The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-09-28
Is A SEA MYSTERY.
Strange Case OF the City of Haverhill has
No Solution

Strange Case OF the City of Haverhill has
No Solution.
! Washington, Sept. 27.-General Du-
mont, supervising inspector Of
steam vessels, has just completed an
! investigation of the loss of Barnegat
, light, fifty miles south of New York,
Of the steamer City Of Haverhill with
all on board the night of March 2S.last
The report of the investigation indi
Gates that the wreck of the City of
Haverhill will go down in marine an
nails as one of the unfathomed myster-
les. The investigation was of more
than usual Importance, because Of GER
tain claims that might have resulted
in an international complication with
Spain. These arose from the theory,
deeply lodged in the breast of the wild
! bw Of the captain of the City of Haver-
hill, and persistently adhered to by
her, that the vessel was under suspic-
ion by the Spanish authorities of being
intended for use of Cuban filibusterS
and had been destroyed by Spanish
agencies.
General DumoI1t from the first scout
ed this theory and refused to believe
that the Spanish authorities would de-
strOy, either by dynamite concealed on
| board or by the use Of a submarine tor
pedo from a Spanish cruiser, at that
time reported 20 be cruising along the
Atlantic coast, a steamer flying the
American flag almost within sight of
New York. But there were other fea-
lures of the wreck which he agreed
to Thoroughly investigate.
The City of Haverhill was a stern
wheel steamer built at Newburyport
in 1880. She was $50 feet long. of very
| light draft -four feet when light of
ia tons displacement, and was valued
at $4,000. She had been purchased in
New York by the Key West Stea mship
company for carrying passengers from
the mainland of Florida along the keys
to Key West, and Captain Warren p.
Watrous. formerly of Washington, and
Key West. Fla, had been sent to New
York to bring her to her destination.
The morning Of March q she sailed
from New York with Captain Watrous
his. son, nephew of Edgar F. Luck
back, for Norfolk, Va, in tow of the
ocean tug w. A. Luckenb beck, intending
to proceed thence by the inland pass
age to Key West under her own steam.
Shortly before midnight when off Bar
negat light the tow line was cast off
by the City of Haverhill, the captain
of the tug claims.
The next day the pilot boat James
Gordon Bennett found some of the
wrec kage of the City of Haverhill and
the body of Captain Watrous encircled
by life buoy. The press at the time
reported that she had probably foun-
dered in a storm. but ii was subse-
quently established that the wreckage
was seen by Captain Fred Redmond.of
the fishing schooner Redmond. before
the storm came up early the next NOR
ming.
Captain Redmond in a letter to Mrs
Grace S. Watrous, the widow of the
master of the Haverhill. stated as his
opinion that the vessel had been blown
up. as one end of the after saloon with
many heavy timbers fioated to one
side of him, and the pilot house and
other wreckage to the other. Mrs. Wa
trouS maintained that the boilers could
not have exploded. as they had been
thoroughly tested before the steamer
sailed, and. moreover. she did not be-
feve the Haverhill was under her own
steam, as the body of the engineer sub
Sequently found was not dressed in his
working clothes. lie had on a collar
necktie. and cuffs She was firm in her
belief that the City of Haverhill was
suspected of being a Cuban fiillibuster
by the Spanish authorities and was Ell
Their sunk by dynamite concealed in
her hold and exploded by time fuse
or torpedo from the Spanish war
vessel at that time reported 10 be
cruising on the coast. During those
days the newspapers were reporting
cached arms a various points along
the south Atlantic coast. which the
Haverhill would have passed in TAX
ing the inside passage to Key West
Her course. Mrs. Watrous maintained
must have been known 10 the Spanish
authorities then on the lookout for fl
Hbusters. The fact that the vessel was
fitted with cabins and other sleeping
accommodations a. Brooklyn might.the
widow thinks. have siren gthenei their
suspicious had they been watching her
Another point which confirmed Mrs.
Watrous in her belief OF foul play was
the fact that the tow was cast off
shortly before the loss occurred Can
tain Williams. Of the tug was not under
contract TO tow the Haverhill 10 Nor
folk. but had simply hitched on 20 two
harges he was towing. and that he
thought nothing wrong when he found
the Haverhiil had cast of. Mrs. Wat
rous, however, maintains that she re-
ceiyed a letter from her husband. writ
ten before he sailed. saying he would |
leave in an hour in tow OF the Norfolk
Captain Watrous' sister has also made
affidavit that she was present on the
Haverhil when the contract was dis