Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1907-03-23

and lost no time making his way
across the continent to Washington,
where he made his report to the gov
eminent. The president, secretaries
of state, war and navy were all inter
ested in this report and conference
was held at the White House the eve
ming Cheney arrived. Briefly, but con-
cisely, Cheney recited the results OF
his years trip. Just as he was about
to sail from Hongkong for home he
had received a message directing him
to make a trip to Manila and report
on fleet and Notifications there. He
knew that meant war with Spain. In
making his report, he emphasized
the weakness of the Spaniards IN the
far east. The morale of their army
was low, their navy was little better
than scrap iron. Cheney was mildly
taken to task by the secretaries OF
war and navy for. his conclusions, but
subsequent events proved he was
right. To Cheney destruction of Mon
tojo's fleet by Dewey was not such
great event, because Cheney had been
aboard every one Of the Spanish
ships; he had seen rust and decay,
lack of discipline and inattention. one
real good American battleship could
blow the whole Spanish fleet out OF
the water. But the torpedoes! Sure,
plenty of them, most of which had
been down for years and were worth
Less. And the forts were in exactly
the same condition as the fleet. AS
has been remarked, the secretaries
were a little inclined to be skeptlcal,
but the calm, deep-thinking, brown
eyed president knew Col. Cheney was
telling the truth. The president did
not say much at the conference; he
smoked and listened, but the next
day, by special appointment, Col.
Cheney lunched at the White House
and again went over the most saliant
points of his report. The president
knew and said there would be war,
and when it did come Col. Cheney
was to be in charge Of the army secret
service.
'I am at your command, Mr.. Presi-
dent" quietly said Cheney
81 know it, Colonel, and I thank
you" replied the president, shaking
his hand at parting.
Cheney returned to his Office in Chi.
cago and Guthrie and LOnergan were
overi3yed to see him. A quiet dinner
was discussed at the colonels apart
ments, after which Cheney listened to
their report. Everything was in ship
shape. as he knew it would be. The
business was being transacted as he
would have it done, and he said:
'Now that you fellows have your
hands in so well. you can just keep
them there I'm not going to resume
active charge of the work. I'll have
my office here and will be glad to con-
suit with you. But my active days in
this concern are over.
Guthrie looked solemn, but Loner-
gan just grinned and said:
You make me smile, Cheney. You'll
give up this work when you're dead,
and not before; it's in your blood"
Lonergan had a pretty good faculty
Of intuition and knew whereof he
spoke Guthrie said nothing, but was
doing heap of thinking.
"All right, boys, think as you like,
but wait and see"
Public events moved apace; Spain
was getting more and more arrogant
in Cuba, people were clamoring for
the government to act; but the great
man in the White House was not
ready. He was getting ready, how
ever, as rapidly as he could. He knew
more than the people, and the people
must wait. Then came that memoir
able day in February, when some
Spanish bastard sent 26O-odd Ameri-
can sailors to their doom. That was
the deciding straw; before that there
was a faint hope that diplomacy
might avert the crisis; but with the
blowing up of the Maine all hope of
peace fed. The country was af1re
from one end to the other.
Cheney heard of the blowing up of
the Maine in his apartments. He
knew what that meant and packed
his suit case.
"Whar yo' goin' now. kunnel?" said
JEFF. noting the preparations.
Washington, JEFF. and then some
place else. I'll get a telegram in the
morning" And he did.
A day later he again stood in the
presence of the president, and that
afternoon he started for Havana. The
regular court of inquiry would meet
and render decision. but the presi-
dent wanted quicker information than
would be allowed by red tape.
Cheney reached Havana four days
after the Maine was blown up and
quietly went to work. Only two men,
Gen. Lee, consul general, and Capt
Sigsbee, Of the Maine, knew his iden-
tity and fol what purpose he was
th6re. One fact was firmly fixed in
Cheney's mind after he had his talk
with Sigsbee, and that was that the
Maine was blown up by an explosion
under her hull She had been an
chored over a torpedo and some Span
fard or Cuban had touched off the