Ordinarily such a messenger going through the lines would be blindfolded.  Our position was so strong, however, and our offensive works so impressive, that it was decided to give the commissioner the free use of his eyes, so that he might see all the preparations that have been made to reduce the city.  The siege guns and mortar batteries were pointed out to him, and he was entertained all the way to head-quarters with a detailed explanation of the number of our forces, our guns, and other matters that must have been of interest to him.  In fact, he was very much impressed by what he heard and saw.

Arriving at General Shafter’s headquarters the communication from the Spanish commander was delivered with some ceremony.  It was quite long.  General Toral asked that the time of the truce be further extended, as he wanted to communicate with the Madrid government concerning the surrender of the city. lie also asked that cable operators be sent to operate the line between Santiago and Kingston.  He promised on his word of honor as a soldier that the operators would, not be asked to transmit any matter except that bearing on the surrender, and that he would return them safe to El Caney when a final reply was received from Madrid.  This request for operators was made necessary by the fact that the men who had been operating the Santiago cable were British subjects, and they had all left the city under the protection of the British consul when the Americans gave notice that the city would be bombarded unless it surrendered.

The commissioner said that General Toral wanted to consult with the authorities in Madrid, for the reason that he had been unable to communicate with Captain-General Blanco in Havana.

It was finally arranged that the truce, which expired at four o’clock on the 6th, should be extended until the same hour on Saturday, July 9th.

The commissioner was escorted back through another part of the camp which was filled with bristling guns.  The British consul having given his consent to the operators returning to the city, messengers were sent to El Caney to learn if the men would go.  They expressed their willingness, and were escorted to the Avails of the city, where they were met by a Spanish escort and taken to the office of the cable company.

Destruction of Cervera’s fleet.

On the morning of July 3, Admiral Cervera, commander of the Spanish fleet in the harbor of Santiago de Cuba, made a bold dash for liberty by a desperate attempt to break through the American line, in the hope of reaching the open sea.

In the face of overwhelming odds, with nothing before him but inevitable destruction or surrender if he remained any longer in the trap in which the American fleet held him, he made a dash from the harbor at the time the Americans least expected him to do so, and fighting every inch of his way, even when his ship was ablaze and sinking, he tried to escape the doom which was written on the muzzle of every American gun trained upon his vessels.