Jasper County Democrat, Volume 1, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 July 1898 — MILES HAS LANDED. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

MILES HAS LANDED.

PQRTO RICAN EXPEDITION DIS. EMBARKS NEAR PONCE. Town on the South Coast of the Island Selected for the Landing More Troops to Be Ordered to the Front Without Belay. Flag in Porto Rico. Washington special: A brief dispatch Monday announced that Gen. Miles and his forces from Santiago had made a landing near Ponce on the southern coast of Porto Rico. Gen. Miles took with him from Guantanamo, when he sailed on Thursday, Batteries C and F of the Third artillery, B and F of the Fourth and B of the Fifth, the Sixth Illinois, the Sixth Massachusetts, the Seventh Hospital corps, 275 recruits who had been sent to Shafter but had not landed at Santiago, and sixty men from the signal corps, a total of 3,415 meu. Ponce is the second city in population and commercial importance in Porto Rico. It is about three miles from the coast and has a population of 22.000, with a jurisdiction over 47,000 inhabitants. It is located on a high plain, is the chief town in the judicial district of the same name, and is said to be the healthiest place on the island. There is a railroad to Yanco and a stage road to San Juan, on the north coast; Mayagilez, on the west coast, and Guayama, on the east. There was also a telegraph and cable station until recently, when the British Cable Company cut out the Porto Rico loop to prevent it being tied up by the war. There are no fortifications at Ponce, but about thirty old mountain howitzers. There are reported to be about 2,000 Spanish soldiers garrisoned there, but from the harbor the war-

ships coaid command the whole place and land the troops of Gen. Miles with perfect safety. About 22.000 troops are already under orders to take part in the Porto Rico campaign. Some have reached the island, some are steaming thither, others are boarding ship, and many have not yet

left their camps in the United States. It is asserted in official quarters that from 10,000 to 15,000 more men will be ordered to Porto Rico as soon as the transports are available to carry them. HOISTED WHITE BREECHES. Vlscaya Used Pair of Trousers aa • Token of Surrender. A letter from a seaman on the battleship lowa tells of a ludicrous occurrence at a tragic moment during the naval battle off Santiago on July 8. It was just after the,lowa had sent a broadside from Its big guns into the Vizeaya. When the smoke drifted away the Vazcaya was seen headed for shore, and from her gaff, where a Spanish ensign had been, floated a pair of white duck breeches. It was probably the only article bandy that could be gotten quickly and used as a token of surrender. The sight caused the men on the lowa to alternately laugh and cheer.. TEN THOUSAND MEN LACKING. State* Slow to Respond to President's Last Call for Troops. Ten thousand men are lacking under President McKinley’s last call for troops, ▲bout 65,000 of the 75,000 asked for are ready for Government orders. North Carolina is the furthest behind, Only 55 soldiers of its quota of 783 have come to the front. Colorado, Louisiana, Nebraska, Tennessee and Virginia have furnished less than one-third of the soldier* asked of them under the call. REPORTS A SPANISH VICTORT. - Madrid Hear* that American* Were 1 Repnlsed at Bahia Honda. ▲ dispatch from Havana to Madrid says that Commander Manxanal prevented the landing of a body of Americans near Bahia Honda. The Americans were protected by a warship. The landing party launched a boat, which was sunk by the fire from the shore. A lieutenant and four men were killed. The Spanish artillery also killed several men on board th* warship. The Spanish loss was only three men slightly wounded.

HAVANA’S POOR ARE STARVING

Speculators Control the Food Supply and Fix the Prices. Recent issues of the Havana newspapers which have been received at Key West show plainly the truth of the reports concerning the starving condition of the city. An editorial from La Diario de la Marina declared that 50 per cent of Havana’s working people were starving to death. A glance at the price list in the same newspaper received gives convincing proof that one of the organs of the official Spanish Government in Cuba w not lying. DUPUY DE LOME TALKS PEACE. Says Overtures Should Have Been Made After Santiago Fight. Senor Dupuy de Lome, formerly Spanish minister to the United States, says that overtures for peace ought to have been made after the fight on July 1 around Santiago, and after the destruction of Admiral Cervera’s squadron, with a view to obtaining better conditions than could be secured later. If the United States refused to grant honorable conditions then the war should be continued desperately. SPAIN PUSHES BLINDLY AHEAD. Notwithstanding Defeats She Would Assemble a Third Fleet. Notwithstanding two crushing defeats at sea and the destruction of two fleets, Spain is said to be using her utmost endeavors to gather another at Ceuta for

the purpose of giving Rattle to Commty dore Watson. The orJg two formidable warships left to Spain—the Pelayo and the Carlos V.—are at Cartagena, where repairs are being made on after they are completed they will rejoin the reminder of Admiral Camara’s squadron at Ceuta. It is conceded that if another naval engagement takes place it will be in the vicinity of that place, but no one in Washington has any doubt of the outcome of such a conflict.

Map showing location of the Important port won by the expedition under Commander Cowles.

Cervera Fears Court-Martial. It comes from a very reliable source that Admiral Cervera will renounce his allegiance to Spain and become a citizen of the United States. Admiral Cervera, it is said, has come to this conclusion for various reasons, the principal being that he is convinced the Spanish Government will order a court martial to try him for losing his ships off Santiago. < Will Not Go with Watson. Richmond P. Hobson will not be transferred to the line and accompany th* squadron of Commodore Watson. Hobson will remain a naval constructor.

GARCIA IS DISGUSTED.

He Feels that He Has Been Flighted by Major General Shafter. Gen. Garcia has written a letter to Gen. Shafter, in which he declares that he is disgusted at his treatment at the hands of the Americans, and will consequently withdraw his own forces to. the bills, being no longer willing to submit to the indignities to which he has been subjected. Among the things of which Gen. Garcia complains is the failure of the American commander to officially notify him of the ‘Surrender of the Spanish forces under Gen. Toral, and he is also incensed at the fact that he was not invited to be present at the ceremony attending the formal capitulation Of Santiago. Another of his grievances is the action of Gen. Shafter in retaining the Spanish civil authorities in the administration pf their functions in Santago. For these reasons he declares that he will no longer co-operate with the forces under Gen. Shafter’s command, but will act independently, as he did before the American troops landed in Cuba.

TO OVERHAUL THE WARSHIP®. Some Were SI • gh tly Damaged in Battle and Others Need Cleaning. Nearly all the big ships of the navy, which have been constantly in service since long before the war began, are to be brought to the. United States so? overhauling. Only one or two of the battleships and armored cruisers will be taken from the West Indian waters at the same time, but the Navy Department has de-

icided that the work must be performed as rapidly as possible, available docks will be utilised. Tne Texas has been ordered to New York from Santiago. Like nearly all the other ships, she is suffering from splintered decks and bulged bulkheads caused by the concussion of the big guns. Few of the ships require repairs on account of damage done by the enemy’s shells. The Indiana needs some renovating; the Brooklyn received a few rounds from the rapid-fire guns of the Cristobal Colon, and the lowa has an unexploded shell sticking in her side.

CARE FOR BICK AND WOUNDED. Arrangements at Hospital Stations on the Coast Completed. The medical department of the army has completed arrangements for the care of the sick and wounded soldiers at hospital stations on the Atlantic coast. About 1,000 beds have been provided at Fort Monroe and the accommodations at other points are ample for the present. The Surgeon general has received many proffers for the use of&prlvate estates on the Eastern coast for the care of the sick and wounded, but there has been no occasion to accept these. Reports received by the surgeon general indicate that the wounds of soldiers injured in the Santiago campaign are healing rapidly. Blood poisoning has occurred only in the rarest cases. The wounds from Mauser rifle bullets have in most cases not been dangerous, and they have yielded promptly to the antiseptic treatment.

SHAFTER'S LOSSES AT SANTIAGO. Fifteen Hundred and Nienty-five Men Killed and Wounded. Oen. Shafter’s detailed report of the American casualties in the battle of Santiago has been received at the War Department. The total number of casualties was 1,595. Recapitulated, the American losses were: Killed, 23 officers and 208 enlisted men; wounded, 80 officers and 1,20."' men; missing, 81 men. The miss-, ing are supposed to be dead, as, so far aa known, the Spanish forces took no prisoner*. ...... y -

GENERALJULIAN PARREDA. Spanish Commander at Guantanamo Who Refused to “Capitulate."

PORT OF NIPE.