Sunday noon
An hour later , when he entered the editorial rooms of the _ New York Daily Telegraph _ , he found his colleagues in a great state of excitement . Judging by the loud talk going on in the conference room , he concluded at once that something out of the common must have happened . The editor-in-chief quickly explained to him that an hour ago the news , already disseminated through an `` extra , '' had arrived , that not only were all messages from the Pacific coast , especially from San Francisco , held up , but the Canadian wire had furnished the news that a foreign strange squadron had been observed on Sunday at Port Townsend , and that it had continued its voyage through Puget Sound toward Seattle . In addition the news came from Walla Walla that since Sunday noon all telegraphic communication between Seattle , Tacoma , and Portland had been broken off . Attempts to reach Seattle and Tacoma over the Canadian wire had also proved vain while , on the other hand , the report came from Ogden that no trains from the west , from the direction of San Francisco , had arrived since Sunday noon , and that the noon express had been attacked this side of Reno by bandits , some of whom had been distinctly recognized as Japanese . John Halifax recalled the first message of the evening before , in which there was a mention of the Japanese . He quickly put the separate news items together , and , after having glanced hurriedly at the messages in the extra , turned to the managing editor and in a low voice , which sounded strange and hard even to himself , said : `` I believe this means war ! ''