The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, March 13, 1898, Page 1

Tall I1I.—NO. 103. SAN THE SPAIN WILL NOT ACCEPT - RESPONSIBILITY President Knew on Sunday Hostilities Were Almost Inevitable. Madrid Is Fitting Out Privateers, Germany Protests Friend- ship and England Is Effusive. NEW YORK, March 12.— The Herald’s correspondent at Washington telegraphs: Gravely apprehensive over the impending crisis in our relations with Spain, Presi- dent McKinley is coolly and deliberately weighing every phase of the situation before making any move or any pub- lic declarations as to his in- ¥ CF 00 06 08 08 X0 7K X% ) G tentions. That his action when taken may meet with the approval of, the nation, and of the world, the President desires to be relieved of any suspi- cion of prematurely forming a decision. [agug=3 SR F=FeFaFuPag-yag ‘While woere is ample evidence of | an unofficial character already in the | the Philadelphia Press by its staff conclusive in their minds side, the President will refrain from 0806 X0 08 200 106 X 0 100 100 100 100 YO0 0K O 0 00 0RO K R 0 FRANCISCO, ,SUND MARCH 13, s SIGNS OF WAR Call Office, Riggs House, 1898—THIRTY-TWO PAGES. PRICE FIVE CENT GROW MORE OMINOU S Fort McPherson, Near Atlanta, Ga., Headquarters of the Department of the Gulf. Washington, March 12. An evening paper prints to- night a statement purporting to be ‘“semi-official,” denying that the President or his ad- visers have received any offi- cial intimation as to what the naval court’s report will be. It is admitted, however, that the President and individual members of the Cabinet have their own opinions as to what the board’s report will show, and that “it is thought that on these mere expressions of be- lief have been founded s.ories that the administration knows of the findings.” BOROOREOOH ARG EEETO OO f=3=R=2cRcg-FegeRoReeqoFaFug-FuFeReFeRugaFe] The following dispatch is sent to hands of the authorities to make it | correspondent, Mr. E. J. Gibson, who Copyrighted, lgjnn:n:ames Gordon I that the |is considered one of the most reliable | Maine was blown up from the out- | correspondents in Washington. He PARIS, March 12.—The | is known to stand well with Presi- Temps has the following, ©| | dent McKinley. Upon his return dated Madrid: ““It is no ©| making any public statement as to the cause of the disaster until all the | from Cuba, Mr. Gibson was invited | papers are before him. This is in strong contrast to the longer a secret that the ob- ject of the visit of Senor | to the White House and had a long | interview with the President. Mr. course of Captain Peral, chairman of | Gibson telegraphs his paper as fol the Spanish Court of Inquiry, who, in | jows: an authorized interview published “It is certain that letters came to this morning, goes into great de-|the President bringing information tails to show that the Maine Was| from members of the Court of In- blown up from the inside, and in do- | quiry, and it was this faformation ing this anticipates the finding of the | that brought about the extraordinary court where he presides. | conferences on last Sunday and Mon- | There has been much comment day resulting in the fifty million | here to-day on the extraordinary | dollar emergency appropriation. It| character of Captain Peral’s action ini was not until the board had practi- making a public declaration in ad- | cally closed its inquiry and had what | vance of the official report. The ap- | js regarded as absolute proof that the | pearance of this interview simultane- | Maine was blown up by a mine, that | ously with the publication of a|the information was transmitted to speech made by Senor Moret in|the President and Secretary Long as Madrid, and with an interview given out by Minister Polo in Washington | last night is believed in some guar- ters here to signify a deliberate ef- fort on the part of the Spa: h au- | thorities to influence public opinion | in favor of the accident theory of ex- plosion in advance of the publication of the report of the American Court | of Tnquiry 1 No waght whatever will be at-| tached 1o the Spznish report by this | Goverr:m:nt, an1 when Presicent Mec- | Kinley beses his demand upoa Spain ‘; on the report of the American court, the Spamich Government in all prob- ability will reply that tke report of its court shows an entirely diiferent | state of affairs from that reported by | the American court. No on= here be- | lieves the Spanish court has made anything like as thorough an inves- tigation as that made by th» Ameri- can court. This belief will tend to still further discredit the report of | the Spanish crurt in this country. | The two adverse reports will bring | the two countries face to face with | each other upon a very ugly question | involving national homer on both | sides, and one that will have to be handled very delicately if a clash is | to be avoided. | The exact course the President will pursue in submitting his de- mands upon Spain when the report of the Court of Inquiry has been re- ceived will, of course, depend upon the new conditions arising from day to day. The most that can be said now is that the blowing up of the Maine and general Cuban question are to be treated as kindred subjects. President McKinley has kept his head up to the present time, and in spite of all clamor he will handle the matter in a cool and deliberate way- Fully realizing the horrors of war he is determined that if there is war the responsibility for bringing it on shall be with Spain and not with this country, , . | President that he had had in his pos- to what the board would report. A letter from one of the officers of the board conveyed that information, and there were also two other letters, conveying like information. “The prompt and momentous ac- tion of the Government on the re- ceipt of such information enough of its tremendous import- ance. “The Maine was blown up by a mine, and the Board of Inquiry will report that the mine was placed in the harbor by Spanish officials. “Confirmation of the dispatch, printed in the Press, to the effect that the Maine was blown up by a | mine, and that it was this informa- tion which led to the conferences| Sunday and Monday and the emer- | gency appropriation by Congress,} came to the Press correspondent to- night from a very high source. An | intimate friend of the President from 1 an Eastern State, who has been in consultation with him, said to-night | he had talked with the President on | this subject, and the President had | intimated that the probability of set- | tling the controversy with Spain without war was remote. “This gentleman was told by the session for nearly a week full infor- | | mation of the cause which led to | i proof;fnendlv remonstrance with the Leon Castillo, Spanish Em- bassador to France, is to con- fer with foreign Ministers on the conduct of the great powers in regard to Spain in the event of war with the United States. ““The impression among Spanish | diplomatists generally is that all| the powers,7in principle, are favor- | able to the maintenance of Span-| ish rule in Cuba and against its | independence—above all against| 0000000000000 00000 0000000000000 00000C | annexation or a protectorate on | the part of the United States. The | impression also is that England, France and Russia will not go be- yond platonic demonstration or| United States, whereas Austria and Germany are disposed to go further if Italy will consent, but generally it is thought that a joint expression of the European powers will suffice to prevent American aggression or intervention. ““In political circles it is not thought Spain will allow herself to be drawn into adherence to the Triple Alliance, even to obtain help on the Cuban questlon. Nevertheless, the isolation of Spain has rendered unpopular the foreign policy which has kept her | from making European alliances for twenty-five years past.” The Temps also reproduced an interview between Senor- Mendez de Vigo, Spanish Embassador at Berlin, and the correspondent of the Budapest Herlap. After as- the disaster at Havana, and that the | serting that if the United States ?flf&t‘:‘;‘i::t;:;:;“"h as tgigndflr(did not encourage the insurgents very cult. | ; : “The President said further, ac. it all'owed filibusters to leave | cording to this gentleman, that both | American ports, he adds: ‘It | the War and the Navy Departments | might be even said that the United | were actively engaged in work which | States has already begun a block- was intended to anticipate the worst, ade of the Spanish ports, as at aadl Rt WIS Do Roped) ot eACs, | ehon, whesaian Ameiicen Tian . . if the honor of the nation were in- . | volved, as appeared to be the case, it | of-war has not been seen for years, there are now two, and there are might be difficult to avoid war. four others in Spanish waters. { “An intimate friend of the Presi- dent, living in his own State, ex- . - pu’;ed the opinion to-night that % Spain \ynll not abandon Cuba with- out resistance. True, she cannot :begin to wage war at sea, but be- far as he could see war was inevit- able.” ~ SPAIN IS PREPARING FOR WAR ON COMMERCE WITH LETTERS OF MARQUE Convention. PO0P00000600000000 MAY the Maine’s destruction is proved and in asking our moral support the open door and nothing else. given for the moral support of the and we can calculate it will be fous alliances has come for the United and no concern of theirs. On our side there is every d have shown it in our acts. It is to act together. POOH666666 EER R RS 2R S POPPOOPPPPPIPIPPIPPIIPVDOPCOPPPPPIOPIPIPOPIDPOOS PIPPCPPPPPIPPIPPIPPPIINDPPVOPPPPPOIOPOPOOPOPECS 2000000 200060 e sides defense she has another means at her disposal. She did not sign the treaty of Paris in 1856 regarding the capture of mer- chant vessels in case of war. She therefore has the right to strike a terrible blow at American com- merce. She can arm her mer- chant ships, of which she has ninety-six at Barcelona and Va- lencia, and which, with her tor- pedo-boats, would give valuable assistance in the event of war.”’ It is known in diplomatic circles that Senor Sandoval, the Spanish military agent in Germany, Aus- tria and Scandinavia, who re- turned to Berlin on Wednesday from a trip, after having made three conditional purchases of ceasting steamers at Fiume and two at Pola, with other Spanish represen- tatives, has been purchasing out- right or conditionally munitions and vessels for use against Ameri- cantrade. Senor Sandoval, in ad- dition to the purchases referred to which are intended for the priva- 0000000000000 00606606060600 ENGLAND AND AMERICA LONDON, March 12.—The St. James Gazette this afternoon, in an editorial headed ‘‘Together With America,” says : The Cuban situation cannot be allowed to go on much longer. plosion it will then be shown that Spain cannot as much as keep order in the harbor of the Cuban capital, and the United States will be jus- tified in refusing to tolerate such a condition of things any longer, doubt, it is we who are chiefly concerned, but the United States has genuine interests there, and they are identical with ours. It has every claim to insist upon making its voice heard. must needs have a seat at any conference on the Chinese question, It has hitherto been the ruling, principle in American ‘politics to abstain from alliances with European powers, to view the conflicts of the European powers as something remote It may be a fortunate thing for both that this should be the case just when it is so very possible for England and the United States to act together. They can now, by speaking a word in regard to China, make clear to the world that the two Anglo-Saxon communities are prepared Even Now Buying Vessels fo Fit Out as Privateers, Which Can Be Done Because Neither Nation Signed the Paris oo PR oo P2 PPPOPORIPPPCOPOPPPPP 0 PPOPPPPPROPOPOO®POOGOPD COOOO6660S *o0000 R R 4 RULE THE WORLD If to have been due to an external ex- to bring it toan end. In China, no We ask for Here, then, moral support may be American Government. It nd in agreement with ours. but the time for States. They can no longer afford isposition, and we can claim to for them to take the next step. POEPRPPPPIVPELIPPOPPVVPPPIPPOPPIPPVCPPPOPO®POLOPY ®0 on + 00 + o6 + s0 + o0 + 60 + 60 + 00 + 66 + o0 + 656 4+ ¢o + ©® 4+ 66 > 4 66 4+ %0 + [} P R R P R RS m ~ =z > z | = wn (=} m = r BERLIN, March 12.—The Ber- lin Foreign Office has instructed the inspired press to deny em- phatically.that Germany will aid Spain in case of war with the United States, and has also in- structed the newspapers to point out that the United States is an excellent friend of Germany, and that Spain, in the Caroline squabble, has repeatedly shown unfriendliness to Germany. P SR R R e s ok S R R TR R SR S SR up. The Spanish agent is now at Hamburg or Stettin negotiating for several cannon and torpedo-boats built partly for China and partly on speculation by the Vulcan yards. He intends to visit the Schichau yards and the yards at Elb:ng for the same purpose. The German press this week has given utterance to the unani- mous conviction that a war be- tween the United States and Spain is probable, although it is believed teer service, has placed large or- ders with the Krupp Gun Compa- ny during the last six veeks, and Fas also appointed acsub-agent at Trieste to see what he can pick here thatthe latter country will do everything to avoid it. In diplomatic circles it is said Continued on Second Page. < HAVANA HARBOR DEEPEN ED BY THE EXPLOSION The Last Find of the Divers Points More Strongly Than Ever to an Atrocious Crime. Copyrighted, 159, by James Gordon Bennett. | HAVANA, March 12—At the point where the explosive force that wrecked the Maine is be- lieved to have been primarily exerted there is at present a depth of water of- nearly forty- seven feet. This important fact 1 learned to-day from a source the accuracy of which cannot be doubted. The significance of this dis- covery is great. The Maine, as she lay at her moorings, drew not more than twenty-eight or at most twenty-nine feet amid- ships. It was well-known "that she had not more than ten feet of water under her bottom.: This would show that the total aver- age depth of water at the point where the Maine was anchored was not exceeding thirty-eight or thirty-nine feet. KK K K KK KK K K KKK KKK KKK KKK KRN PREEEREREREEREREFEF AN AR R RS AR AR R AR REE SRR AL LSRR R 3388838? 8 W K N K K N K K K KK KK KR KK KR KKK KKK Now it is found that at every point where the bottom plates were forced up | through the other wreckage to a height | of twenty-nine feet above their normal | position, there is a hole scooped out in the bottom of the harbor to a depth of from eight to ten feet below its average | level. | That this depression was originally much greater will readily be understood when the action of the tides on the soft mud of the harbor’s bottom and the con- | sequent tendency toward filling in to a normal depth is taken into considera- tion. This filling in process has been going on for more than three weeks, yet at the point mentioned there is still found by the divers a depth of forty- seven feet prevailing through a limited area. What caused this depression that still survives the action of the tides on the muddy bottom? That is the question divers and experts are asking. The dis- covery is generally regarded as one more piece of evidence that the explo- sive force primarily acting on the Maine was exerted from under the bottom and | not from within her frame. I talked last night with a naval officer. He is an ex- pert in explosives, and one who has ex- cellent opportunities for knowing just what the Maine investigation has de- suRVRULIWVLLLLLLLLN TREACHERY WRECKED THE MAINE. NEW YORK, March 12.—What is regarded in army and navy circles as a most important edi- torial article appeared in yes- terday’s issue of the Army and Navy Register. It is as follows: THE SITUATION. The Register is in possession of information, the correctness of which I have no reason to question in the least, that certain evidence gathered by the Court of. Inquiry at Havana has come in semi-official form to the President from two prominent members’ of the board. The information has. been in- the hands- of the President since Sun- day and has served as the occasion for ~unusual activity during the present week. The information is to the effect that the Maine was destroyed by & Government - submarine mine 3 planted in Havana harbor and de- liberately exploded. More than this, it appears that the Maine was purposely moored in the vicinity of the mine and that ‘the explosion occurred at a moment when the ship had been opportunely carried by wind and tide directly over the mine. < These facts have been hinted at and written -about In- dispatches from Havana, Madrid and Wash- ington and among the varied state- ments made the actual conditions have been touched upon, but noth- ing authoritative has been per- mitted to escape from the court. That body is understood to have completed its work, but nothing is likely to be officially promul- gated In regard to its findings for a week or more. There can be but one outcome of such a report, and preparations for the inevitable result are being in- dustriously and indefatigably pros- ecuted. The work of the week shows that the Government at ‘Washington appreciates the situa- tion and will be ready to meet what has now ceased to be a mere emer- gency. B8 28282808 82838 2828088 8282888 208 0328 28 200828 30309250028 202028 2028 200800000800 ERR0 00 300800 200030300808 NN N U N RN KRB LuURULELLLLLYLRLN stood, however, that the Spanish divers have not at any time been permitted to work inside the ship’s structure, and their operations outside have been re- veloped to date.* He is perfectly familiar with the construction and action of all types of torpedoes and mines. What he told me appears to riddle completely the statements yesterday made by Captain Peral, president of the Spanish Court of Inquiry. Captain Peral is undoubtedly sincere in all he has said. His personal belief in the accuracy of his deductions is not questioned. But his facilities for learning the truth have been so inferior to those enjoyed by American naval ex- perts thfough the work of their own divers as to seriously discount his con- clusions. stricted to her starboard side exclusive- ly. The wrecking barge Sharp lies moored close along the port side of the wreck and there only American divers are permitted to work. This is the side of the ship to which the explosive force is supposed to have been applied. All the evidences showing the tremendous thrust from the port to starboard are on the port side, therefore, and that side is of vital importance. On that side and inside the wreck the most expert divers in the American navy have been at work for three weeks. Their operations dur- ing most of that time have been confined Captain Peral says the Spanish divers find no evidences whatever of any ex- terior explosion. It should be under- to an area of not more than fifty by twenty-five feet. Their task was well defined. It hag