The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1907-04-12


States from his round the world trip
for the government in December,
1897. He landed in San Francisco
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 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
tojos 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
we're a little inclined to be skeptical.
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.
Il am at your command, Mr.. Presi-
dent quietly said Cheney.
II know it, Colonel. and l thank
you," replied the president. shaking
his hand at parting.
Cheney returned to his Office in Chi
cago and Guthrie and Lonergan were
IN OF
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. TIE
business was being transacted as he
would have it done, and he said:
Nov 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 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 260-odd Ameri-
can sailors to their doom. That was
the deciding straw; before that there
was faint hope that diplomacy
might avert the crisis; but with the
blowing up of the Maine all hope of
peace fled. The country was afire
from one end to the other.
Cheney heard of the blowing up of
the Maine inc his apartments. He
knew what that meant and hacked
his spit 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.
Slgsbee, of the Maine, knew his iden-
tity and for what purpose he was
there. One fact was firmly fixed in
Chency's mind after he had his talk
with S1gsbee, and that was that the
Maine was blown up by an explosion
under her hull. She had been an
chored over torpedo and some Span
lard or Cuban had touched off the
mine. But he wanted proof.
Theoretically, he knew something
of ship construction as applied TO
modern warships. There were two
hulls, an inner and an outer shell, and
the space between them was filed
with some substance In the Maine
this substance was cement. If the
explosion came from within the ship
this cement filling would all be on the
bottom of the bay. If the explosion
came from without tho shin .,...>A ~