| Show DEWEY IN FULL CONTROL washington may 7 owing to the complicated names of the spanish ships destroyed by commodore dewey the following is taken direct from the list given by secretary long reina christina castilla don antonio isla de ulloa isla de luzon isla de cona gen lezo marquis del duero el cariso velasco one transport isla de Mih mindanao danao isla de cuna probably means isla de cuba the el corroo probably means el cano the don antonio is the don antonio de ulloa the isla de ulloa to is not given in accessible data of spanish ships and is with don antonio de ulloa notwithstanding the fact that every body of several days past has been in a momentary expectation of cable ad vices from commodore dewey Dew eythe the town was thrown into the wildest excitement at breakfast time this morning by the issue of extra arrival of the mcculloch at hong kong with dispatches for the government from commodore dewey the publication of newspaper dispatches telling of terrible mortality among the spanish and the escape of the Ameri american call forces men and ships from serious in jury added to the excitement and to the intense satisfaction with which the long expected news was received there was an instant rush of newspaper men to the navy department to secure further information from froin official sources and perhaps dismayed by tho th number and impetuosity of the newspaper contingent the officials ot the navigation bureau where cipher cipher dispatches are transcribed and translated promptly closed and locked their doors against invasion one of the of fibers of the bureau had bad been on duty every moment of the 24 hours for several weeks pst past waiting to receive cablegrams cable grams of importance A similar state of affairs has prevailed at the state department where one of 0 the assistant secretaries and the chief clerk have been upon the watches of the night sleeping on temporary COW cots set up in the anteroom ante room the state department has the honor of receiving the first news it came in the shape of a telegram of three words from united states consul wildman at hongtong Hong kong and was as follows hongtong Hong kong may 7 McCulloch Wild man that Is the usual form in which naval movements are reported by cable the dispatch was received by third assistant secretary cridler who was turned out of his cot by a messenger boy at this morning the naval officials were promptly notified and ana awaited with intense interest the dispatch which was expected to surely follow from commodore dewey about manager marean of the western union telegraph company appeared at the department bringing 1 a sheet comprising four lines of the mysterious jargon which makes up the naval cipher he handed this directly to secretary loncz who gazed at it tor for a moment and turned it over to whittlesey one of the cipher experts pc the navigation nava gation bureau for translations into english then the sec secretary y rn made ado a nr anre tense etense of sitting down at wo his desk to transact other business but it plainly aly to be seen that in spirit he had joined ined the anxious throng of newspaper men luen and officials who thronged thron ged the reception room and the corridore corri corridors dorl waiting news for the the naval cipher is one of the most complex in the world the messages come in words of strange formation taken from all languages these words are turned by the translating clerks into toi groups of figures and these in turn are resolved into their equivalent words in english all this takes time meanwhile secretary alger aiger hearing of the receipt of the news had come over from the war department to see his colleagues jre and he waited patiently for the translation ti senator hoar a member of the foreign relations committee also joined ined secretary long and waited upon the cable experts about 10 a prominent officer gave the newspaper men a short abstract of the cablegram so far as receiver eel ver this only whetted the interest of the crowd in waiting half an hour later secretary long appeared with a copy of the translated cipher in his hand band where there was a great rush towards him but the secretary good natu made Md allowance lowance for the excitement of the crowd and smilingly read from the corner of the room into which he had been forced the following cablegram manila may I 1 squadron arrived at manila at daybreak this morning In immediately mediately engaged the enemy and destroyed the following spanish ves S L Js reina christina castilla don antonio de ulloa isla de luzon isla de cuba gen lezo marques de due ro correo velasco isla de mindanao a and water weiter battery at ca vue vite the squadron to is uninjured and only a few men are slightly wounded only means of telegraphing is to american consul at hongtong Hong kong I 1 shall communicate muni cate with him DEWEY it was immediately noticed that the cablegram as officially promulgated did not entirely agree with the brief palmary Ual mary of its points which had been given out and the immediate presumption was that in the short time accorded for consider consideration atlon the officials blais had concluded that it was wari lic IC policy to expurgate the dis fan h thus as aa made public it con eted ed no re ref fernee ernce to the cutting of 0 cable by admiral dewey to the t that he lacked men to take of the place and finally that he h had the entire bay of manila at his mercy I 1 it was also noted that the dispatch bore date of may 1 the mcculloch could not have occupied more than six deys in making the short run across to hongtong Hong kong therefore it was im mediately assumed that the above dispatch was only the first of two or 01 more that had been brought over to hongtong Hong kong by the mcculloch McCullo cb I 1 in other words worda commodore dewey written sunday night stating in ya message that brief account of the days work 0 instead of sending it immediately Medi by mcculloch to hongtong Hong kong he had delayed that vessel for two or 01 iree days at least probably to use her ewrin in the subsequent bombardment of t ta town and fortifications the events of these last two days were without doubt made the subject ot of one or more official dispatches which we are follow the original message the department at 10 after tee the first message was at hand was still receiving sheets of the cipher code from the telegraph company while the cipher experts were still at work beyond the closed doors of the navigation bureau washington D C may 7 shortly before noon Secre secretary long lott left the navy department for the white jause jp use and an official confirmation was made that a second dispatch from commodore dewey had been received the secretary carried this to the white house and pending the conference with the president there was intense eagerness among the waiting crowd to learn leaen the contents of the second dispatch senators who saw the president secured a brief intimation that deweys deleys victory was overwhelming and that he had a large number of spanish prisoners in his possession at 1230 pm secretary long came from the presidents private room carrying the copy of the second message from dewey but in order to give equal facilities to the great crowd of people waiting to gain information he held it until he reached his private office then his secretary mr finney brought the message to the large reception room where a hundred or more anxious newspaper correspondents and curious observers took down the dispatch as mr finney read it it was as follows cavite way may 4 1898 long secretary navy 1 I have taken possession of the naval station at cavite philippine islands and destroyed its fortifications I 1 have destroyed the fortifications at the bay entrance patrolling the garrison I 1 control the bay completely and can take the city at any time the squadron is in exic excellent ellent health and spirits the spanish loss lose not fully known but very heavy killed including the captain of the reina christina I 1 am assisting in protecting the spanish sick and wounded sick and wounded are in the h hospital pital within our lines much excitement at manila will protect foreign residents DEWEY following this secretary long gave out his reply to dewey which has been cabled by direction of the president as follows washington may 7 1898 dewey manila the president in the name of American the people thank you and your officers and men for your splendid achievement and overwhelming victory in recognition he has appointed you acting admiral and will recommend a vote of thanks to you by congress As the laa last word of the dispatch LONG was uttered several of the onlookers called for three cheers for dewey they were given with a win and the usual official serenity of the navy department for the moment was broken by a round of cheers which fairly shook the build ing washington D C may 7 arrangements are under way to send troops soon from the pacific slope and idaho to enable the commodore to take control of the islands it having been decided to send a transport with troops and supplies to commodore dewey at manila the city of pekin will be used for this purpose and will be escorted by the cruiser charleston it Is the purpose to start the expedition on the a week from tomorrow the troops will be taken from the west mainly |
