The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1915-08-19
By JULIUS W. MULLER
copyrfght, tss6, by .. W, Munes.
All rights EagsEvsd


The New York men looked at each
other. I'VE are quite helpless, sir"
said the old Judge then. I'VE cannot
force United States officers 10 surren-
der. propose to my colleagues that
a deputation shall go to Washington
at once to lay your terms before the
president as commander In chief Of the
army and navy. / assure you that we
shall represent to him most strongly
the advisa bility OF yielding. WIN you.
for your part, give Us more timer
II cannot 60 beyond my orders"
answered the officer. ''Twenty-four
hours, fear, Is the extreme limit It
Will give you ample time, since the
matter to be considered is most SIM
pie. You might inform hts exceIlency
the president, If you wish, that we
have succeeded in reducing and taken
Forts Schuyler, Slocum and Totem
We shall proceed to invest Fort Ham
ilton before tomorrow morning. Sur
render will prevent useless loss Of life
and destruction of property"
A special train brought the deputa-
ton into Washington before daylight
next morning. The New York men
went at once to the White House,
where they were received by the pres
ident. who had not been In bed ''You
have no doubt that they mean to make
good their threat OF bombardmentf"
asked the president after receiving
their report "Then. gentlemen, there
is only one action for this government
TO take" He sighed and echoed the
refrain OF all the past days-"There is
nothing else that we can do"
An hour later the wires TO New York,
cleared by orders from the war de-
partment, carried a dispatch to the
commandants at Fort Hamilton and
Fort wadsworth. 1t ordered them to
surrender.
From his headquarters the enemy
commander ordered detachments to go
down the harbor In boats and occupy
the captured defenses, Then he sent
his troops forward into the city.
And now the New Workers, who had
expected that their streets would be
flooded by a great army, were amazed
at the ease and simplicity with which
the city fell into military control. In
stead Of brigades entering the city,
there were not even regiments. Troops
Of cavalry, companies Of infantry, sim
gle machine gun detachments, moving
separately down separated avenues,
with big intervals between them, were
all the force that entered
Some boatloads OF men and artillery
passed down the river and landed in
Brooklyn, some TO occupy the navy
yard and others to reinforce the men
who had come in through Long Island.
But the army remained outside. hold
ing the northern districts from the
sound to the Hudson and guarding the
Hudson river and Putnam valleys
against surprise attack from the direc-
don Of Albany.
The officers I'm charge Of the men
who entered the city asked no ques-
lions and required no directions. I'm
hesitatingiy each led his force to the
point that he wanted Within tive
hours New York was wholly In the
hands OF the soldiers.
Nobody had thought OF it before.
Now, all at once, when It was accom-
plished, it amazed the people of New
York to learn how easy it was to con.
troll the city's whole life. civic and
commercial.
A battalion Of infantry occupied the
Grand Central terminal Another bat
talon took the great Pennsylvania
terminal, with its underrtyer tunnels
to New Jersey and Long Island. De
tachments appeared at the Twenty
third street and Forty-second street
ferries over the Hudson river and by
that one seizure controlled al railroad
connections with the west from up
town. The occupation Of half dozen
other Hudson river railroad ferries
downtown and Of the Hudson terrn1-
nal tube system completed the entire
control Of all the city's railroad traffic
in every direction.
Equally simple was the control of its
communication. Men appeared at the
two great telegraph buildings and at
the telephone building. Within half an
hour they had every trunk line OF
wires IN their hands and could strike
the city dumb at VIII.
It YVES still easier to control the city
from g military point Of view. The
citizens who had expected TO see their
streets commanded by cannon On linn
bers did not at first comprehend why
there were hardly any Of these to be
seen, while machine gun detachmentz
scattered and disappeared AZ soon as
they got well into the town. Only
gradually did the citizens discover that
their big, SPRAYING metropolis was be-
/ ing held subject By very simple nth.