ProvincetoWn. with remarkable
qu7ckness. In an hour the rain had
passed. but the thick weather remained
and as dark came on a mist crept over
the surface of the water. 1t was n
dark night. The darkness was just
coming on when Admiral Higginson
gave the order to his battleships to
weigh anchor. So hurriedly had mes
sages been given and so many trips did
the dispatch launches make between
the shore and the Kearsage, that il
was thought the move this time was
out to sea. The admiral, however, al
lowed the squadron TO pass to the
south; in fact, nearer shore and in
hailing distance of Thatcher's island.
This condition was brought about for
two reasons. The admiral wished to
keep his ships in varying locations and
to puzzle the spies of the white"
squadron, who. it was firmly believed,
were strung along the coast. Again,
the admiral wished to get in touch
with the Straits Mouth point life saw
ing station, where was established
tonight an elaborate system of rocket
signaling.
AS the night wore on. the sky lost
little of its blackness. and the fact that
constant stream of messages from
tn north TO the south showed clearly
enough that the defending squadron
feared the approach of Commander
Pillsbury.
At midnight, thirty-six hours had
conflict between the attacking SQUAD
ron, in charge of Commander Pills
bury, and the defending squadron,
commanded by Rear Admiral Higgin-
son. The coming of another day was
recorded, but the anticipated meeting
between the hostile fleets had not come
to pass.
Night Was Cloudy.
After a day which had been. on the
whole, devoid of any sensations, the
night, thick and cloudy as il was, with
the moon obscured, developed so many
confusing situations, and so many ex-
traordinary reports, that the Higginson
squadron had just cause for grave I'M
easiness. Somehow the feeling grew
that il would not be such difficult at
tainment for all three auxiliary cruis-
ers of the white squadron to slip in and
anchor at some harbor, protected, as
they were, by the darkness which pre-
vailed.
Perhaps the greatest danger which
came to Admiral Higginson was that
OF yielding TO the temptation to with
draw the Kearsarge, and leave only
=.
go in search of the enemy, reported on
apparently reliable authority to have
been sighted at either this point or that
point along the coast. Such reports
were. in fact, made.
Chance For Pillsbury.
The reason that the admiral stead
fastly refused to leave his anchorage
In the harbor here was that he dared
not leave Rockport exposed to the
enemy, which. taking advantage of
needless passage of the defendant bat
tleships to another port, might easily
creep in and drop anchor in the very
heart OF the operations of the blue
squadron.
1t was these considerations that
forced Admiral Higginson to the con-
ciasion that on none but the Surest au-
thorlty would he leave the Rockport
station TO Join other members of his
squadron IN the work of putting the
enemy out of action.
The complications which developed to-
day, IN the shape of news that Com
mander Pillsbury had secretly landed
some OF his officers ashore to spy upon
the movements of the blue squadron.
served only to increase the perplexity
OF Admiral Higginson's position. and
this reported shore system of spying
was one of the things that led the adj
nllral 10 establish the new signal sta
ton OF Straits Mouth point, and also
TO remove his ships, as he did early in
the evening, to a point lust inside
Thatcher's island.