The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, February 27, 1898, Page 1

Call VOLUME LXXXIII.—NO. 89. SAN FRANCISCO, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY '2’7, 1898—THIRTY-TWO PAGES. PRICE FIVE CENTS." TO MEET INDEMNITY IS NOT IN FAVOR IN CONGRESS ONLY BLOOD WILL ATONE FOR BLOOD The President Is Still Hope- ful of a Peaceful Settlement. Members of Neither House Will Follow Him if Any Party in Spain Destroyed the Maine. 1 WASHINGTON, Feb. 26.—The idea of demanding a mere money indemnity for the dastardly destruction of the Maine is not popular in Congress. It is not thought the country will be satisfied to consider this as it would a commercial question. The only circumstances under which a money indemnity would be regarded as adequate would that of a private citizen and could produce and punish the culprit. The complicity of any political organization or fac- tion of Spain, though an enemy to the present ministry | and even to the crown of Spain, would place the responsi- bility upon the Spanish Governmentin a way to preclude a money settlement. ; A proposition held to be clear by well-informed men about Congress is that if it is shown that the explosion occurred from external causes the immediate assumption will be that it was the act of Spain. The burden of proof to correct this assumption, if it be wrong, will then lie upon Spain. If she could prove conclusively that the crime was committed by an individual, and that the man- ner of its accomplishment was such as to acquit the Gov- ernment of negligence or connivance, a humble apology and the payment of indemnity would suffice. A matter that causes the situation to be looked upor with extreme gravity in Congress is the difficulty that must be experienced in qualifying the responsibility of Spain for the disaster. The presumptive evidence is gen- .erally held in Congress to be that no one could have ex- | - Hoisting the Stars and REACHERY WITH THE SWORD OF o cs Over the % Disaster. .reck of the Maine the-Day After the plas | ploded | Maine without the conniv- ance of the authorities. | sion the crime was the act of Spanish ] officials. | It is believed that the present ESpanish Ministry, if convinced that | the explosion was not the result of | an accident, would be willing to make any sort of reparation, and would do this with every show of humility which the dastardly char- acter of the crime would demand, but feeling in Spain and among Span- iards in Cuba will not admit of the Ministry doing what their better judgment and sentiment of justice and propriety would dictate. It is | not thought the Sagasta Government can have anything but the greatest abhorrence for such a crime, but the !Ministry is not felt to be strong should. | Little doubt is entertained in stroyed by intent it was the work of Weylerites, aimed as much at Sa- gasta and Blanco as at the United . States. It is no exaggeration to say there is a show of impatience over the ‘reported consideration by the President and members of his Cab- inet of a proposition to demand a money indemnity. The claims now a mine under the] ‘ The | |accident theory once dis-| | posed of, as it has been dis- | | posed of, it is believed this| E X 3 | country will be forced to the conclu- | be if Spain should prove conclusively that the act was]| | it is feared that the state of public | | enough to deal with the matter as it | Congress that if the Maine was de- | [gaafioao.fidooooobnng |@ ADVISED BY LEE =1 5 TO LEAVE HAVANA. (¢ SR bad |©& TAMPA BAY HOTEL, TAM- & Q PA (FI . Bruner & |9 and five children e from & | & Havana. She is the f Unit- © & ed States Health Officer Bruner & 2 at Havana, and says Consul- & | © General Lee advised her hus- & | < band to send her t once. & | ¥ Other Americans have alsomade & | & the same statement. o E= o [B=R=ReR=TuPeF=ReR=RePaRaRaPuFaPaP=T= lodged against Spain at the State Department for losses sustained by American citizens on account of the | war in Cuba- aggregate seventy mil- lions. .= The claimants and their friends in Congress grow more im- patient each day at the hesitation of the State Department in pressing these claims. The explanation of- fered to the claimants is that it would be impossible to recover from | Spain in her present bankrupt condi- tion and the inference is that the | claimants must wait until the war ends and the royal exchequer is re- plenished, to say nothing of inter- vening delays that will be caused by adjusting these claims; a fair illus- tration of which was afforded by the Mora claim. Members of Congress naturally inquire whether a demand for in- demnity would not become the sub- ject of international deliberation or even of arbitration covering an in- definite period of time. The Presi- dent’s spokesmen in Congress insist that the question of indemnity for the Maine is not to be subjected to the slow process of evolution charac- teristic of international claims, but will be made immediate. g S PRESIDENT M’KINLEY TALKING INDEMNITY. It Is Clear That the Administration Will Avoid a War With Spain if That Is Possible. NEW YORK, Feb. 26.—The Her- ald’s Washington correspondent sends the following: Mature and judicial consideration of all the facts, and pre- parations to meet any possible contin- gency, continues to be the policy of the administration in connection with the Maine disaster. No new light, official or otherwise, developed to-day as to the initial cause of the great calamity, and the authorities are patiently wait- ing, with such fortitude as they can under the circumstances, for the final report of the court of inquiry before definitely deciding on any course of ac- tion. The settlement of the serious ques- tion without a conflict with Spain is the main point of discussion between the authorities pending the receipt of the court’s conclusions. It is manifest from many quarters that the President, while fully appreciating the temper of the country, does not.consider the matter beyond settlement through the medium of diplomacy if the Spanish Govern- ment will receive in the proper spirit the demand which is made on it. He repeated to more than one friend Continued on Second Page. )77 % = < B o N e HAULING A 10-INCH GUN TO THE PRESIDIO. | STRONG PROOF PLOTS BY THE SPANIARDS THE WITNESSES PRODUCED BY 'GENERAL LEE Overheard Talk Which Indica- ted a Deliberate Plan to Destroy the Maine.A iCourt of Inquiry Has Closed Its Work for the Present at Havana and Gone to Key West Where It Will Begin Work Again, Prob- ably on Monday Morning Next. D R R R R e R R R R R R THE MAINE'S ARMOR BELT WAS BLOWN CLEAR INBOARD. NEW YORK, Feb. 26.—A Key West special to the Herald says: I have just received from Havana valuable information as to the Maine disaster. In advices from there I ara informed that the last examination of the wreck made by the divers on Thursday revealed the fact that the forward part of the Maine’s port armor belt was broken completely off. The broken section was founa in the debris of the wreck, and nearly a dozen feet aboard. To be exact, the distance from the afterpart of the detached metal to the forward part of the ruptured belt is 11 feet 4 inches. The forward part of the belt is bent inboard and upward. The plate bulges in sharply at the point where the broken section is de- tached. This armor belt tapers from a ten-inch thickness at its top to a four-inch thickness at its base. It is of the best Harveyized steel, and when it was being put in place I remember that Assist- ant Naval Constructor Street, now dead, told me the metal was so hard it was necessary to anneal the plates at pSints where the bolt holes were to be cut. I mention this as showing the strength and hardness of the metal. : It is hardly necessary, however, as no one can conceive how even a plate of butter could be bulged inward by an internal explo- sion. The detached section of the armor took with it its armor bolts and rubber washers. The washers were closely examined and were found to be intact except at the point of rupture. This is regarded as significant, my informant believing that the gases generated by an inside explosion would have melted the rubber. The wooden backing of the armor is splintered, showing a blow from the outside. Three six-inch powder cases were recovered from the wreck on Thursday evening. These cases, originally cylindrical in shape, are telescoped in the way you crush an opera hat. The horizontal seams are split open. This. is corrugation, indicating that the charges were intact when pressure was brought to bear. I have received a fuller description of the appearance of that uplifted keel. The Maine was fixed with a double bottom, and between the bottom and the inner skin ran a series of strengthen- ing plates. Of these the first on the port side has been hove up- ward to a point level with the water line of the wreck. This sec- tion of the hull was identified by the strainer for flooding that spe- cial compartment, and which the explosion lifted into view, to- gether with the sluices for running water from the first long- itudinal into the bilge., + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + FHP 4444144421440 4 4444444424444 3 4444444444444 4444444444444 D T R O S S L T e Copyrighted, 1898, by James Gordon Bennett. Their evidence was taken by HAVANA, Feb. 26.—1|the board through Consular learned last' might from a|Clerk Drain, who acted as source, the accuracy of which | interpreter. So strictly were cannot be doubted, that, in|these witnesses guarded it addition to taking the evi-|Was impossible to learn 4 T e | either their names or the names of ence o tvers yesterday, | ipe persons implicated by their tes- | several other important wit-| timony. nesses were heard. They| Official circles are thoroughly were produced before . the! stirred up by cable dispatches from New York and Washington indicating the great importance attached to the Herald’s recent dispatch concerning Naval Constructor Powelson’s testi- moay. One result already manifest is the increased stringency of the censor- ship. Strong efforts were made yesterday by the representatives of other New York newspapers to persuade Powel- son to deny the character of his evi- dence before the board. Mr. Powel- son, however, refused to be quoted in any way, and in explanation of the consistent attitude of silence which he has maintained, simply cited the strict orders of the department. Senator Proctor, immnediately after a light breakfast at the Hotel Inglaterra board of inquiry at the in-- stance of Consul-General Lee, and their testimony was in effect that they had heard remarks made by cer- tain Spaniards which, in their opinion, indicated a deliberate plot against the Maine. ‘The witnesses were Cu-| bans, with the exception of one, who is an Italian, but speaks Spanish fluently.