The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-02-24
Almost Conclusive That
Spa~iards Destroyed
the Maine.
Officials Of the Navy Depart
ment Are About Ready to
Abandon the Theory Of
an Internal Explosion.

NEW YORK, Feb. 23.-The \
Washington correspondent of =
the Herald telegraphs: I'm =
portant conclusions were =
reached by the authorities to- =
day as a result of an official y
cablegram and unofficial adj
vices received in the mail from
\ Havana this morning. These
conclusions are: The boilers
i of the ship did not explode,
= and the responsibility for the
= destruction of the Maine can
y not be placed upon them. If
\ bomb had been placed in the
3 coal and shoveled into the
\ furnace it would have caused \
a boiler to explode. The coal y
bunkers around the forward y
magazine were empty of coal y
at the time of the catastrophe, 4
and spontaneous combustion 4
could not therefore have =
caused the explosion of the \
powder.
Rear Admiral Sicard Of =
\ fcially reported to the depart
\ ment that the forward half of =
4 the ship was completely de- '
= stroyed, showing, in the opin-
\ ion of Secretary Long and 9TH
b er experts of the department,
\ that the forward magazine did
y explode. =
Evidence is still lacking to =
prove that the forward maya l.
zine was exploded by some ex- \
ternal agency, but it can no 4
longer be denied that the nay
al officers in Havana are of \
the opinion that the funda- y
mental cause was of outside y
= origin. y
Officially, the authorities have no in
4fornatfon to this effect, but this opin-
ion is freely expressed in private let
tiers received at the Navy Department.
Secretary Long said to-day immedi-
ately after the receipt of Rear Admiral
;
ton of the Inflated snip that he had
no doubt as to the explosion of the for
ward magazine. The cause of the
catastrophe. he declared, was still a
mystery and would be solved only
when the report of the Court of Inquiry
now investigating the affair We s re-
ceived.
Chief Naval Constructor Hichborn
told me this afternoon that he had all
along been of the opinion that the for
ward magazine had exploded, but
while it is known that he believes an
external cause was responsible for the
destruction of the ship he would not
say so when I talked with him.
Experts of the Ordnance Bureau are
also positive that the explosion of the
forward magazine occurred, and they
say the mere fact that several loaded
cans of powder have been found does
not indicate that there was no explo-
sion there. 1t would naturally be the
case, 1 was told, that the bursting of
several cans of powder would drive
others through the air, landing them
on the water. where they would have
cooled and an explosion have been thus
prevented.
The conclusion reached by the au-
thorities that the boilers did not ex-
pIode, and that a bomb in the coal
could not have caused the disaster,
were derived from a letter received
from an engineer officer who was on
duty On board the Maine and from
Rear Admiral Sicard's statement that
the afterhalf of the battle-ship was
practically intact. In the engineers
letter it was stated that the boilers in
use at the time of the explosion were
boilers G and II, which are the boilers
farthest away from the forward mag
azine and in the half of the ship which
Rear Admiral Sicard reported was I'M
injured
To understand the Importance of
this statement it must be understood
that the Maine was equipped with
eight boilers, divided by a bulkhead
running through the middle of the
ship, four being in the forward half,
which are lettered A B C and d, and
four in the afterpert, lettered E, T, G
and H, the lettering commencing at
the starboard boiler forward. 1t is
thus evident that the boilers G and II.
which were in use, were a considerable
distance from the forward magazine,
and, in fact, next to the after maya
zine, under the officers quarters, so
that if the boilers had exploded the
after part of the ship would have been
blown up and the officers would have
been killed.
Instead the forward half was blown
up, resulting in the loss of so many
men. Engineer in Chief Melville, in
speaking to me on this point to-day,
said he never believed from the first
the boilers could have exploded. I'M
lnediately after the accident, he said,
ne had refreshed his mind to ascertain
II the boiler plates were strong enough
10 Withstand pressure that would be
exerted upon them, and he had found
ample leeway of safety.
A letter received from another officer
VI the Maine. / was fold to-day stated