The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, February 28, 1898, Page 1

Call Pe PROOF OF TREACHERY IS YET ACCUMULATING SHOWN BY THE NAVAL COURT'S « INVESTIGATION Conclusive Proof That the Dis- aster o the Maine Was Not Accidental. Facts That Point Most Ominously to an Explosive Force Directed Against the Outside to Destroy the Battleship and the Lives of Brave patch-boat Albert F. Dewey, between Havana and Key West, Feb. 27.—Eager as is the waiting public for a defi- © nite announcement of the conclusions reached by the may as well be stated now that the suspense which per- vades the entire country and, indeed, the whole civilized world, must be endured prob- ¢ ably several weeks longer. | have studied the situation carefully. The President and Cabinet may, perhaps, be cog- nizant af the court's conclu- sions at a somewhat earlier date, but | shall be surprised if its findings are made pub- lic before the latter part of March, and the announce- ment may be delayed even later. In the meantime the only good advice is that which has already prevailed. Let the American people abide in patience and wait with full confidence that jus- tice will be done in the end dispassionately and without 000000000000000000000000000000C00000000000c% 00006 ¢ To-day marks the end of| week’s session of Never in the his- tory of similar proceedings the first the court. have such precautions been taken to:guard the facts from public scrutiny. Never have officers in either arm of the service remained more con- sistently - reticent under the orders of their chiefs. Nev- ertheless I have passed many { hours aboard "the Mangrove during the week, and am’in a position, if not to publish a Adetailed report of the evi- dence, to give: at least an ac- curate synopsis of the situa- tion as.it is. to-day. The first and most obvious «conclusion “is -that "already 0On board Hereld-Call dis- © Naval Court of Inquiry, it © Seamen. - ‘stated, viz.: that the court’s O |report must not be expected g\soon The second and most ° lmportant conclusion — the o|one which even the most g | conservative observers must © have reached ere now—is o |that at the end of the first o Week’s work the probability @ |is more remote than ever that glthe board can ever attribute {the Maine disaster to acci- g'dental and interior causes. o | The week’s work has hardly ° | been one that tends for peace. ‘Just in proportion as that fact {has become plainer in the light of the testimony taken (] O those who watch -its course. Had it been possible early |in the investigation with rea- sonable certainty that the Maine calamity was a misfor- | tune only and not a crime the o | continued suppression of that g | conclusion would have served [the interests neither of the | United States nor Spain. On the contrary, had the facts tended to show an accidental origin of the explosion all the peace - loving, sober- minded people would have rejoiced to see even partially lifted the dark cloud that now menaces both nations, and the conservative newspaper press of America would have welcomed the opportunity to relax the dangerous tension that now prevails. It was in the hope of some such early assurance that the Herald representative watch- ed the first week’s proceed- ings of the court. That hope has almost vanished. The testimony thus far adduced OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO 00 points overwhelmingly in an {the evident purpose of the| | court of inquiry to make haste | | slowly has forced itself upon | | | | | opposite conclusion. -That is | why we are moving so de- liberately. The Navy Depart- ment needs time and will make good use of .it. © Un- doubtedly the most import= ant evidence yet taken is that of Ensign . Powelson, the grave purport of which was | % carefully outlined in Friday’s Call and Herald. Mr. Powel- |3 son is one of the most accom- | plished of the younger officers | of the navy, especially in the arts of naval construction, to [ which he has'given years of faithful study. His views |even as a theorist would have great weight with the naval board, in the personnel of which, curiously enough,there is not a single officer whois really eminent in that branch | of naval work. ~ But in Ensign Powelson’s evidence the na- val court is confronted by a condition and not a theory, a condition so clearly demon- strated by him-as to all but carry conviction. His exploit in discovering the green painted plates from the very bottom of - the ship at a point in the wreckage which indi- cates they were forced up- ward from their normal posi- tion to a height of some twen- ty feet has been the sensa- tion of the week. Coupled with the other discovery that in common with most of the other wreckage from the were. not only heaved upward by some titanic force excited from some blow, but also dis- tinctly in the direction from the port to starboard side. This fact points most omin- ously, it cannot be denied, to an explosive force ‘directed primarily, at least, from the ship’s interior these plates THE UNITED STATES ARMORED CRUISER BROOKLYN in the harbor of San Lucia, principal coaling station and stronghold of the British West Indies. outside rather than inside the vessel. The unparalleled up- heaval of the ship’s decks and superstructure is consistent enough with the theory of | the magazine’s explosion alone having cdused the dis- aster, but such explosion, of course, would have tended to force downward plates from the ship’s bottom and keels, and could hardly have result- ed by any freak of explosive gases in-an upward thrust them |agonal powder contained in capable of lodging twenty feet or more above their normal position in the| debris. BRRRRRRBRENG 2 s SPAIN GETTING B READY FOR WAR. & nRRVUK 2% —_— & # FERROL, Spain, Feb. 27.— g % The work of naval coustruc- # tion and armament is being pushed by the government 2 with the greatest activity at ', the arsenal and dockyards. 828238888838838982'9382!-‘3 33882 So grave .an impression was made on. the court at this discovery that the board, not content with the : immediate personal - inspection “ of the wreckage, which seemed to confirm all Ensign Powelson had said, directed him to pre- pare - at once-elaborate draw- ings illustrating the points made in his evidence. These drawings -Mr. Powelson pro- duced yesterday when re- called for re-examination by the naval court, and they will doubtless be filed with the official report when made to the department. at Washing- ton. Nor is Ensign Powelson’s testimony unsupported by other ‘evidence similar in im- port.” The further the work RNBWRURR of the submarine divers pro- gresses the more they bring | | | | {having™ . occurred. where is abundant evidence of a terrific concussion, but there are equally plain condi- tions which naval officers re- gard as inconsistent with the theory of a primary explosion In both the 6-inch and ro-inch maga- zines are found many of the powder cylinders which, though smashed and dented by ‘concussion, have obvi- ously not been exploded, as the large-grained brown hex- |these cylinders is stored .in bags which in turn are packed within cylinders themselves, and ordinary excelsior is used in the spaces between. Some of these bags and much of the excelsior have been found unscathedbyfire. The pow- der for the most parthas van- ished, I am told. This was |explained to me by a naval | officer as follows; Some of the powder caps were opened by - the ‘concussion which smashed them. The subse- quent sinking of the ship flooded the broken : powder cylinders and the action of the water soon disintegrated the powder, which, of course, ran out of the bagsin a thick ink-like solution and soon disappeared, leaving - little more than a sediment adher- ing to the bags. One of the 6-inch breech-loading - rifles from the port battery has been lccated well over on the starboard ‘side of the wreck. Its breech blocks have been discovered. Alt ot these discoveries | understand have been de- tailed at great length before the court of inquiry. During the examination of Powelson to light which tends toward |yesterday,and also during the the same unwelcome conclu- | testimony of Diver Andrew sion. Both the6and 10 inch|Olson and others, Captain magazines have been suc-|Chadwick was particularly cessfully entered, and in each |active in the cross-examina-- some most SIgmficant condi- | tion, whether from a simple tions have been found. The |desire to elicit every available linings of the magazines in |fact or any feeling of skepti- places are entirely free from | cism on his part of course it is evidences of fire or explo-|impossible to say. It has sion. Six-inch shells have|been persistently -rumored, been found in the magazines | however, that the naval court intact and unexploded. Every- lis not wholly satisfied with the work done or reports made by divers up to the present time. |am inclined to believe some such feeling exists and that it is partly re- sponsible for the naval court’s contemplated return to Ha- vana in time to observe the work of ‘the more efficient wrecking apparatus now en route from New York. In connection with- the work of divers it is painful to have to record that one of these men, Martin Riordan, hitherto at- tached to the fleet, was. yes- terday returned to Key West in deep disgrace and will probably ke court-martialed. The crime of which he stands accused is no less heinous than that of pilfering from the sea chests of dead sailors and appropriating te himself various things of value which it was his duty to bring to the surface and de- liver to the proper authorities. One seaman’s chest in the berth deck is said to have contained savings aggregating more than $1000. The diver had been_ under suspicion. He was watched by other divers while at work and the suspicions verified. Yester- day his quarters were search- ed ‘and many trmkets and | articles of value are said to have been recovered. On his arrival at Key West the rep-| resentatives of a sensational New York paper promptly made overtures to him to sell what information he had gathered under water. Some effort has been made and further, effort will proba- bly be made to ‘give undue importance to certain testi- many taken by ‘the ' naval court Friday from a party-of Cubans resident in Havana. The story of these men was to the effect that on a ferry- boat: crossing the- bay one night some days prior to the Maine disaster, they over- heard a suspicious conversa- tion between two Spaniards, whose identity they did not then and do not now know. ‘Ac- cording to their tale conspirator No. 1 was heard to remark to conspirator No. 2 that a little plan was all arranged and that the rot- ten Yankee battle-ship would be soon on the bottom of the harbor. The naval board summoned these men and heard their story for what it is worth. 1 understand, how- ever, that slight importance is at- tached to it, especially as the Cu- bans unfortunately neglected to learn the names and addresses ‘of the two mysterious.bravos. : While the drift of séntiment among Americans of Havana is un- doubtedly as indicated it is proper to state that loyal Spaniards to a man stil! refuse to entertain for a moment the .suspicion that the Maine was the victim of foul play or any other than accidental causes. Many of them scout as ridiculous the statement that the harbor is filled ‘with® submarine mines ‘and point to the freedom with which their own naval and merchant vessels come and go as best evidence of the absurdity of the rumor. Among the Spanish army officers, though they are as courteous personally as ever to American strangers, there.is a rapidly growing feeling of unrest. Most ' of them would now welcome a war with the United States. As a Spanish lieutenant-colonel said to me yesterday: “If we must have Continued on Second Page. ADVERTISEMENTS. When a man is is wan! put his wife to this extremity., 01 woman in her entle nature sufs ers with the hus. band she comforts and consoles. It is a humiliation to any proud woman that the man of her chéice should’ prove at last a failure —broken in purse and in spirit. Back of -all business failures lies ill-health. 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