The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, February 17, 1898, Page 2

VOLUME LXXXIIL.—NO. 79. 17, D AN AGENT OF SPAIN STROY THE B E-SHIP? STRONG INDICATIONS OF AN ATROCIOUS | NATIONAL CRIME] ©00000000000000000000000000000000000 LIST OF THE SAVED. POSITIVE PROOF IS " LACKING Captain Sigsbee Believes His Ship Was Blown Up From Outside. Tells the Facts to the Govern- ment at Washington, but Wants the People Kept in the Dark. WASHINGTON, Feb. 16.—Captain Sigsbee has reported in answer to a cable message of inquiry that the following officers and men ‘were saved from the Maine: Captain C. D. Sigsbee. Lieutenant G. F. Whitman, Lieutenant C. Jungen. Surgeon S. J. Heneberger. Chief Engineer C. P. Howell. Lieutenant J. J. Blanden. Chaplain J. P. Chadwick. Past Asst. Engineer F. C. Bowers. Lieut. of Marines A. F. Catlin. Asst. Engineer J. R. Morris. Naval Cadet J. H. Holden. Naval Cadet W. E. Cluverius. ‘W. E. Johnson. P. Washington. A. Crenshaw. J. T. Boyd Boatswain F. E. Larkin. Gunner J. HilL Carpenter. J. Helm. Paymaster Clerk D. MecCarthy. Men—M. Redon, Peder Larsen, W. R. Caulfie, Charles H. Bullock, Thomas Melville, Alonzo Willis, Patrick Gaffney, Katsusaburo Kus- hida, C. M. Nolan, John H. Turpin, M. I Harris, William Lund, Harry Jertzen, A. J. Holland, John Herbert, P. J. Foley, Robert Hutchins, George Schwartz, W. E. Richards, Harry Teackle, Patrick Flynne, G. J. Dressler, George David, Peter Michaelson, M. E. Sal- min, George Fox, B. R. Wilbur, J. J. Waters, John Anderson, Carl Christianson, G. W. Koehler, A. V. Ericcson, James Williams, J. White, John H. Panck, J. W. Allen, James Rowe, D. Cronin, F. Cahill, J. Xane, Fred Jerene, C. A. Smith, G. Shea, A. B. Herness, J. Heffron, J. H. Bloomer, J. W. Johnson, Charles Berg- man, William Mattison, A. Johnson, C. F. Pitcher, F. C. Holtzer, G. Loftus, J. J. McManus, W. Matiason, J. F. Furlong, J. F. Gordon, Charles Denning, William McNair, M. Hallock, W. 8. Sellers, A. Knez, Benjamin McKay, Thomas Mack, Arthur Raven and W. M. Gartzell. Lieut. Commander R. Wainwright. Lieutenant J. Hood. Lieutenant C. P. Blow. Paymaster C. M. Ray. 0000000C0000000C000000000000000000000 000000000000000000000000000000000000 Yol AN 9 0000000000000C00000000000000000000000 6; m @.\“ < 5 : place in Havana harbor last night, and | drowning. Three boats from the Maine which. tore -a stout battleship:.ifto.} were. there, t00, - in fxet, fherewere: et el Lt R shreds. more boats to pick up swimmers than 3 " 48, o There' is, T regret to say, no reason there were swimmers to be picked up. ne °. e ©00000C000000000000000000000000000000/| [0 hoping that this pitifully small list| Some more survivors were brought £ ¢ 2 ©00000000000000000000000000000000000p| 0 survivors will be swelled by the | to the landing place and turned over to Ly ¢ 2 oo ©g@ | names of any others saved. Wild ex- | the firemen, who carried the wounded o 4 b oo THE WORK OF SPANIARDS. ©o | citement, and still wilder rumors, fol- | on stretchers to the hospitals. Others 3 oo _— 00 | lowed the conclusion of the terrific | were brought alongside the City of 00 WASHINGTON, Feb. 16.—A message from Captain Sigsbee OO | blast. The explosion shattered windows | Washington, and still others were car- ; Scale- Nauvtical Mile ©O received by Secretary Long shortly after 9 a. m. to-day gives ©O|and electric lights and flung the city | ried to the Alfonso XIII. The wreck = = o0 O | into a tumult of excitement, such as it | took fire and lighted the harbor by the it as his opinion that the magazine of the Maine was blown up So by a torpedo set by the Spanish, but urges the department not 00| 135 rarely witnessed before. Crowds | lurid glare of flames, fed chiefly by the Map of the Part of Havana Harbor in Which the Maine Was Lying When the Explosion ; i i ©0 | that had gathered in puvlic places dis- | inflammable cellulose ained i Occurred. gg to tak): actmnt;; gnlrfekout ;hlfl:?:utxement'unt.fl he has had time 00 | persed in quick order and other knots totwatd At St ~emci:nm’}_|;|ecd l\:r;::-lli oo D s B e yonugation ©0 | gathered to follow a moment later at | burned the long night through, and 1i the hotels some leader who knew no : gh, early daylight, and soon afterward he within or without, it was made possible by an enemy. confidential until he could conduct a more extended Assistant Secreta tain Sigsbee. accident. 0000000000000 00000 O0000000000000000000000000000000000 Copyrighted 1538 by James Gcrdon Bennett. OOOGQ000OO0000000000000000000000000008 C00CCO00C00000000000000000000C0C000C0000 NEW YORK, Feb. 16.—A special to the World from Washington says: A suppressed cable dispatch received by Secretary Long from Captain Sigsbee announced the captain’s conclusion, after a hasty ex- amination, that the disaster to the Maine was not caused by accident. He expressed the belief that whether the explosion originated from He requested that this intimation of his suspicions be considered investigation. This dispatch was laid before the President, at whose v Dav cabled Consul General Lee to make what- ever examination was possible himself and render assistance to Cap- In the same dispatch Captain Sigsbee said that not more than one hour prior to the explosion the magazines and boilers had been carefully inspected, thus, in his judgment, precluding the possibility of 00000000000 000000 e | marines, only 101 -have been accounted HAVANA, Feb. 16.—Of the Maine’s | for. This means that 253 perished in crew of 354 officers, bluejackets and | that frightful explosion which took P>, it VESSELS OF .THE AMERICAN FLEET WHICH IS NOW IN-READINESS TO OPERATE IN-CUBAN WATERS.| \ more where he was going than they. Fire engines came bounding down the narrow streets from no one knows where, and going no man knew where. All the populace turned out and throngs gradually trended toward the water front, but for half an hour or more no one in the midst of that half-crazed crowd knew aught of the awful tragedy that lay just beyond. The streets became congested and one had a tooth and nail task to force his way through. The report was first that the arsenal had blown up, and then it was said that the Spanish man-of-war had torpedoed the Maine. And this was while the men of the Alfonso XIII were struggling to the work of rescue. The Ward Line steamer City of Washington and the cruiser were the first to reach the scene, and their crews did all that could be done to rescue the when broke the solemn, pitying dawn dark wreaths of smoke were still curl- ing upward from the shapeless mass. At sunrise all the flags in the harbor were at half-mast. I spent the early morning hours on board the City of Washington, and could not help but admtre the generous spirit of all connected with that vessel and the fortitude of the sufferers thick- ly strewn on mattresses about the deck and in the staterooms. Once in a while some poor sufferer would groan, but as a rule they lay quiet as careless as the dead whose bodies lay with the wreck. A score of different causes have been assigned to account for the explosion and the cataclysm that followed, all of them more or less reasonable, accord- ing to the light in which they were viewed. Captain Sigsbee was up nearly all night looking out for the comfort of his men. He took a short rest before stood on the deck of the City of Wash- ington peering into the falling mist which was screening the wreck of his gallant ship. The City of Washington was under way then, shifting her berth. She passed close to where the curled and twisted plates of the after superstructure showed where the wreck had gone down, and tears came to Captain Sigs- bee’s eyes as he looked and thought of the gallant men whose lives had so sud- denly gone out. The Maine went down in water deep enough to submerge all but the after part of her superstructure deck. The whole forward part of the hull was turned completely inside out by the ex- plosion. Officers tell me that had the explosion taken place when the vessel was in deeper water, that first wild lurch of hers would have sent her settling sideways to the bottom. As it was, the vessel sunk within three minutes, partly righting as she touched bottom. Reverting to the many explanations that have been advanced to account for the disaster, the officers of the stricken ship are cousistently silent. - They will | say nothing beyond pointing out the many precautions that are taken with ! explosives and the care that is taken with the magazines. It is inconceivable how any internal explosion could have | occurred without the exertion of an | outside force. The captain choked down his emo- tion when I asked him of the disaster. “There is very little that I can tell you,” he replied. “I was in my cabin at the time. I had just finished a letter to my family when that awful crash came. The ship lurched heavily to port and I knew in an instantswhat it all meant—that it meant my ship had blown up. “All the cabin lights were put out, and I groped my way out of the apart- ment. I met my orderly running to- ward me. Reaching the deck, I gave orders to post sentries, keep silence and to flood the magazines. The magazines were already flooding themselves. I saw then that the disaster was complete; in fact, I noticed a few of our men struggling in the water. “Only three boats were leit of the number we carried. These, gig, barge and the second whaleboat, were lowered as quickly as we could get them into the water. There was a big hole knocked in the side of the barge, and it is a wonder it did not sink with the few men.who had climbed into.it.” “What do you think caused the ex- Continued on Second Pase. _ WAR WITH SPAIN | MAY BE THE NEXT THING TO FOLLOW A Senator Talks Seriously of That Contingency to Follow the Horror of the Maine. BOSTON, Feb. 16.—A Washington special says: It has been known for some time that the harbor of Havana was not * a safe place for American men-of- war. Members of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Senate have received, in confidence, in- formation that within a week Cap- tain Sigsbee has telegraphed to the Navy Department, begging them to send no more ships to Havana at present, and adding, “We are liable to be blown out of the water any minute.”" BRRURRIIIIIBER BRVUVEIIRIVSRRN Senator Money of Mississippi, who served in the last Congress as o member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House, and who visited Cuba last winter to make a personal investigation of the conditions there, says he learned then that the harbor of Havana was mined throughout, and that 640 torpedoes were located at available points. Senator Money's statement 18 con- firmed in a general! way by others. There seems to be no question that there are tor- pedoes in the harbor, and when that Jjs admitted the burden of proof falls entirely upon Spain. Conditions could hardly be graver than they appear to-night, and the promised disclaimer for the De Lome letter has not yet been received. Every naval officer of any standing who has talked about the disaster declares it is his opinion that it was the result of design, and that no mere accident could have brought abowt “such terrible consequences. Among the members of Congress the opinion is al- most unanimous that the destruction of the Maine is due to treachery, and that the American sailors lying dead at the bottom of Havana harbor were sent there by Span- igh hands. As a ruls, the opinion at Washington is that the Maine was destroyed through Spanish connivance, and this opinion will be maintained until proof positive to the contrary can be adduced. Should it be shown that the explosion was not due to accidental causes war must result. This is the feeling of men who are versed in international affairs, and who are not usually carried off their feet by the out- bursts of popular excitement. One of the most eminent Republican lead- ers, a man who is perhaps more intimately acquainted with diplomatic usage than any other in public life, one who has a reputa- tion for conservatism and carefulness of speech, and who on more than one occasion has spoken the sentiments of the adminis- tration in Congress, said last night that if it should be proven that Spain was in any way responsible for the destruction of the Maine, war would inevitably result. He was asked if Spain could be considered liable in a monetary sense for damages. “ There is no question of monetary dam- ages,” he replied emphatically, “which could be thought of for a moment. This is a matter which passes far beyond anything of that kind. Consider for a moment what has happened! An American man-of-war has béen sunk in the harbor of the one unfriendly nation in the world. “Jt is not. a question for us to discuss from a scientific point of view. Had the Maine foundered in the harbor of Glasgow, then it might be a subject for considera- tion. The philosophers have no standing in such a case.” It was suggested to him that divers might be sent to the bottom of the harbor to investigate the condition of the wreck and