The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1922-03-09

Here was tne biggest piece of news
that could have emanated out of Ha-
vana at that time, the answer to the
urgent question, which editors were
cabling to their Havana correspond
| ents. The fact that the Names keel
| had been hove up until it was with
| in eighteen inches Of the surface
meant only one thing, that the battle
ship had been blown up by mine
| placed beneath the keel and had not
| been destroyed by the explosion of
one of her own magazines. 1t meant
war.
But how was this portentious news
to be gotten past the Spanish censor?
The rule of closing the cable office at
9 p. m. had been changed and the Of
flee was wide open at all times. But
Madrid and Washington were keep
| ing it busy and there was very little
that correspondents were allowed to
send, that little being subjected to
| the closest scrutiny by the censOrs.
had a dispatch boat in the harbor,
which had been used for the carrying
of dispatches to the telegraph office
at Key West, but she could render no
help in this emergency, for by the
rules of the port, no vessel could
leave between the hours Of sunset
and sunrise.
Eluding the Censor.
There was nothing in our secret
code book by which this information
about the Maine keel could be con-
veyed, and while on my way to the
| censor's Office 1 evolved several mes
sages, meant to deceive him, and yet
be clear to the editor for whom it
was intended, but rejected them all
4 as unsuitable. The one was finally
submitted, read as follows:
"In important story which will be
filed from dispatch boat in Key West
tomorrow, please note the main story
is mine.'
The censor, a Spanish colonel, and
whose knowledge of English was dis
appointingly complete read the mes
sage attentively, and then inquired if
I thought it necessary to pay high
| ca bic toll in order to claim credit for
| dispatch that had not yet been sent.
1 endeavored to assure him that un
less l took this precaution the dis
patch might be credited to some one
else in the bureau. Whereupon the
colonel grinned, saying 1 could tell
that to the American marines, added
that he didn't like the use of the word
mine" anyway and that the editor
might add an ''e'' to the word main,
and reach some wholly erroneous
conclusion, that is, erroneous from
the Spanish viewpoint.
| l proffered this altogether too
adroit colonel cigar and took a turn
down the corridor, in an effort to
think up something else. I knew
this particular censor would be going
off duty at II o'clock, and I was try
ing to be ready for the next one.
| Making Use of Kipling.
From the hotel news stand that
day 1 had bought copy of Life and
had read therein Kipling's poem,
THE Dstroyers." l thought that
might, help and going back to to the
hotel, got the copy. and when the re-
lief censor came on, presented him
with this:
Naval officers here are very much
interested in Kipling's poem Destroy
ers appearing in current issue of Life.
Naval contingent assert technical ac-
curacy of last verse impossible to i'm
prove upon"
After reading that tribute to Kip
ling's poem, the censor asked me if
1 had copy of Life with me. told
him I did not. Whereupon he sum-
moned an orderly and told him to go
to the hotel and get one. The last
verse of the poem reads:
| The strength of twice three thousand
horse
That serve the one command;
| The hand that heaves the headlong
| force,
The hate that backs the hand;
| The doom-bolt in the darkness freed,
| The mine that splits the main;
The white hot wake, the wildering
| speed
The Choosers of the Slain!
AS the crux of the situation was
magazine or mine, very we'll knew
that my office would at once hit upon
that pregnant line. 'The mine that
splits the main" as containing the
message I was trying to get to them.
The orderly returned with the copy
1 nd n