The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, February 18, 1898, Page 3

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1898. TO THE VERGE OF WAR THE VOICE OF LABOR FOR WAR Fifty Thousand Men Are Otiered to the Pres- ident. Organized Workingmen of New York City Believe the Honor of the Nation Should Be Vindicated. i + ! have been destroyed by Spanish treach- | NEW YORK, Feb. 17.— 3 + | ery to declare War talk is all the rage among the organized work- ingmen of this city. Toil- ers of all shades of politics freely declare for war with Spain on account of the in- to the President, the Maine disastér and their desire to see Cuba free from Spanish rule. Before a meeting of the Board of Delegates of the Building Trades yesterday afternoon, representatives of forty large trades unions i d the blowing up of SRS | BURIAL OF THE DEAD +| BY SPANISH AUTHORITIES. + | That Last Sad Privilege Is Claimed by the Havana Officials, and Will Be Granted. | Feb. 17.—The interment of the took place this afternoon | about 5 0 ck. Shortly before the hour ; all Havana was in mourning. The flags | on the public buildings were at half- | t, and many of the houses were d in mourning. All classes were ed in ths throngs that filled ts along which the funeral H!/ discus the stree the Maine There was procession passed to the cemetery. scarcely a man am 2 order of the procession was as 5 i f The municipal guards on who did not x 3 > k, in full uniform; the city t the municipal employes, the 1 seven splendidly decorated ars, special cars bearing the nine bodies being carried on ted car, the clergy, | ting of the chief offi- | and volunteer 1ess to take up and said nion work- us official b T e Vo athed stom house, a com- = : the Chamber of 2id in freeing Cuba iR ebiatenk out Spain’s in- the coun epresentatives d variou R R R R B o o o o o S o i R e R R o P44 4444444244445 4 5444494944 political tes of the building hief officers of the s of foreign p es with arers, provincial deputies, | the general regional au- ments, the municipal ; then General E repr sonal pres ! le under' the law), his right United States Con- a1 and on his left the r of Havana, the Marquis Lar- | ga, Admiral Monterola, General Sa- l lano and other officers, two companies | of marin infantry. | T ege started from the | ance of the, City Hall on | . then turned to the right | on Merc street. then up O'Reilly | street, along the right side of Central | Park. and to the right along | San Rafael to the cemetery. The population that lined the route gave every indication of the profound- est resy he funeral was conducted under the charge of the Spanish au- thorities. an interestir the Main Lee, 1d Fort y sending > that maga- | the ing of hatred against | his morning ed last n among e e NEW APPLIANCE | | | ng, and a large | | | | | | | | | colony at » Cuban TO RAISE THE SHIP. NEW YORK, Feb. 17.—J. J. Merritt £ ing a sword representing ba holding the | >d in triumph at n and woman nbia, res an Jr. of the Merritt & Chapman Wreck- ing Company said this afternoon that reports that his company had been en- ed by we e Government to raise the e without foundation. “We have made an application,” said | Mr. Merritt, “like other companies, but | we have heard nothing in respons: At the company’s offices pfparations ] had been e in case the Govern- e A e ment awarded the contract for raising the war vessel. The equipment nearest Associa last night and S tc the sceme of action is at Norfolk. d the Maine incident. Each one | phe powerful tug Right Arm, under 0 members declared his inten- | Captain John Mogel Jr., is ready to ng his services In case of t for Havana. The most powerful inteers are enlisted the | vessel of the fleet is the J. J. Merritt, | John Association will form a | Stationed heré. She is ready to start | ; by itself. Before adjourning | 4t moments notice with a comple- | ociation adopted a resolution de. | Tenr °f dIvers and everything neces- claring that _xhe members Dbelieved Mr. Merritt, when asked what plan | enough indignities had been heaped | would be pursued to raise the Maine, said it would be impossible to tell un. | til an investigation had bees made, No ship of her size and weight nad yet | been lifted from the bottom of the gea. | It was a new case, which would re- quire new remedies. | n the United States to provoke en- artion, and it was resolved to ze Congress to recognize Cu- bar gerency. It was also resolved in the event the Maine was found to OW AROUSED o ADMIRAL SICARD, Commanding the North Atlantic Squadron. SPECIAL BOARD OF INOUIRY Naval Officers Who Will Investigate the Maine Disastér. Captain Sampson of the Iowa | Will Be President of the Court. Naval Veterans Will Lose No Time in Seeking the Cause of the Battleship's Loss. Spectal Dispatch to The Call. Call Office, Riggs House, Washington, Feb. 17. The first action of Secretary Long this morning was to send instructions to Admiral Sicard to select officers from the ships of the North Atlantic squad- ron who will compose a competent court of inquiry. Some remark was excited in the Navy Department by the | fact that the court did not contain any representative of either the engi- neer corps or the corps of naval con- structors. The court of inquiry includes no officer of any technical branch of the navy. They are all what is known as strategists, and the absence of an en- gineer or constructor from the detail has naturally excited comment. pointed out that the work: of the in- quiry will necessitate some expert opin- ion, and that the advice of both engi- neers and constructors will be abso- lutely necessary in reaching a decision. Of course, the court will have the ad- vice of any experts there may be at THE AQUIDABAN IN DRYDOCK. 3 Showing the Destruction Wrought by a Torpedo. It s | ‘@@@@@G@«é\ 4 O@ © WEYLER IS o ¢ HOSTILE TO o 54 AMERICANS ¢ | @ BARCELONA, Feb. 17.—Lieu- € ler, who arrived: here to-day, ex- ¢ pressed the opinion, in the course & of an interview, that t which had befallen the | ® tenant-General “Vileriano Wey- | | disaster @ | United @ States warship in Havana har- | bor was “due to the indolence of @ | her crew.” @ He announced his intention to @ | ask the Government’s permis- © | sion to go to Hav: stand @ | as a candidate for the Chamber of Deputies for the Havana Dis- & trict. | 000000000 Havana, but the Navy Department of- | ficials believe that better and more ac- | curate information would be secured if | engineers and constructors were repre- | sented in the court. Commander Marix left Washington this morning for the south. He was in- | terviewed, with other officers in the department, and expressed the opinion, based entirely upon the information which had been furnished up to that time, that the disaster to the Maine | was the result of an internal explosion, vHbHe e | probably by a discharge of gun cotton | The court will immediately proceed | with the examination of the officers at | Havana. The most important testi- | mony, however, will be the evidence of | | the divers who were taken over last | | night In the dispatch boat Fern. It is | expected that the divers will be ham- | pered a great deal In their examina- tion by the conditions at Havana. The | hulk of the Maine is prob%bly imbedded in the soft mud of that locality, and | it will be next to impossible to ascer- | tain the causes which led to the explo- sion. It was hoped that enough would | be left of the vessel to enable the divers | to report whether the condition of the | hull indicated an explosion without or | within the ship. A dispatch received from Admiral | Sicard this afternoon at the Navy De- | partment reported the arrival at Key | West of Lieutenant John Hood of the Maine, whostated that the vessel was a | total wreck beyond all further use in | the navy. Lieutenant Hood describes the whole forward part of the ship as completely collapsed where the shock of the explosion was the heaviest. This | indicates that the examination of the divers will result in very little infor- mation, and the disaster to the Maine will probably remain a mystery. It is probable that the demartment will use dynamite on the wreck and destroy the fragments. A number of naval officers expressed the opinion that the Maine’s hull should be raised and car- ried out of Havana harbor. It is a matter of pride with all naval people that the remains of their ships shall not remain in a foreign harbor. The persennel of the special investi- gating commission insures comprehen- sive work, although it may not make an entirely acceptable report upon the accident. Captain Sampson was until last summer Chfef of Ordnance, and some years ago commanded the San Francisco when she first sailed out of the Goiden Gate. He is regarded as one of the most capable and efficient lnmrors of the navy, and one whose thorough knowledge of high explosives and ordnance matters renders him without question the best man that could have been selected to head a board of such importance. Captain Chadwick, who commands the flagship New Yerk, was once our naval attache at London, and until recently the head of the equipment bureau. Lieutenant- Commander Marix has an equal stand- | ing In the navy. This board will pro- ceed at once to Havana, where divers have already been sent, and there be- gin its important work. WALL STREET NOT ALARMED Too Many Rumors of a Conflicting Character Abroad. |One of These Being Traced Explodes the Whole Crop of Scares. The Market Closes at Very Nearly the Highest Figures of thé Day. Spectal Dispatch to The Call NEW YORK, Feb. 17.—Whatever ‘may be the outcome of the Maine dis- aster, thinking men of Wall street to- day reached the conclusion that it was too soon to become panic stricken. Reckless sacrificing of investments ceased and there was considerable picking up of stocks by conservative men, who are always on hand in times of uncertainty and doubt in search of bargains. It was perhaps natural that large operators whose purchases in the | recent market must have contributed in no small degree to the advance in prices should have felt uneasy when | the first news of the calamity to a war- ship reached them on Wednesday morning, and that their caution should have induced them to lighten their burdens as they undoubtedly did on that day. But twenty-four hours’ reflection worked a marvelous change in senti- ment. There was nothing of a trust- worthy character in the way of news to-day from Havana which enabled any one to determine the cause of the loss of the ship, and it became the turn of those who had sold stocks “short” on the previous day to show anxlety and caution. No small part of the strength of the market during the day may fairly be attributed to the covering of short con- tracts put out on the frst alarm by bear traders. The houses which exe- cute London orders on Change were prominent buyers at the opening of the market, and this Wwas accepted as evidence that those at a distance from the scene of .complications were not disturbed about the outlook. It may be true, as asserted by some, that all the orders which foreign houses exe- cuted are not for foreign investors; in fact the trick of placing orders for such houses to create the impression of foreign buying or selling, as the case may be, is an old one and has be- come too common to deceive any one. Still, there"was a fair volume of for- eign buying in additioa to covering of short contracts put out on Wednesday in this market. TLondon's prices were considerably above parity when business began in this city yesterday, and this caused a short advance in the general list at the opening. The improvement lasted throughout the first honr, then dull- ness ensued and prices fell away. In the final hour, however, there was a distinct change. The street had been flooded during the day with rumors which. if they had been well founded, might have been more or less disturb- ing. Those which were capable of be- ing traced, such as the story of the cutting of the Havana cable, were soon found to be absolutely devoid of truth, and suspicion was then at once thrown on all effusions of the war-makers. The bears. who had until’ then believed in the short side of the market, } !T REACHERY THEORY IS . . SUPPORTED Growing Beliei That the | Disaster Was Not Due to Accident. High Government Officials, How= ever, Await the Result of the Investigation Into the Loss of the Maine. Call Office, Riggs House, + ‘Washington, Feb. 17. Uncertainty regarding the pri- mary cause of the naval disaster in Havana harbor, by which the navy has lost one of its most valuable war vessels, together with the growing apprehensicn that investigation may prove that treachery of some kind lead to the deplorable affair, contin- ues to occupy the undivided at- tention of the entire force of Government officials. The events of the day fail to give a T4+ 1+ +r 1 ettt LEL e | tated most deeply every one here as to whether the big vessel was maliciously destroyed or whether she and her crew met their fate through some accident that human foresight and precaution could not possibly have prevented. There is an impression pervading the Navy Department that an examina- tion of the wreck now in Havana har- bor may disclose that there was treach- ery of some sort, and that the theo- ries .advanced by the President and Secretary Long and others who do not was purposely wrecked may be upset by later developments. Dispatches to-day throw no addi- tional light- upon the most important question connected with the loss of the ship, whether she now lies at the bot- tom of Havana harbor through an explosion of one or two of her maga- zines or that a torpedo or a submarine mine destroyed the ship. The unc tainty must continue until the special board appointed to-day proceed to Ha- vana and invéstigate the injury to the vessel by an examination of divers and as this board cannot possibly complete and send its findings to Washington within a week, the public mind will not be satisfied as to the precise cause of the loss of the great battleship until these experts give their opinion. ‘While a number of the higher naval officials adhere to the opinion formed soon after hearing of the calamity, the majority of the naval officers in Wash- ington are firmly of the belief that it was not possible for the magazines to explode except through the intent of some maliciously disposed person or persons. The theory that spontaneous combustion in the coalbunkers caused the magazines to be overheated and the fact that the character of the coal did not permit of its taking fire in this manner. The declaration made early that a boiler exploded, thus tearing down the walls of the magazines and setting the powder in flames is held by all naval son that there would have been proba- bly a lapse of time between a boiler ex- plosion and that of the magazines. All ordnafice experts agree that had 60,000 pounds of powder exploded in one of thé magazines the entire vessel would have disappeared in short order. There is a strong undercurrent of opinion in- clined to accept the early theories that a torpedo or submarine mine, fired by an electric wire from the shore, was responsible for the explosion; but pos- sibly it may never be definitely settled as to how the vessel met her fate. The stern lies split and torn asunder. The vitals of the vessel are a mass of wreckage, and both external and in- ternal plates of the double bottom are unquestionably blown out. of a torpedo on the vessel, the officials all assert, may not and probably will not be discovered for the very reason that the entire forward part of the ship is so terribly wrecked that it will be impossible to determine whether the first explosion was from the exterior or interior. To-day, after a calm and careful con- sideration of the reports thus far re- ceived from Havana, the experts de- cided that so powerful was the effect of a magazine explosion that it would be most difficult to decide with any de- gree of accuracy whether the ship had received her first wound from the ex- terior. If the Maine had been blown up through an accidental explosion of her magazines naturally the naval service and the people of the country will ask what assurance they have that a sim- flar calamity may not at any time be- fall the Oregon. the Towa, or any of the twelve thousand ton battle-ships now in commission. On all sides it is conceded that but for the fact the Maine lay in a shallow harbor, possi- bly none of the men not killed outright would ever have safely reached shore. A similar éxplosion in the open ocean would have resulted in the Maine's foundering within five minutes at the outside. The reports from Havana show that she sank In thirty-six feet of water in three minutes. The shal- lowness of the water alone, Chief Con- structor Hichborn says, saved those ‘who reached the shore. In all circles, both naval and Con- gressional, the deepest interest now centers in determining the precise causes leading to the wreck of the ship. It is admitted that a deplorable solution of the problem which has agi- | wish to believe it possible the Maine | powder to ignite is disproved by the | officfals not to be tenable, for the rea- | The effect | | state of affairs has been reached if’our warships cannot be constructed so that there is no possibility of their maga- zines exploding through spontaneous | combustion of coal or the powder being ignited through some cause that all the safeguards that surround the maga- zines fail to prevent. The Navy Department was again thronged all day with people eager for news from Havana. The wires were burdened with dispatches making anx- ious inquiries regarding the officers and men on board the Maine, and very lit- tle else was accomplished in the bureau of navigation beyond replying to these telegrams. All of the messages were signed “Long,” and most of them car- ried sad intelligence to all sections of the country. Great anxiety was be- | trayed on the faces of all the officials during the day as time wore on and no news came from Havana. The requests for something specific | sent to Captain Sigsbee last night and | early this morning drew forth no. re- sponse until 3 o’clock this afternoon, when cablegrams came from Sigsbee and Lee, mainly relating to the dead. There was a conference between Secre- tary Long and the President during the afternoon, but the occasion of it was not divulged by the Secretary, who sald ! to The Call correspondent: “I have no further information than has been given out. I am not in a position to | form a better opinion than any one else | with the same data at his command. I am still of the opinion I formed yes- terday and which may be expressed by stating that I see nothing in the dis- | patches from Havana to indicate that | the horror of Tuesday night was any- thing except the result of an accident.” | During the day Assistant Secretary Meiklejohn of the War Department was | summoned to the Navy Department (and held a conference with Secretary | Long. Mr. Meiklejohn has made ar- | rangements to go to Fortress Monroe | “on public business,” it is given out at the department, and will leave Wash- ington on Saturday. It is said at the | Assistant Secretary’s office that he was | going on a visit to General Alger. The cablegrams were posted as fast as re- ceived in the Bureau of Navigation and read with eagerness by everybody. The department officials insist that all mes- | sages have been given out in full. This | is true, with the exception of one mes- sage which came in cipher from Key | West about 3 o’clock this morning. This | message (whatever it was) did not | reach the public, and the officials said | it had no relation to the Maine disas- ter and was of no interest. This cir- cumstance naturally excited the suspi- | cions that something was being with- held and the conferences between the President and Secretary Lomg at the ‘White House, and between the latter and Mr. Meikiejohn at the Navy De- partment did not dispel this belief. The officials at the Navy Department devoted the day to the effort of cor- | recting the list of living and dead; to | answering frantic telegraphic appeals | from relatives of men on the battle- | ship and last, but not least, in meeting with unwavering courtesy and patience the exacting demands upon their time of the press representatives. The dis- position of the survivors, Captain Dickens, acting chief of the Navigation Bureau, has arranged for as well as could be from this distance. The wounded sailors in the Havana hos- pitals, on the Spanish flagship and elsewhere, when not in condition to be brought back to Key West, will be carefully looked after by Miss Clara Barton, who has been given/ carte blanche to buy any and everything necessary, food, clothing, delicacies and hire nurses and physicians. The wounded able to get across to Key West will be taken care of in the Marine Hospital there. The sound sur- vivors will be quartered in the spare army barracks there. As for the Maine herself, notwith- standing discouraging reports from Lieutenant Hood as to her condition, the Navy Department will make the effort to raise her. While this is re- quired by every creditable sentiment, | they say they are bound to remove the hull from the small harbor in any case, and it may be as easy or easier to raise her as it would be to destroy the hull and machinery by the use of divers and dynamite. It is believed this work can best be done by private wrecking corporations, and negotiations are al- ready afoot for placing the contract, based on the work by the day, at an estimated cost of $200,000. At the Navy Department specific de- nial was given of the report, emanat- ing from Madrid, that a torpedo flotilla was about to leave Key West for Cuba. It was stated that only two_torpedo boats, the Cushing and the Ericsson, are at Key West, and these have not been ordered and will not be ordered, according to the present plans, to Cuba. It was strongly asserted that no present purpose existed of sending any warship there. Senor Dubosie, the Spanish charge, had received no instructions up to 6 p. m..as to going to New York and stopping the Spanish ship Viscaya from entering the port, and reports to this effect were discredited-