The San Francisco call. [volume], March 01, 1898, Image 1

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

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VOIiUME LXXXIII.— NO. 91.
LEE SAYS TREACHERY
DESTROYED THE MAINE
THE CONSUL-GENERAL
HAS FORTIFIED HIS
PREVIOUS OPINION
WORK OF
THE COURT
OF INQUIRY
Beginning of the Secret
Session at Key West
Yesterday,
Government Is Rushing Work on
the Defense of the Coast
at the Most Exposed
Southern Points.
Copyright, 1898, by Tames Gordon Bennett.
NEW YORK, Feb. 28.— The Washing
ton correspondent of the Herald tele=
graphs: A dispatch was received at the
State Department from Consul-General
Lee to=day, in which he fortifies his
previously expressed opinion that the
Maine was destroyed by an outside
explosion. The dispatch fully confirms
the Herald's dispatches announcing the
finding of unexploded ten-inch powder
tanks and of rapid=fire ammunition for
the smaller guns. These dispatches of
Consul-General Lee are being filed by the
State Department for consideration in
connection with the report of the Court
of Inquiry when that body shall have
submitted the result of its labors to the
Navy Department.
KEY WEST, Fla., Feb. 28.— it was rumored here to
day that the dynamite-gun vessel Vesuvius had been or
dered to Key West. I asked Admiral Sicard this afternoon
whether the report was true. He shook his head and re
plied that it was one of the questions he was not at liberty
to answer. Admiral Sicard was equally reticent when I
spoke to him concerning the report that he was packing his
trunks preparatory to relinquishing the command of the
squadron on account of ill-health.
" I cannot speak concerning my health," he said.
Great activity prevails here upon coast defenses. The
torpedo system of harbor defense is practically completed
now. A report, which I am unable to confirm, says two
companies of artillery are en route here and will arrive to
morrow to aid in mounting the guns and shore batteries.
Captain Merrill's artillery force now here numbers only
about one hundred men.
I can state from a most authoritative source that the
mortar batteries included in the plans of fortifications which
have been in course of construction at this point in the last
year will be ready for use to-morrow. Ido not mean that
they will be entirely completed to-morrow, but will be
ready for immediate use and for all practical purposes
within twenty-four hours in the event that any emergency
should arise.
Specifications for this work contemplate the protection
of these mortars principally with sand, the material for
which could be obtained when desired at short notice.
Work on the gun batteries is being pushed rapidly. They
are in such advanced state that the guns could be mounted
in position if they were here.
The San Francisco Call.
LONDON, March I.— The Daily News commenting Tltorially this
morning on the relations between the United States a j Spain says:
"Spain can expect no support, moral or otherwise, I om England
against the United States. She has ruined Cuba, as ■ .ie has ruined
or lost every colony, by the grossest corruption, cruel T, and malad
ministration, and she must be left to settle the accoui»i for it with
those whom it may concern, without any aid or syrofi^Uiy on our
part."
The Standard, In an editorial on the same genera .. topic, highly
praises President McKinley's statesmanlike moderation nd recognizes
that "it would be only human nature that proof of t Maine's hav
ing been blown up from the outside should engender a 'angerous war
feeling in America."
The Naval Court of Inquiry
into the Maine disaster made
good progress to-day in
taking the evidence of the
surviving officers now in Key
West
The session began prompt
ly at 10 o'clock in the morn
ing in the private room of
the United States Circuit
Judge, opening from the Fed-j
eral Court room. As Captain
Sampson, Captain Chadwick ;
and Lieutenant Commander ;
Potter, resplendent in their
full uniforms, walked over
from the Naval Stores build
ing to the Federal building,
which adjoins it, their digni- !
fied bearing was that of offi
cers who realize to the full
measure the magnitude of the
responsibility resting upon
them.
Lieutenant Commander Ma
rix, judge-advocate of the
court, joined them a moment
later, and the court prepared
to resume its sessions. The
apartments devoted to the
Naval Court are directly
above the postoffice. Many
newspaper correspondents
already thronged the corri
dors, and many Key West
citizens, thoroughly alive to
the importance of the occa
sion, had pushed their way
in from the area in front of
the postoffice.
Everybody showed a dis
position to respect the secrecy
of the court and all kept at
a respectful distance from the
doors of the Federal Court
rooms. Captain Sampson
SAX FRANCISCO, TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 1898.
ENGLISH PRESS SCORES SPAIN.
thought it well, however, to
send a messenger to Admiral
Sicard with a request for a
marine orderly to stand out-
WRECKING TUG RIGHT ARM-MONARCH LIFTING A WRECK.
side the doorway while the
court was in session. One
of the fine fellows who sur
vived from the Marine Corps
of ihe Maine soon appeared
for guard duty, and the Key
West session immediately
began.
These witnesses in the or
der named were heard during
the morning session : Lieu
tenant Blandin, who was offi
cer of the deck at the time of
the explosion ; Lieutenants
Hood, Holman, Blow and
Jungen. Naval Cadets Bron
son and Boyd then had their
turn, and at i o'clock the
Court of Inquiry adjourned
for luncheon.
The afternoon session was
brief. The board reconvened
a few minutes after 2 o'clock
and adjourned for the day
shortly after half-past 3. The
witnesses examined in the
afternoon were ; Lieutenant
Holman, who was recalled for
a few minutes to simplify
some points in his testimony ;
First Lieutenant of Marines
Catlin and three of the war
rant officers, Gunner Hill,
Boatswain Larkin and Car
penter Helms. Most of the
officers examined retold to
the court the stories of their
personal experiences on the
Maine immediately after the
disaster.
With these narratives the
Herald's readers are already
Funeral Procession of the Maine's Dead Through the Streets of Havana. The Pro
cession Forming at City Hall.
familiar. In addition to this
it is believed some of them
were questioned particularly
as to whether they heard and
felt two distinct explosions.
It is not thought any of the
evidence to be taken here can
add materially to the court's
knowledge as to the vital
question — the origin of the
explosion. It is quite likely
one, or at most two more
days may suffice to hear the
testimony of all the other
survivors now here whose
evidence is regarded as worth
hearing. The men of the
Maine, under orders of Ad
miral Sicard, will then prob
ably go north and await the
further pleasure of the Navy
Department, though some of
them, it is not unlikely, will
be detailed almost imme
diately for duty on other
ships.
Everybody here realizes
now that the only evidence
of a really vital character as
to the cause of the disaster
is evidence of a structural
character, such as that al
ready developed by Ensign
Powelson and such as may
be still further develope."
any day by the work of
divers on the wreck in Ha
vana harbor. Nothing that
the surviving officers here
can say is likely to have any
Continued on Second Pag*.
SOME OF THE DEAD
WILL REST AT LAST
IN AMERICAN SOIL
Public .Opinion Moves the War
Department to Make an Effort
to Ship the Bodies to
Key West.
Copyrighted, 189S, by James Gordon Bennett.
KEY WEST, Feb. 28.— Some of the
brave boys of the Maine, after all,
are to sleep in American soil and un
der the Stars and Stripes. All the
bodies hereafter taken from the
wreck are to be sealed hermetically
in metal coffins, placed aboard the
Coast Survey steamer Bache and
brought to Key West for burial. Or
ders to that effect were received from
the Navy Department in Washington
to-day by Captain Forsythe, com
mandant at Key West, and were
transmitted to Captain Sigsbee in
Havana.
In accordance with the same or
der, arrangements have been made
for a suitable lot in Key West Ceme
tery, where all the bodies of seamen
hereafter recovered are to be interred.
The disinterment and removal of the j
bodies already buried in Havana, I
understand, are not contemplated, at
least at present. Captain Sigsbee and j
Lieutenant-Commander Wainwiight
have notified the department that the
identification of the bodies yet to be
recovered will be practically impos- i
sible, except in the cases of Lieuten
ant Jenkins and Assistant Engineer
Merritt, who, it is thought, may yet
be identified by their uniform. So
strong a feeling has been manifest
throughout the country against per
mitting all thesa noble American sea
men to be buried in Spanish soil that
the department has thought it best
to bury them at Key West, even
though not identified. The seemingly
slow work of the divers hitherto on
the task of recovering the dead has
caused great disappointment among
surviving officers, especially Chap- j
lain Chadwick. Every day for nearly j
a week the floating morgue in Ha- j
vaaa harbor has swung with the j
tida, bearing its pile of metal coffins |
ready for use, and above the rest two
just a little less plain than the oth
ers. These were intended for the j
bodies of the two dead officers. But :
the recovery of bodies has proceeded ;
very slowly.
There is some disposition to find
fault with the work of the divers,
anyhow. Many souvenirs from the
wardroom, messroom and other parts
of the ship have been brought to the
surface. They are common enough j
now in Havana. Pieces of the mess
room table, I am told, are now being,
made into walking-canes for a fa
vored few.
Biordan, the diver who was ac
cused of pilfering from sea chests, is
said to have found comparatively
easy access to many parts of the
wreck, yet up to the time I lrft Ha
vana yesterday on the Herald-Call
dispatch boat, Albert F. Dewey, from
fifty to sixty dead seamen, according
to Chaplain Chadwick's estimate, re
mained in the wreck, many of them,
PRICE FIVE CENTS.
it is said, still in their hammocks
where they died.
Considerable jealousy and not a
little animosity has begun to develop
between the naval divers attached to
the squadron and those employed by
the wrecking company, which is en
gaged upon the work of salvage at
a stated price per day. The impres
sion conveyed by careless dispatches
to some New York papers that among
the divers at work above and in the
wreck are some who are Spaniards is
wholly without foundation. The de
partment's decision to conduct the in
vestigation without Spanish assist
ance has been adhered to strictly.
The only Spaniards employed about
the wreck in any capacity whatever
are sailors of the Spanish cruiser Al
fonso XIII, who still maintain most
efficiently their watchful guard
about the wreck alike by day and
night, to keep off intruders and mor
bid curiosity-seekers. How well they
do their duty I had reason to know,
when, in a small boat, half an hour
before midnight. 1 started to board
the Herald-Call dispatch boat for her
run to Key West, which began early
yesterday morning. The Dewey lay
moored near the wreck of the Maine.
Our path toward her from Machina
wharf lay near the dispatch vessel Le
Gaspi. I was challenged all along the
line from the wharf to the Dewey,
first from Le Gaspi's deck and again
by two floating patrol boats around
tne wreck of the Maine.
Just as I boarded the Herald's
fleet little tug eight bells sounded
musically, first from the cruiser Ai
fonso XIII, then Le Gaspi and then
like a silvery echo from our little
Fern. The ships' bells were playing
a midnight requiem of dead men-of
warsmen. Then from far-off Ca
banas came ringing clear, musical,
across the still waters, the cry
"Alerta" of the Spanish sentinel.
Back came the answer in sailorlike
singsong from Le Gaspi's deck, and
again "Bote alerta" from the patrol
that swung slowly at their oars
around the wreck.
Yes, they were all alert.
So was the fleet little Dewey. Her
steam was already up, and long be
fore sunrise she was off past Morro
light, past the gray wreck looking
gloomier than ever in the first dim
light of the dawn, and headed
straight for Key West like an arrow
to give the Herald readers the latest
news of Havana, despite Spanish cen
sors and despite stormy seas.
SEEKING THE BODIES
OF DEAD SAILORS.
Experts Begin to Think it Will Be
Impossible to Raise the Wreck
of the Maine.
Copyrighted. 1898, by James Gordon Bennatt.
HAVANA, Feb. 38.— The divers to