Minister's journey from Washington to Canada. In Toronto, Senor
Polo sought to discredit the assaults that had been made on
Minister Woodford's train in Spain, and related that he himself
had been the victim of assaults at two or three important cities
on his journey through New York, which threatened great danger to
himself and the train on which he was riding.

Upon inquiry it was revealed that the assaults which had aroused
his fear were not quite as hostile as he believed. At the division
stations on the line, the railway employees, according to custom,
passed along the cars, tapping the tires of the wheels with steel
hammers to test them for a possible flaw or break in the wheel,
and it was this that made the Spanish Minister believe that he was
the victim of an American outrage.

FIRST GUNS ARE FIRED.

The United States cruiser Nashville of the North Atlantic
squadron, with headquarters at Key West, had the honor of firing
the first shot in our war with Spain.

Early on the morning of Friday, April 22, the American fleet
sailed from Key West, and, steaming southward across the straits
of Florida, came in sight of Havana and the frowning
fortifications of Morro Castle before six o'clock the same
afternoon.

The sailing of the fleet, as dawn was creeping over the Florida
keys, was a beautiful sight and a significant one, for from the
time the first signals were hoisted until many days after, there