Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 19, Number 89, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 July 1898 — THE FLAG OF TRUCE. [ARTICLE]

THE FLAG OF TRUCE.

It Is Still Flying from the Spanish Lines at Santiago. JO RESUMPTION OF HOSTILITIES. Belief That Gen. Tor al I* Awaiting Advice from Blanco—Fear That Spanish Army May Have Made Its Hacape. Madrid, July 13. —After the cabinet council the ministers asserted that Santiago de Cuba had again refused the American demand for surrender. W ashington, July 13.—The impression prevailed in official circles v/hen public business closed for the day that the flag of truce set in the Spanish lines at Santiago at two o’clock Monday afternoon was still flying, and that negotiations continued looking to a surrender. The basis for these negotiations naturally could not be very broad in view of the injunction the president laid upon Gen. Shafter to accept nothing less than unconditional surrender, but it is supposed that time may be consumed through the indulgence of Gen. Shafter in allowing the Spanish commander to communicate by cable with Capt. Gen. Blanco in the effort to obtain his assent to the surrender. Gen. Toral undoubtedly has before his eyes the vindictive abuse heaped upon the unfortunate naval commander Cervera for surrendering ""at all, so that he probably will be bound by the direction of Blanco in his own case. Blanco’s Harsh Reply. It is not generally known that in response to the manly and pathetic report by cable to Blanco announcing the loss of his squadron, Cervera received a most harsh and unsympathetic reply, but such is the case. Blunco’s purpose in this may have been to dissuade other Spanish commanders, military and naval, from surrendering under any conditions, and in the case of Toral it appears that he has made a strong impression. Nevertheless confidence waxes in the speedy fall of Santiago, though many officers fear that the nest will be found empty and the birds flown when the American troops make their entry into the town. Still, should this be the case, it may be fairly claimed that the prime object of the movement on Santiago, namely, the destruction of the Spanish squadron, having' been achieved, the campaign as a whole has been successful. 4 Removal of the Mines. The most important result of the cabinet deliberations Tuesday was the order to remove the mines which guard all the coast ports. Many military men were opposed to yielding to the pressure of the commercial interests and some of them are' predicting that not a few of the communities which have been so earnest in their demand for the removal of the mines will be frantically clamoring for protection at the very first rumor of the presence of a hostile gunboat or cruiser off their coast. ta . Still Alive. Admiral Sampson telegraphed to the department that Capt. Concas, of the Spanish navy, who was reported to have been killed in the destruction of the Spanish squadton, is alive, wounded. and on the hospital ship Solace. This officer is well known in the United States, having brought the Columbian caravels across the Atlantic and to Chicago for exhibition at the world’s fair. He was very popular at the time, but lost the regard of a good many of his American admirers when just before the outbreak of the war with Spain he delivered before the Geographical society in Madrid a bitter diatribe directed against the personal qualities of the American people. Mlles Taken Command. With, the Army Before Santiago, via Playa del Este, July 13. —Maj. Gen. Nelson A. Miles, who Tuesday morning assumed command of the American forces in the field, promised to take Santiago within three days. Gen. Miles declares that the campaign must end quickly. With that object in view the American commander, who arrived on the Yale Monday morning, hastened to the front and took charge. He found 40 pieces of light artillerymounted and ready for use. Shocked nt the condition he found in Siboney, Gen. Miles immediately ordered that the town be destroyed by fire. He decided upon this as a sanitary measure, and several wooden buildings, including one in which Gen. Miles established himself temporarily, are in flames. The Navy’* Problem. Off Aguadores, July 11, via Kingston, Jamaica, July 13. —The United States navy has the following problem presented to it: What is the best manner of effectively bombarding a city distant 4>/ a miles and concealed frory view by a range of hills 250 feet high at its lowest part? The problem has been satisfactorily solved. So, if the army hereafter never fired a shot and merely guarded the roads, the navy could make Santiago untenable, if indeed it did not totally destroy it in a few days. In pursuance of Gen. Shafter’s request. Commodore Schley, Rear Admiral Sampson Laing absent at Guantanamo, at three o’clock on Sunday afternoon, ranged the Brooklyn. Indiana and Texas, within 500 yards of the shore, at a point almost due south of the city of Santiago, distant a little over 4*/ a miles. The ships were about a mile apart. The army signal men were on the beach opposite the ships and also on the crest of a hill overlooking both the ships and the city. These men wig-wagged the results of each shot, telling the gunners if the shell was aimed too high or too low, or not in line. Monday’s Bombardment. Sunday’s practice was good, but it was better Monday when the firing was opened by the New York, which re-

turned from Guantanamo nay during the night. The New York, Brooklyn and Indiana were the shins which participated in the sheling Monday morning. Each shot was carefully calculated, and the wig-wag signaled from the shore to the ships where each shell fell, and notified the gunners if they had proper elevation. The ships ran out their big guns on the side opposite the firing, in order to secure the desired list to port or to starboard. Gen. Shafter signalled about noon that: “Some of the shells fell in the bay and some in the city. The latter do not appear to do great damage.” Comment on this subject was changed immediately by a message saying: “The last shot struck St. Nicholas’ church, where powder was stored, blowing up the same and doing great damage.” The bombardment closed for the day at one p. m., at Gen. Shafter’s request, as he was about to send a flag of truce into the city, in order to demand its surrender for the third and last time. The effect oF the shells when they did hit can easily be imagined when it is known that each of them carries 250 pounds of explosives and travels feet per second. When such a missile lands at a distance of 4% iniles from the muzzle to the city it occupies 22% seconds in its flight. Four shells during the bombardment ignited fires in different parts of the city, proving the feasibility of burning the place by using the guns of the fleet alone. It was strange to see our soldiers repairing a locomotive on the railroad track running along the beach, while, like the strokes of a slow clock, the guns were fired and sent shells screaming over the men at work. Death must have come to many in the city by reason of the shelling, but it is. impossible to do more now than surmise as to the extent of the mortality. The Fighting After the Armiatice. Before Santiago, July 11, via Kingston, July 13.—When the fire opened from the Ameirican lines after the conclusion of the armistice our men were in a much better position. Capron’s and Hines’ batteries were posted on the heights. On the left of the line and in the rear of Bates’ line the Hotchkiss, Gatling and dynamite guns occupied a crest on the right center, and on the extreme right Best’s and Grimes’ batteries were posted in the center of Lawton's division, the Sixth and Sixteenth regulars and the Sev-enty-first New York, which was pushed to the westward until, ■with Garcia’s line, it formed an arc, reaching within a quarter of a mile of Camera, which skirts the bay and forts. Escape Cat Off. The only road by which Gen. Toral could escape was thus commanded. Small detached bodies of Spaniards had been observed skipping out of town westward early in the morning, including one squad of cavalry. A move was made to cut off their retreat and a land bombardment began. A shot from the Grimes battery was followed by one of Capron’s guns on the left, and in the right center the Gatling and Hotchkiss batteries opened fire. For the first ten minutes the firing was quite general, the Spaniards replying spiritedly, but the rifle fire on both sides soon waned, and from five o’clock to half-past six, when the action ceased, the firing was confined almost exclusively to the artillery. Spanish Entrenchmenti Shelled. Our batteries soon got the range and poured shells into the Spanish entrenchments. The Hotchkiss batteryswept the outer line of the entrenchments back and forth, cutting down the brush shelters like a scythe. The Spanish were soon forced to the blockhouse. A Spanish battery on the left of the town, engaged by Capron’s battery, fired only a few shots, but the battery on the right fired spiritedly until a gun-cotton shell from Wood’s dynamite gun exploded directly in front of it, tearing up two trees and dismounting the gun. It was the last shot of the afternoon and was greeted with cheers. Two American* Killed. Two men in Gen. Kent’s division were killed by a shell and several were wounded. Sergeant Jefferson and Private St. Clair, of troop B, Ninth cavalry, were among the wounded. Awful Rain of Sheila. Playa Del Estc, Guantanamo Bay, July 13. —Some idea of the awful rain of shells poured into the doomed Spanish squadron on the morning of July 3 by the pursuing American warships may be gained from the number of shots fired from the battleship Oregon. This number also bears ont the statement of the Spanish officers that it was the fire from the secondary batteries that drove their men from their guns and forced the ships to beach. From the time when Private O’Shay, of the battleship Oregon, fired the first shot from her forward six-pounder, until the Cristobal Colon turned toward the shore, the Oregon fired 1,776 shells. Of these 1,670 were from her six-pounders. The big 13-inch g'uns were fired 34 times, the 8-inch guns 28 times and the 6-inch24 times. The one pounders were fired 20 times. The destruction caused by some of the shots was fearful. One 8-inch shell, which penetrated the turret of tjlie Aimirante Oquendo, exploded and killed every person inside, blowing some to pieces.