New Britain herald., 1917-02-15
HOW PORTO RICO
 RECEIVED THE NEWS
U. s. Warsbip First to Give Hint Of Break

There was an air Of disquietude in i the balmy atmosphere of the island of Porto Rico, which has been held by 1 the United States since the war with 1 Spain Uneasy rumors evidences of 1 which could be seen on every hand, were afloat and it was patently ob- vious that something of. great conse- l quence was under way. The Eng l fish speaking individual walking about the streets of San Juan knew that all was not well but he was seri- ously handicapped in his lack of knowledge of the Spanish language which is spoken almost exclusively on the island.>, Despite the language and the foreign looking people, many wore smaN flags of red, white and blue in their buttonhole and flags Of the United States flew from many homes and places of business. A queer mixture of Americanism and old world customs was the rule. Possibly the first inllling as to the condition of affairs was given when the observant citizen from back home
 chanced to turn his eyes toward the
 
 three interned boats, one 8 German
 commerce raider, another it's English
 prize which it had brought into port
 in the earlier days of the war and
 the third German merchantmen
 which had shown decided prefer
 ence for the neutral waters of the
 United States. The happening which
 gave warning had occurred at about
 9 a. m, Saturday. Heretofore the
 small American gunboat stationed at
 San Juan had lain quietly in its slip
 along the shore; now it lay in the
 center of the harbor held by an anch-
 or both fore and aft and poking it's
 saucy nose directly under the star
 board side of the nearest German
 boat. For all the world like a cat at a mouse hole it sat and watched those German boats, with its equipment of guns pointing directly at the interned
 ones. It needed nothing to lead to the conclusion that Germany and the United States were at serious odds. Every line in the little gunboat bristled with fight and even the arro- gance of the German raider as it road at anchor under the flag of it's coun- try seemed to reflect the attitude of the Teuton.
 Getting the News"
 The street vendors were announcing that "El Tempo" was successfully off the press and the Americans rushed to procure a copy of this enterprising daily which is issued at 11:3O in the morning and which condescends to print a page in English every day, though the telegraph news is limited to a bare column. There it was stat ed that the representatives of Ger many and of the United States had been handed their passports; and that was all. Why we did not know We were unaware of what might have happened. We, knew we were nearly at war.
 Evidently the cable charges to San Juan are great for the newspapers seemed satisfied to carry the bare statement of facts and even the Spaniards of the islands seemed to know no more than we
 half of a sleepy day passed and as the cooi of evening approached we woke up to the fact that we had done nothing but discuss the war Dis traction must be found and there was lots to be seen before the sun set we uflIted aDOut the streets until the silvery notes of a bugle drifted over the town and reminded us that we were under the guns of ian Am erican fort and the protection of an Ameri- can garrison. Evening guard mount would be q mighty interesting thing to visit tonight, we thought, and we turned our steps through the narrow streets winding upward until we were upon the parade ground of Morro Castle.
 A great many of the towns folk were evidently of the same idea as we and the street about the ground became rapidly filled with a polyglot rabble of people. Men of every color from pure black to light olive, clad in palm beach suits of a dazzling V hiteness and immaculate hats and shoes mixed with tattered looking in dividuals in sleeZy cotton, rough straw hats asd no shoes at all. Little naked children swarmed between the legs of the crowd. School children of all ages with their books under their arms stood by and occasionally attempted to speak 8 few words in English which they are now taught.