1898 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
361 
The War. 
BRIEF NOTES FOR BUSY PEOPLE. 
DIARY OF THE WAR. 
Fuller reports of the naval battle at Manila 
May 1 indicate the practical destruction of the 
Spanish fleet. The United States squadron, con¬ 
sisting of the Olympia, the Baltimore, the Boston, 
the Raleigh, the Concord, the Petrel and the 
Monocacy, entered the bay under cover of 
darkness. A fort opened fire upon the ships, 
which then shifted their position, engaging in a 
tierce fight against both the forts and the Spanish 
fleet. The engagement lasted two hours. One 
American vessel is said to be disabled. Commo¬ 
dore Dewey then ordered the Spanish Captain- 
General Augusti to surrender all warlike stores 
and coal in possession of the government, under 
the penalty of bombardment. Apparently, this 
demand was not complied with, as it is reported 
that bombardment of Manila began Monday, 
May 2. After this news was received the cable 
between Manila and Hongkong was destroyed, 
putting an end to communication, Monday, May 2. 
No further news received from Manila. Steam¬ 
ships chartered to take coal and ammunition 
from San Francisco to the Pacific squadron. Ar¬ 
rangements made for the shipment of western 
troops to the Philippines. The Cuban situation 
unchanged, Tuesday, May 3. 
The Atlantic Squadron sailed in the direction 
of Puerto Rico. It is expected that the fleet will 
endeavor to destroy or to occupy the coaling sta¬ 
tion as a naval base, before the Spanish squad¬ 
ron arrives, and then put to sea in an effort to 
meet and engage the Cape Verde fleet. Havana 
is reported to be on the verge of starvation; food 
is bringing fabulous prices, and the soldiers are 
seizing any accessible provisions. Spain con¬ 
tinues to suffer serious internal disturbances, 
rioting existing in numerous districts, and some 
of the provinces being in a state of siege. The 
Cuban blockade continues, Wednesday, May 4. 
The Cuban situation is unchanged. The Gov¬ 
ernment observes great reticence regarding 
operations. Attempt was made by an incendiary 
to destroy the Government magazines at Indian 
Head, Potomac River, 25 miles below Washington. 
The tug, Leyden, effected a landing nearMariel, 
on the north coast of Cuba, where despatches 
and ammunition were delivered to insurgent 
leaders. The landing party was attacked by 
Spanish cavalry, and allot tight ensued for a few 
minutes. The Leyden was reinforced.by the Wil¬ 
mington, and succeeded in landing her cargo. 
The movements of our army are kept secret, but 
news of the invasion of Cuba is expected daily. 
All the State militia has responded nobly to the 
call for men, and much enthusiasm is shown. 
The inland regiments marching through New 
York City excite much interest. The citizen 
soldiers at Hempstead, Peekskill and Sea Girt 
are suffering severely from cold and wet, with 
their inadequate accommodations. Thursday, 
May 5. 
The French steamer Lafayette, was captured 
by the gunboat Annapolis, while endeavoring to 
enter Havana harbor. She was subsequently re¬ 
leased, it being learned that the French Legation 
at Washington had obtained permission from the 
State Department for the Lafayette to discharge 
passengers, mails and cargo not contraband of 
war, at Havana. Instructions concerning this 
had been sent from Washington to Admiral 
Sampson, but were not delivered. The Lafayette, 
after being released, was taken into Havana 
harbor under escort. 
The dispatch boat Hugh McCulloch arrived at 
Hongkong with news from Commodore Dewey 
confirming previous reports of his victory. The 
Spanish fleet, consisting of 11 vessels, was prac¬ 
tically destroyed, 300 Spaniards were killed, and 
several hundred wounded. The American ships 
were not injured, no American sailors were 
killed, and only six wounded. The land bat¬ 
teries were completely silenced. It was Commo¬ 
dore Dewey who cut the cable. He has every¬ 
thing under his control, but wants more men 
to maintain his position. The news was received 
in New York, with great excitement, about 9:30 
Saturday morning, May 7. 
The Vicksburg and cutter Morrill were under 
Are from Havana batteries. Spanish fleet is 
collected at Puerto Rico; Admiral Sampson has 
gone to meet it, and a decisive battle is expected, 
May 8. 
The House passed the war tax bill 
without much debate. The Senate is 
now considering- it. The bill levies in¬ 
creased taxes on beer, cigars, and to¬ 
bacco, and compels the use of stamps on 
checks, drafts, and various securities. It 
will, also, tax telegraphic messages, ex¬ 
press packages and legal instruments, 
such as mortgages and personal bonds 
and insurance policies. Patent medicines 
and other similar articles are taxed. 
There is, also, an increase of the tonnage 
tax on foreign vessels, but the Senate 
may cut this out. As it stands at present, 
Thomas G. Shearman estimates that the 
burden of these taxes will be divided in 
about the following proportion : 10 per 
cent on the principal owners of invested 
wealth, 30 per cent upon the middle class, 
and 00 per cent upon those who live upon 
their daily earnings. The bill provides 
for the issue of $500,000,000 worth of 
bonds, but this will be opposed in the 
Senate. 
The Spaniards have adopted the name 
of “ Yankee Pig” as a fitting title for 
Americans. A new comic paper called 
The Porker, has been established in 
Madrid to make fun of Americans. A 
pig is certainly a more desirable crea¬ 
ture than a pirate. 
Since the outbreak of war, an extra 
force of detectives is placed on guard 
around the Brooklyn Bridge and the 
great aqueduct supplying New York 
with water, lest there should be any at¬ 
tempt at destruction on the part of 
.Spanish emissaries. 
During the Cuban campaign, our sol¬ 
diers are to leave off their heavy woolen 
uniforms, which will be replaced by 
suits of grayish-brown duck faced with 
a color designating the branch of the 
service to which they belong, blue for 
infantry, red for cavalry, and yellow for 
artillery. Slouch hats of felt will be 
worn, looped up at one side with a 
rosette to match the facings. 
The following countries have so far 
declared neutrality in the war between 
the United States and Spain ; Great 
Britain, Italy, Switzerland, Netherlands, 
Sweden and Norway, Colombia, Mexico, 
Russia, France, Corea, Argentine Re¬ 
public, Portugal, Japan, Brazil, Uru¬ 
guay. It is likely that this list will be 
increased before this paper reaches the 
readers. 
The War Department has issued or¬ 
ders closing New York harbor from sun¬ 
set to sunrise. No vessel will be allowed 
to pass in or out between these hours, 
and no vessel can approach within three 
miles of the coast. A passing steamer 
recently cut off a torpedo without ex¬ 
ploding it. Other ports along the Atlantic 
are being put under similar restrictions, 
which interfere considerably with coast 
trade. 
A member of the Cuban Autonomist 
Commission, now in New York for the 
purpose of negotiating a commercial 
treaty, has been communicating with 
Gen. Blanco through ex-Minister Polo y 
Bernab6. It is not known how much he 
has been able to communicate in this 
way, but he has undoubtedly sent all 
available information. The ex-minister 
has now been recalled from Canada by 
Spain at the request of Great Britain. 
An odd question now arising before 
the Treasury Department is whether the 
cargoes of prize vessels are liable to im¬ 
port taxes, and if so, upon whom the 
liability falls. There are a number of 
captured vessels in the hands of the 
Prize Court at Key West, and the col¬ 
lector at that port is at a loss to know 
whether the foreign goods carried should 
pay taxes. In the war of 1812, and in 
the Civil War, the share of prize car¬ 
goes going to the captors was made 
to pay taxes; but in the revision of 
the statutes, the law covering this 
point was omitted, so that there is 
now no law in effect covering this 
point. Tt is likely that the necessary 
legislation will soon be enacted. 
The phonograph is to be used in send¬ 
ing war dispatches. Instead of carrying 
a letter, the messenger carries a cylinder 
which records a spoken message. The 
microphone is another instrument which 
will catch the sound of an approaching 
enemy when too faint to be heard by or¬ 
dinary ears. Telegraph wii*e has been 
so reduced in weight that two miles of 
it with a complete telephone outfit weigh 
only 13 pounds, and can be carried on 
the march. 
In examining militiamen for enlist¬ 
ment in the regular army, a good many 
have been rejected in consequence of de¬ 
fective heart action, due, according to 
the physicians, to excessive bicycle rid¬ 
ing. It is not thought that moderate 
riding can produce such an effect in 
healthy men, but century runs and 
record-breaking are, undoubtedly, in¬ 
jurious, and the heart is one of the first 
organs affected. Similar conditions are 
noted in army examinations in Europe. 
A privateer is a ship owned and 
manned by private persons but empow¬ 
ered by a state to make war against the 
enemies of that state at sea. Commissions 
granting this right to private parties are 
called letters of marque. If Spain re¬ 
sort to privateering, hundreds of light 
craft owned and manned by private par¬ 
ties will scour the sea for American ships. 
Under Spanish direction, there will be 
little difference between a privateer and 
a pirate, and it is not likely that the 
European powers will permit such pri¬ 
vateering. 
One of the volunteer companies ex¬ 
pected to give a good account of itself is 
the body of rough riders collected by 
Theodore Roosevelt, of New York, who, 
having finished his duties as Assistant- 
Secretary of the Navy, is organizing a 
band of mounted riflemen chiefly re¬ 
cruited from western cowboys. These 
men, facetiously described by the news¬ 
papers as “Teddy’s Terrors”, include 
western “cow punchers,” New York 
policemen and young men born to wealth 
and ease, but all enter upon equal foot¬ 
ing, the ability to ride, shoot, and obey 
orders being the qualities demanded. 
There is grim humor about some of 
the happenings of war. About 400 mules 
which had been purchased for the Spanish 
in Cuba were refused clearance on a 
vessel which sailed from New Orleans, 
but which was captured by Admiral 
Sampson’s fleet. The mules have now 
been sent down by Uncle Sam, and in¬ 
stead of helping the tottering cause of 
the Dons, will be used to drag the can¬ 
non that will be trained against them. 
Another vessel that left New York be¬ 
fore the blockade was declared, loaded 
down with provisions for the Spanish 
army in Cuba, was captured by the navy 
of the Yankees who had sold them the 
cargo. 
Spain has resorted to a number of 
desperate schemes for raising money. 
She proposes to issue bonds to the 
amount of 100,000,000 pesetas which are 
to be guaranteed by the proceeds from 
quicksilver mines. The government will 
also enforce one year’s payment in ad¬ 
vance of all territorial and industrial 
taxes, and will impose internal taxation 
on grain and other articles. The Bank 
of Spain is to increase its note issue to 
the amount of 2,000,000,000 pesetas, with 
nothing in sight that would pay even 
the interest on these loans. Spain’s 
finances are in dreadful condition. Gold 
is at a premium of 111. The Cortes will 
prohibit the exportation of corn, flour, 
grain, potatoes and fruit. Speculators 
have begun large exports of food for the 
purpose of increasing the home price. 
When Rady 
Marie Wortley 
Montague visited 
sthe household of 
pthe Sultan, she 
wrote home to 
England that the 
ladies of the 
harem were 
smothered with 
Daughter to dis- 
1 cover that her 
I ladyship wore 
/an inner vest 
of steel and 
whalebone, 
tight, impene¬ 
trable and sti¬ 
fling, in other 
words, a corset. 
The ladies 
\of the harem 
would no doubt 
have been 
equally astonished, though perhaps not 
disposed to laughter, had they known that 
the women of western nations, through false 
ideas of delicacy, suffer in silence untold 
agony, and sometimes death, through neg¬ 
lect of their health in a womanly way. 
Women.who suffer in this way shrink from 
the embarrassing examinations and local 
treatment insisted upon by the majority of 
physicians. If they only knew it, there is 
no necessity for these ordeals. An emi¬ 
nent and skillful physician long since dis¬ 
covered a remedy that women may use in 
the privacy of their own homes. It is Dr. 
Pierce’s Favorite Prescription. It acts di¬ 
rectly on the feminine organism, giving it 
strength, vigor and elasticity. It stops all 
debilitating drains. It is the greatest of all 
nerve tonica and invigorators for women. 
Thousands of women who were weak, sick¬ 
ly, petulant and despondent invalids are 
to-day happy and healthy as the result of 
the use of this wonderful medicine. Good 
druggists do not advise substitutes for this 
incomparable remedy. 
‘•I have used Dr. Pierce’s Favorite Prescrip¬ 
tion and * Golden Medical Discovery ’ iu my 
family,’’ writes Mrs. G. A. Conner, of Alleghany 
Springs, Montgomery Co., Va., “ and have found 
them to be the best medicines that I ever used.” 
Send 21 one-cent stamps, to cover cost of 
mailing only , to the World’s Dispensary 
Medical Association, Buffalo, N. Y., for a 
S aper-covered copy of Dr. Pierce’s Common 
ense Medical Adviser;—Cloth binding ten 
cents extra. A whole Medical library in 
one iooo-page volume. 
AWatchforaDollar. 
During the month of May last year, 
we offered to furnish our old subscribers 
with a Watch for $1. It was a great 
bargain, and we did it only for one 
month. We were obliged to refuse orders 
afterwards, but we are now going to re¬ 
peat the offer for the month of May 
again. The Watch is fully warranted, 
solid nickel case and movement, jeweled, 
stem-wind and set. Any time during the 
month of May, you may send us one new 
subscription and $2, and 15 cents extra 
for postage and registering Watch, 
and we will send you the Watch by re¬ 
turn mail, and the paper for a year to 
the new subscriber. Of course, you get 
the dollar for the new subscription, so 
the Watch will cost you only $1, besides 
the postage. If you are not satisfied, 
we will return you all the money. The 
Watches are actually worth $5 at retail. 
We do this for the new subscriber, but 
only during May. All orders after May 
must be returned. Act quickly if you 
want a bargain in a Watch. 
The Rural New-Yorker, New York. 
SAVE 
MONEY. 
TERMS 
FREE!FREE!FREE! 
IVlillioii DoIlarH Personal Guarantee at the Back of Every 
CORMSU AMERICAN PIANO AND ORGAN. 
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REMEMBER we are the only firm of actual manu¬ 
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SPECIAL OFFERS NOW READY. 
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interesting picture was designed and painted exclusively for us by an eminent artist and has 
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50 styles of Pianos ami Organs, together with prices and terms of sale. It will be sent to all in 
tending purchasers FREE on application ••—‘ —. 1 ”-*— ... 1 
on the, old basis—Pianos and Organs at w_ 
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REMEMBER that a 
will Kecure u 
In our 1898 
the lint price* yuu uuj u vviiiiiou riuno. tfwlug to the very 
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CORNISH & CO.. ( American ™ K 
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can Pianos and Organs. ) Washington. N. J a ^^VlaHa’l 
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