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The J. W. Hawkins Was Scut tled at Sea. The Patriots Knew Nothing of the Leak Until the Ship Was Past Saving. New York, Jan. 29.—An air of gloom pervaded the headquarters of the Cuban revolutionary party in this city today, and the leaders, who would not admit last night that there had been any filibustering expedition which had met with disaster, freely admitted that the story of the wreck of the steamer J. W. Hawkins was correct. T. E. Palma, who is the acknowledged head of the revolutionary party in New York, said that the story was un doubtedly true, but he claimed that the amount of money expended in the expedition had been exaggerated and that only about $100,000 had been ex pended in fitting out the steamer J. W. Hawkins, including arms and am munition. ‘That is,” said Mr. Palma, ‘always presuming that such an expe dition was fitted out. I wish you would say for me through the Associ ated Press that I am placed in a very delicate position in regard to this whole matter. Otherwise, I would not hesitate to tell all I know about it, for I believe that we have the sympathy of the United States with us, but that it will not be President Cleveland's policy to aid us in any way. The Spanish government in its present state would not hesitate to resort to any means to place us in a fake position with the United States and anything I might say concerning this alleged filibustering scheme might be distorted to our detriment.” One of the Cuban leaders made the startling announcement that it was evident ‘there had been treachery in the camp of the filibustering party. “You see, “ie ty he, “we hired an ex pert in this ciy to go to Baltimore to examine the steamer J. W. Hawkins before we purchased her. This expert reported “that; the steamer was sea worthy. Now either the expert did not do his duty properly and the steamer was not fit to go to sea or else there was a traitor on board who de liberately scuttled the ship. The latter would seem to be the case. Neither General Garcia, who was in command of the expedition, nor his son, who was second in command, nor any of the others at the head of the movement had any idea whatever that the steamer was leaking until it was too late to save her. After leaving this city on Saturday night all went well, appar ently, until Sunday night, when one of the filibusterers, happening to go down to the engine room, saw the water rushing in. He at once notified“Gen eral Garcia and some of these” “were set to work to assist the crew at the pumps, but it was too late. A most searching investigation is being made, and if there was any plot to scuttle the ship we will unearth it.”
Newspaper Details
Fort Wayne Sentinel
Fort Wayne, Indiana, US
Wed, Jan 29, 1896
Page 5
Full Page
Clipped by
Evan L.
