The San Francisco call. [volume], February 25, 1898, Image 1

About The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913

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VOLUME LXXXIII.— NO. 87.
THE NATION PREPARES
FOR WAR WITH SPAIN
THE PRESIDENT
WILL NOT BE
CARRIED AWAY
EVIDENTLY
HE FEARS
THE WORST
Time Is Wanted in Which
to Get Ready for
Hostilities.
There Is Such Grave Danger in
the Situation It Is Essential
to Calm the Public Mind i
if Possible.
WASHINGTON, D. C, Feb. 24.-The
Call correspondent was informed to
night by one of General Lee's closest
friends that a letter has been received
by him from the American Consul=Gen=
eral at Havana in which he states his
firm belief that the Maine's destruc=
tion did not result from accident, but
from design.
But, notwithstanding General Lee's
letter and the press reports cabled
from Havana, the President is await=
ing the result and cannot be carried
off his feet by the excitement, which
has been renewed. It is stated on the
best information that, notwithstanding
the reports from General Lee and other
officials, he will await the report of
the Naval Court before making any
recommendation to Congress.
There seems little doubt, however,
that the administration is preparing
for trouble. The hope that war may
be averted is growing weaker, but the
little hope there is left will sustain the
Government in the effort to keep down
public excitement as long as possible.
The sudden conservatism of the
Senate arises from a conviction that
a rupture with Spain is about to oc
cur, and a desire not to run the risk
of any false step which would enable
Spain to shift ground and fix the im
mediate responsibility for the con
flict upon this Government. The
situation, too, demands that nothing
should be done in this country to
give excuse, however poor, for a
popular uprising of the Spanish in
Cuba.
The declaration by Senator Thurs
ton in the Senate that it would be a
grave misfortune if our strained re
lations were to come to a crisis be
fore the completion of the Maine in
quiry, voiced an apprehension which
is felt by those most familiar with
the situation.
The accident theory of the explo
sion is no longer seriously consid
ered. The most conservative view is
that the chances of an accident being
shown are so slight that they are not
worth arguing. There is good reason
for believing that the theory has
been abandoned entirely by every
one officially i n touch with the situa
tion and that the men in Congress i
who would be relied upon for advice !
and support are no longer in ignor- I
ance. &
But it would be folly, and it is so
recognized by the strong men in |
The San Francisco Call
Congress, no matter what has been
their attitude toward Spain, to have
anything said or done by responsible
authorities which might hasten the
crisis.
Indiscretion here, either on the
part of Congress or of any executive
official, might endanger not only the
prosecution of the inquiry, but the
lives of General Lee and our officers
now in Havana. Moreover, there is
need of time for preparation for war.
There are many things to be done
which might be impossible after a
declaration. For this reason it is be- I
lieved that the investigation by the
board will be prolonged as much as j
possible. The danger cf their posi
tion will render it necessary that the
investigation in Havana be finished
speedily, but on the return of the
board to Key West their work will
proceed with deliberation.
There is an impression about Con
gress, in quarters where "impres
sions" usually have semi-official
foundation, that sufficient evidence
has already been found to make it no
longer a matter of doubt that the
Maine was destroyed by design.
A cable message was received in
Washington from Madrid to-night i
saying Senor Sagasta denounced as '
absurd the report that a submarine
mine destroyed the Maine. He says
such reports are circulated in order
SAN FRANCISCO, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1898.
PREPARING FOR WAR.
TOPEKA. Kans.. Feb. 24.—Al
though every effort has been
made to suppress it. active prep
arations for war have been in
progress in Kansas for several
days past. Orders were re
ceived from Washington by offi
cers at Forts Leavenworth and
Riley to have all men ready to
take the field within twenty-four
hours' notice. Both forts were
the scenes of great activity
yesterday and to-day. It is said
the men and accoutrements are
now ready for immediate action.
to excite the American citizens to
recognize the belligerent rights of
the Cubans. But, notwithstanding
Sagasta's cablegram, the Govern
ment officials are to-night strongly
convinced that the Maine was blown
up by design or by the Spaniards.
The Call correspondent learned to
night that when Sagasta's cablegram
was received the State and Navy De
partment officials, after searching
the archives of the State Department,
found a letter from the Premier of
Spain in which he sought to prove to
the satisfaction of the United States
t*»Tt *h<? rebels could never succeed in
taking Havana because the harbor
was so well defended by torpedoes
and submarine mines. It is under
stood that the Spanish Government
even went into details as to these
harbor defense works, and that the
letter will be given out for publica
tion to-morrow.
The tone of the conservative press
of the East has entirely changed,
and to-day, without exception, the
newspapers declare the accident
theory must be abandoned and that
preparations for war cannot be
ignored.
Even the Philadelphia Ledger,
heretofore conservative, changes
tone to-day and says it must be ad
mitted the Government recognizes
the gravity of the situation and the
combination of circumstances that
may lead to war, and is preparing
for trouble.
The refusal of State. War and
Navy Departments to give out some
of the dispatches from Havana is
considered ominous.
There seems to be no doubt that
preparations for war are being made.
The commandant at the Marine Bar
racks has received orders to hold his
entire force of marines ready to de
part on a moment's notice. To-day
an intimation was given that they
might be sent to Key West the pres
ent week.
Word has been sent to the Naval
Academy at Annapolis that the
cadets there may be required to hold
themselves in readiness. The gradu
ating class, it is said, will be the
first called out, but all of them may
be pressed into service.
It is undoubtedly the present plan
of the Government, in the event of
actual hostilities, to blockade the
port of Havana and shut off all sup
plies. It is believed Havana could
not resist such a blockade two weeks
and that a surrender would follow.
GRUESOME RELICS
FROM THE MAINE.
The Divers Still at Work Bringing
Up Ghastly Fragments From the
Murky Waters of the Harbor.
Copyrighted. IS9B, by James Gordon Bennett
HAVANA, Feb. 24.— The scene on
and around the wreck to-day was one
of great interest. All day long divers
i from the wrecking tug Right Arm were
1 descending into or ascending from the
j murky waters that wash sullenly about
the Maine's scarred fragments. Now and
again one of them came up with some
grim souvenir of the horror. A few
personal friends Have been given some
of these relics by officers of the Maine.
Dr. Gallagher, an American physician
now visiting here, has a piece of the
table at which poor Jenkins was believed
to be sitting, when, at the sound of the
explosion, he started to his post of duty,
only to go to his death. Other relics
fondly cherished by those who have
them are the little nickel number plates,
scores of which have been brought to
the surface clinging to splinters of wood
that were once portions of the officers'
berths.
All this floating debris is being re
moved as rapidly possible so as not to
MENACE TO A HOSTILE FLEET.
Battery of Sixteen Twelve-Inch Rifled Mortars at the Presidio. Each Gun Is Capable oF Throwing
an Eight Hundred Pound Steel Projectile a Distance of Six Miles.
impede the divers as they work farther
into the bottom of the hulk.
Captain Magee of the wrecking tug
will soon begin using dynamite in small
quantities to remove such portions of
the iron and steel beam--, deck braces,
etc., as now obstruct his men's work.
Thin slings of dynamite, much like thin
pieces of tape, are used for this purpose.
The tape is wrapped about the obstruct
ing portion of the wreck at a point
where it is desired to sever it. The
dynamite girdle is then exploded ana
amputation is made as neatly as bread is
cut with a knife.
Around the Maine, until 5 o'clock this
evening, when the little Rache ran over
toward Key West with four more of the
wounded, lay the Mangrove, the Bache
and the Fern. The Mangrove, on which
sits the Board of Inquiry, is the center
all day long of a fleet of small boats
which seem drawn toward her as a
magnet attracts steel filings. These are
the boats of the newspaper correspond
ents, to whom nothing can be vouch
safed officially until after the close of the
session, and not much then. A hundred
yards or so beyond the Bache, wallow
ing idly at her anchors, rides a dingy
black barge. There is no life aboard her.
but across her thwart rest several white
pine boxes newly made, and above her
two or three of the harbor's great
winged scavengers flap their pinions
lazily and soar around in circles.
This is the Maine's floating morgue.
Tnto this grim barge of death are car
ried such bodies as are now recovered
and there they swing with the tide until
taken away for interment. In a close
cordon tightly drawn around the wreck
and the wrecking tug, which lies close
against what used to be the Maine's star
board quarter, the blue-clad tars of the
Alfonso XIII still keep watch and warn
off boat loads of curious persons who
attempt to come too near.
I boarded the Mangrove this afternon
while the Board of Inquiry was still in
session, just as a party of Cubans, in
cluding four ladies, came alongside, re
questing permission to inspect the ves
sel. They evidently shared the impres
sion, quite common here, that the little
lighthouse tender is one of America's
ships of war. Captain Belden received
them with genuine naval courtesy, and
through the aid of the Herald's inter
preter bade them welcome and detailed
an officer to escort them through the
boat, all of.it. save the cabin, where the
august tribunal which no man may ap
proach was still hard at its task — a task
which may be pregnant with the fate of
nations.
The session of the Court of Inquiry
this afternoon was devoted to taking the
testimony of two civilians (Americans)
who saw the explosion from the deck of
the Ward Line steamer iCty of Wash
ington, that was moored a few hundred
yards from the Maine, and of two divers
who have been at work on the wreck for
several days. j
CONCLUSIVE PROOF
THAT FIENDISH TREACHERY
DESTROYED THE MAINE
Even the Naval Officers at Havana, While Officially
Silenced by Orders, No Longer Seek Seriously
to Hide the Appalling Fact From the
Newspaper Correspondents.
Copyrighted, 1898, by James Gordon Bennett.
HAVANA, Feb. 24.— 1n the light of discov
eries made yesterday and this morning there is no
longer any reason to doubt that the explosion
which wrecked the Maine came from underneath
the vessel, and that her magazines had nothing to
do with the initial explosion and played a much
smaller part in the general disaster than was at
first supposed.
I can say it as coming direct to me from a
source as authentic and trustworthy as any that
exists here that siuce the important discovery re
ferred to was laid before the court yesterday after
noon the one member who was inclined to give the
accident theory the benefit of the doubt has wholly
abandoned the* view that the initial explosion came
from the inside of the ship.
The evidence that has served to con
vince the board was secured by Ensign
Powelson, an officer attached to the
Fern. Mr. Powelson was formerly in
the construction corps and took a two
years' special course in the Glasgow
School of Naval Architecture. He is,
therefore, a competent witness. What
he discovered was that the forward
part of the keel of the Maine with its
ribs and plates were stove upward so
far that parts of the shattered double
bottom show out of the water, and in
places sections of the green-painted
outer hull are visible.
My informant did not think it was
necessary to make any comment;
neither do I. The lips of navy officers
have been sealed by one of the most
stringent ar-i peremptory orders ever
issued by the Navy Department, and by
which they are commanded to give no
information to any one regarding this
investigation.
Right here I wish to fully exonerate
Mr. Powelson. He has held no com
munication with me of any sort and I
would not know him if I were to see
him.
In a previous dispatch I have de
scribed how the ten-inch and six-inch
magazines were unseated and hustled
from their place in opposite directions
and diagonally with the line of the keel.
To this I am able to add that the for
ward boilers were overturned and
wrecked. There were no fires under
these boilers at the time of the explo
sion. The fires were under the after
boilers only.
Corroborative of the evidence given
by Powelson and of equal significance
and importance is the result of the
close examination made' by divers yes
terday. What they found indicated that
PRICE FIVE CENTS.
the explosion came from a point be
neath the keel. A plumb line dropped
from a point just forward of the con
ning tower would have lain the lead, I
am told, exactly on the spot where the
explosion that hove the keel and plates
and ribs almost to the surface occurred.
The main force of the explosion
seems to have been exerted slightly
on the port side of the vessel. This is
consistent with the facts heretofore as
certained. Collectively these now in
dicate that the contents of the reserve
six magazines were exploded by the in
itial blast and that there was no explo
sion in either of the other two.
In the reserve magazine was stowed
2500 pounds of powder in coppe
tanks, each of which contained 200
pounds.
A number of these tanks have been
found by the divers, all crushed and
shapeless masses. It is important to
note that in the six and ten inch tanks
recovered the excelsior used for pack
ing the charges shows no injury from
flame or gases.
The powder stowed in the six-inch
icserve was used for saluting purposes
only. The magazine itself appears to
have been utterly destroyed, only a few
traces being left to show the spot
where it was once located.
The underpart of the ten-inch maga
zine is wholly inaccessible to divers.
In the upper aisle is a tightly wedged
mass of powder cylinders, too heavy
for the divers to extricate, but appar
antly containing unexploded charges of
powder.
The Dow torpedo tube of the Maine
has been located in the wreck. It lies in
the debris forward, submerged several
feet under water.
These are the facts as I have obtained
them from sources that I believe to be
entirely trustworthy and authentic. Now
I have not had the slightest hint from
any member of the court as to what the
verdict will be. That would be impossi