The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, February 19, 1898, Page 2

=z . THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1898. SHIPS TO FIGHT AMERICA’S BATTLES WHY McKINLEY FAVORS THEORY OF ACCIDENT Wants to Free Cuba, but to At- . & 606 208 08 30 108 308 300 108 108 30 308 00 308 300 300 308 300300 308 06 10 306 30 306 00 30 OH 300 O 0 AR K ———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— tribute the Disaster to Design Would be Casus Belli. There have been frequent consultations on this subject, and it is be- lieved to have made progress to completion so far as the executive intention can go. Mr. Long, Secretary of the Navy, said authentic information is received from the board Maine disaster the Pri ple. If the tragedy is found to be the result of carelessness it should be immediately known, but if the horrible destruction of any way be laid to the door of Spain satisfactory steps will be taken at once. The administration view for the present favors the theory that the disaster cannot have been caused by means other than an accident. If any other view was taken by this Government before an official inquiry it would be a casus belli for Spain. as the to-day that as soon investigating gs ggsenense ment remarked that there were no Spanish | projectiles come from the East. land says it will need money to do the necessary work on them to put them ready for service. “Before any work can be done here,” said the admiral, “the Navy Depart- ment or Congress will have to give the yard some money. With money we can do wonders, and if we have funds we can with the fleet at our command | guard this coast against any force the Spaniards might send against us. “As far as we are concerned on this coast we are not absolutely prepared for an immediate declaration of war, but we could, should Congress give us the money, put our fine ships in a con- dition to meet any foe Spain could send against us before their vessels could reach this coast. The two monitors and the Oregon colild take care of any that might be in the immediate vicinity, and by the time they were needed. to defend the shore the Philadelphia, the Charleston. and the Yorktown would | be ready for sea.” |MOBILIZE THE ARMY AT COAST POINTS. It Is Desired by the Department to Get as Many Troops as Possible on the Gulf Coast. FORT SHERMAN, Idaho, Feb. 18.:— Ever since the report of the disaster to the Maine reached this post intense ex- citement has been brewing in the six companies of the Sixteenth Infantry stationed at this point. The excitement culminated to-night when orders were received to transfer Company H of ‘this | post, commanded by Captain Whitehall NEW YORK, Feb. 18.—A Washington special to the Press says: & | From a source entirely trustworthy it is learned that the President & | has adopted a definite future policy on the Cuban question. 8| He has attempted no interference with Spanish rule so far, and & | contemplated none. He has contented himself with remonstrances and & friendly requests to Spain for peace. Nothing has resulted but the & | farce of autonomy. The time is approaching for action. The con- & ditions which exist cannot be permitted te continue much longer with- & | out becoming a reproach to the civilized world, and to the United & | States in particular. & | verything will depend on the outcome of the Maine disaster. If & | it is proved to have been due to accident the administration will open & | negotiations for Cuba’s freedom. If foul play is discovered the plan & will be held in abeyance. &8 | Briefiy stated, the President intends to favor the purchase of Cuba & | by the insurgents, with the United States to guarantee their offer. The & | ‘Cuban custom-house and Cuban exports will be a guarantee for the & | safety of any loan raised for this purpose. It is the President’s con- & | viction that he will experience no difficulty in getting the approval of & Congre! The war debt of Spain is not to be included, but Spain will & of necessity have to fix the price of her colony. 8 | ® b 8 sident will act in a way to satisfy the American & | o & life can in 8 and Lieutenant Irwin, to Fort Stevens, Ore. Fort Stevens is an abandoned post on the south side of the Columbia River at Point Adams, where there is a lighthouse station. It is on the northwestern extremity of Oregon, op- posite Fort Canby. While the orders simply require the company to be put in readiness to move | it is expected it will start for its new cruisers in Pacific waters, and that the | precautions taken were ordered to prevent | cranks, fanatics and spies from tampering | with the guns. The measure of precaution | was no doubt suggested by the terrible disaster to the Maine. Whatever comment officers may make fnl newspaper men, it is known that they re- | gard the instructions from Washington as a war preparation. In fact, the troops at the Presidio garrison are to-day prepared to fight. The ammunition is on hand, the guns are in position, so that the effective batteries could open fire at once. Yesterday Lieutenant Babbitt of the Ord- | nance Corps tested the Santa Cruz speci- mens of smokeless powder, and the results were highly gratifying. It was demon- strated that the plant at Santa Cruz could fulfill . the Government requirements. The tests were made yesterday with one of the ten-inch rifles mounted on a disappearing carriage. The report of the explosion was quite heavy, but very little smoke was perceptible. The initial velocity of the projectile was 2000 feet per second. In the event of an emergency the powder for the big-rifles could be supplied here. The —_————— PACIFIC COAST FLEET READY FOR BATTLE No Orders to Get Ready, but Any Spanish Force Could Be Met and Repulsed. VALLEJO, Feb. 18—No word has yet | been received at the navy yard to pre- pare for an emergency. Admiral Kirk- | land expected to receive some commu- nication from the Navy Department almost hourly to-day to prepare the vessels under his charge for sea, but | no word came. ‘ Only two war vessels on the coast can be relied on for instant use in an emergency, and these are considered by naval officers to be the most effec- tive ships of the Pacific fleet. They are | the monitors Monterey and Monadnock, now at Monterey. The Oregon is in the | dry dock at Port Orchard, and though | it will take several weeks to complete the repairs to be made in her she can | be sent to sea in a very few hours’ no- tice and perform all the service that can be expected of a battle ship of her class. The Philadelphia, Charleston and Yorktown are at the navy yard. They have been placed out of commission, and it will take several days to put | them in a condition for sea. It will not only require time but Admiral Kirk- 0000000000000 000000D000000000000000000C000 station within 48 hours. The six com- panies of the regiment here and the two companies at Fort Spokane, Wash., are Intensely excited over the orders, as shown by the telephone messages from the latter post. Speculation is rife as to the whole meaning of this in- itial movement. Indications seem to point to the early transfer of the head- quarters of the Sixteenth to Vancou- ver Barracks, Wash. The Sixteenth was transferred to Fert Sherman and Spokane in Octo- ber, 1896, taking the place of the Fourth Infantry sent to Fort Sheridan, Il came from Fort Douglass, Utah. The regiment is commanded by Colonel Hugh A. Theaker, until recently lieu- tenant-colonel of the Fourteenth In- fantry, which has been stationed at Fort Vancouver since time immemorial. Fort ‘Stevens, to which Company H goes, while filling an important posi- tion, has long been abandoned, and is considered of little real use unless it is equipped with modern ordnance. Nev- ertheless the orders to"reoccupy the |- post indicates that the Government is desirous of manning its seacoast forts. Under ordinary circumstances a com- pany of the Fourteenth would have been sent there from Fort Vancouver, but the Fourteenth has been seriously weakened by the sending of troops : to Alaska. ,Dr. Skinner, - assistant sur- geon, will accompany Company H to Fort Stevens, Dr. Brechemine, the regimental surgeon, has been ordered to cut short his leave and return to Fort Sherman at once. Officers high in the Department of the Columbia predict that the post at Port Townsend, abandoned in 1895, and all the coast forts on the Pacific, will soon be garrisoned. It 1s known here that secret orders have been issued to regimental com- manders throughout the army to hold themselves in readiness to move to new stations at an hour’s notice. This is taken to mean that a mobilization at coast points, especially the Gulf Coast, is proposed should the situation become more Serio men are anxious, bec of troops to Alaska ha: use the sending seriously crip- 00000000000 CO0O00000000000000000000CO PREPARING FORWAR Adjutant-General’s Office, War Department, It Still the army | pled the fighting strength of the reg- ular army. Secret orders have been issued to the higher officers of the Na- tional Guard in the border States to hold themselves in readiness to assist in the reorganization of the National Guard into volunteers should it be re- quired. It is known that everything Is in readiness to have volunteer re- crulting stations opened in the border States at thirty minutes’ notice should the War Department require them. NO TIME IS LOST _IN THE HOUSE. Boutelle Secures the Passage of the Resolution Relating to the Maine Horror. WASHINGTON, Feb. 18.—In the House to-day, immediately after the | reading of the journal, Boutelle (R.) of Maine, chairman of the Naval Com- mittee, asked unanimous consent for the consideration of the resolution pre- pared by the Navy Department and passed by the Senate. The mere mention of the Maine dis- aster on the floor brought members in crowds from the cloak rooms and lc.-bbies, and: they thronged down the | aisles to listen. The' spectators in the | galleries leaned over with breathless interest as Secretary- Long's letter was read. “It is unnecessary’ to say,” said Boutelle, at the conclusion of the letter from Secretary Long, “that the work of salvage should begin at once and that arrangements ‘with the wrecking companjes which have the necessary outfits -should not be delayed. I deem it proper to call attention to the fact that Secretary Long, recognizing that Congress is in session, has come here for authority to do this work Instead of straining any authority he might possess independently.” Bailey called attention to the fact that the resolution only spoke of recov- ering the bodies, not of their return to this country, but he added that there need be no stickling on this point. | Boutelle replied that the Secretary | had referred in his letter to his duty in | that regard. He said he had just re- | ceived a telegram from Secretary Long this morning containing the latest in- formation from Captain Sigsbee, and | that it might be of interest to the members. “‘Read it! Read it!” came in chor- uses from the members, and Boutelle CONGRESS WILL R R R R AR R R R PR R R RS B L T GIVE MORE CASH FOR NEW. SHIPS That Will Be One of the Most Important Results of the Awful Disaster to the Battle- ship Maine. NEW YORK, Feb. 18—A Washington special to the Herald says: ‘What will be the effect of the Maine disaster upon the attitude of Con- gress toward making the appropriations for new ships is a question the answer to which may depend largely upon what the navalinvestigation shows to have been the cause of the wreck. Should it be shown that the explosion which destroyed the ship came from without and was not in any way due to any mishap inside the vessel, there is no doubt that it will result in more liberal appropriations for new ships than would be the case if it should be found that the explosion was due to an acci- dent on board the ship. 3 As might be expected, opponents of the navy would eagerly;sgize upon such an accident to argue that ships should not be built, if one of them costing several millions of dollars is liable to be sent to the bot- tom by an explosion of her own magazines while she is lying quietly at anchor. Should it be shown that the explosion was mnot accidental, it is quite probable that Congress, in the face of the strained situation which would naturally result, would be ready in feverish haste to ap- propriate millions for the navy, and to authorize ships which ought to have been built in former years so as to be ready for such an emerg- ency as might then be presented. Friends of the navy in Congress are of the opinion that whatever the cause of the disaster may have been they will be able.to secure the passage of the naval appropriation bill containing provisions not only for replacing the Maine by a much superior vessel, but for mak- ing at least a moderate increase in the number of ships authorized. Representative Boutelle of Maine, chairman of the House Naval Committee, declares positively that in his opinion the destruction of the Maine, whether it was due to an accident or to a torpedo, should not stop the enlargement of the navy. ‘““All information which has reached the Navy Department and which I have seen,” said Mr. Boutelle, “leads me to believe that the destruction of the vessel was the result of an accident. If such should be the case it may have an important effect upon members with refer- ence to authorizing an increase of the naval establishment. I am in favor of an increase of the navy. The committee has not taken the subject up as yet, but will do so in a few days, and will then express its sense as to whether or not a report should be made to the House authorizing the building of additional ships.” PO S e S TSRS D R R L O O S e e R Washington, D. C., Feb. 17, 1898. 3 P. M. To the Commanding General of the Department of California: The Major- General commanding directs that you send at once a detachment consisting of one officer, twenty enlisted men and a medical officer, fully equipped and sup- plied, to take station at all stations where modern high-power guns are mounted, and to which ammunition will be imme- diately forwarded, and also at all artillery stations not garrisoned by troops. Great care will be exercised that all forts, magazines and ammunition be pro- tected from all damage. The greatest care will be taken to guard the guns and carriages from injury by accidental or premature explosion. GILMORE, Adjutant-General. 0000000000000 0000D0Q0CCC00000000 Q00O | Maine disaster. 0000900000000000000OOOO@OOOOOODOQOOOOOOOO then read the cable from Captain Sigs- bee, which had already been given out by the-Navy Department. Sulzer (D.) of New York asked Bou- telle if he had any information other- wise that threw any light upon the cause of the disaster. “I must reply as I did yesterday,” replied Boutelle, “that I regret to say I have not. But all the information at hand seems to strengthen the belief that it was due to accident.” The resolution was then adopted unanimously. SELLING WHEAT TO FOREIGN CONSUMERS Leiter Disposes of Millions of Bush- els, but Not to Rival Speculators. CHICAGO, Feb. 18—~Mr. Leiter said to- day that he engaged freight room for 1,000,000 bushels of wheat since February 1, and that he now contrels room for about 4,000,000 bushels. He added the significant remark that most of the 4,000,000 bushels had been sold to consumers in Europe, principally to English millers. He has avoided, he said, disposing of any wheat to speculators on the other side of the At- lantic, in order that they might not be- come his competitors in the near future. —_— Mourning at Santa Cruz. SANTA CRUZ, Feb. 18.—Flags are flying at half-mast here out of respect | to the memory of those killed in the ,Tr[h'y‘rr" ek T LA, houses, and Other Buildings of Note. Planted Six Mooring Buoys, Numbered was at Number 4. L S s et V] THE SCENE OF THE DISASTER. View of the City and Harbor of Havana From the Regla Side, Showing the Nearly Submerged Wreck of the Maine, with the Wrecking-boat- in the foreground, Morro Castle and Cabanas Fortress on the Right of the Entrance and La Punta on the Left. The Nearest Landing to the Maine Is the Machina Wharf, to Which the First of the Unfortunate Crew to Reach the Shore Swam After Being Thrown Into the Water. To the Right of the Machina Wharf and Near to the Water Are the Naval Commandant’s Office, the Postoffice and the Custom-House, With the Treasury, and Beyond these, Some distance Back, the Palace, the Military Commandant’s Office, Engineers’ Headquarters, Cathedral and Naval Store- adaa ""u.zn ‘ 5= e== 2\ The Central Foreground of the Picture Includes the Anchorage Reserved for Men-of-War, in Which Are in Succession From the Right to the Left. The Maine was Moored to Buoy 3, While the Alphonse XI!I It Is Worthy of Note That the Spanish Frigate Atocha was Destroyed by Fire in 1816 and the British Ship of the Line Invincible was Blown Up in" 1741 on This Same Anchorage and Not Far From Where the Maine Met Her Fate, ithin the Entrance in 1792. Up Just The British Man-of-War Apique was Blown TEN THOUSAND CEMENT FELL TROOPS READY FROM ABOVE ‘| placed they w: Men California Could | One Significant Fact That Muster in Very Short Has So Far Been Order. Overlooked. Governor Budd Speaks of|Ex-Engineer Clark Fisher’s Measures in the Event . Conclusions as to an of War. Outside Explosion. People of the State More Than Anx- ious to Uphold the Honor of the Nation. Governor Budd and Adjutant-Gen- eral Barrett were at the Palace Hotel yesterday and listened to a deal of war talk from active and retired officers of the guard. The expression of opinion brought out the fact that California in the event of war would respond at once with men and money to uphold - the honor of the nation. 3 The Governor, replying to some in- quiries on behalf of The Call, said: “California stands ready to do her duty. In the event of a declaration of war I would tender the President of the United States 10,000 men. If money were needed to equip the troops for immediae service. I would call upon the rich and patriotic men of this State to advance the funds until I could convene the Legislature in extra session to make the needed appropria- tion of the public money. Yes, I under- stand that Congress makes ample ap- propriations to reimburse money ad- vanced by the States for national de- fense. I would have no fear on that point. California’ would receive ‘back from the General Government all the money expended- by the State in such emergency.” The Governor fancied that California regiments would be assigned to service on this coast, yet the first {wo or three regiments organized might be sent to points on the South Atlantic if the Government should require the imme- diate concentration of a large force of men at some particular vital point. “The troops would be sworn into the service of the United States,” said the Governor, “and of course would be used as the general commanding the army should direct. It is natural to suppose that thé troops from Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia would stand the climate of Cuba much better than would. the troops from the Northern or ~Pacific Coast States. Then the cost of trans- portation and the element of time and distance would cut a big figure in the calculations for mobilizing an army. 1 should say that California would be depended upon to protect the coast line of the Pacific. We have a long stretch of seacoast and many regi- ments would be required to against encroachment. I should say that several regiments would be as- signed to duty in the harbor of San Francisco, and_that a force would be needed'at San ‘Diego to strengthen the garrison at that point. “In the event of a declaration of war and a call from the President of the United States for each State to fur- nish a quota of men, the response of California would be immediate. Cali- fornia would supply her quota instant- ly, and I should so inform the President at once. . Should the Legislature be convened in extra session no other sub- ject than that of providing means -to equip the troops and protect the State would be embraced in the proclama- tion. Before the Legislature could as- semble I could raise the money to or- ganize the regiments on the faith.of the State, which I should pledge. Call- fornia stands ready to contribute men and money to maintain the honor and dignity of the nation. Our troops would g0 wherever they were ordered, and I am confident tflh\n! in whatever position 4 reflect honor on the: State and nation.” Gofi?m.mmfl 26 Page St., §. Portions of the Bottom of the Ship {Blown Skyward in a Pecu- liar > Manner. Special Dispatch to The Call. NEW YORK, Feb. 18.—At Trenton to-day Clark Fisher, late chief engineer of the United States navy, said: “While it is certain that the truth will be dis- closed upon the divers’ examination, one significant fact about the Maine’'s destruction seems to have escaped no- tice. How did it happen that masses of cement fell from above? One large triangular piece came from above upon the deck of the City of Washington of sufficient size and force to pierce that steamer’s deck, and as stated in to- day’'s Herald, Lieutenant Blandin says huge pieces of cement fell with grat- ings and other debris, a piece of ce- ment striking him on the head. “Where did this cement come from and how did it get there? The spaces in the bottom of a ship, at its very low- est part and against the ‘skin’ of the ship, are filled in with cement. The projecting force upward must neces- sarily come from below this filling ce- ment. The only position below that cement is the outside of the ship. “Any internal explosion would neces- sarily come from somewhere above the ship’s bilges and must drive the ce- mené with the bottom of the ship down- ward.” POSSIBLE CHARGE OF MURDER. Position of the Sheriff Who Permit- ted the Uber Murder. CARSON, Feb. 18.—In the case of Doug- las County vs. Sheriff Brockliss, charged with neglect of duty in having permitted the Uber lynching, his attorney to-day demurred to the complaint on the ground that the crime charged was not a mis- demeanor, but murder. The court took the matter under advisement. If the de- murrer_is sustained, Brockliss will be re- lrvldlcled and charged with the murder of ~ ADVERTISEMENTS. You must cure Rheumatism by Removing its cause. Those aches and pains Are due to acid In your blood. Hood’s Sarsaparilla Neutralizes this acid And completely Cures rheumatism. This is proved By the testimony Of thousands who Tell of cures by Hood’s Sarsaparilla, - DRUNKENNESS! Morphine and Opium Habits, Palnless. treatment, Sixth ycar: 1000 cured; low- eat pricos) write to.day for full particu~ lars, Cut this out. . 3