New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-02-18

OF sow-burning powder. whiie 'ne S'a' 49, =, :.
zinc contained about thlrty-hve thousand po""'' -
tho same kind NJ powder This powder used Tor
the heavy guns is OF 2 peculiar nature IL " eas'i'
In n way In Its effects. 1t constantly increases -
It's explosive power for n perceptoie H'ei'ai
does not flash like rife powder, but eHpiooes 80
that it's effect would be to tear apart ana spreau
open a battlc-ship. just as the Maine was piowh
open The damage to the Maine could nave oeeh
caused by either the starboard magazine or the
middle magazine. and 1t may nave beeh poth'
There powder enough In either OF these maya
zines to frightful damage and loss OF me-
but there not enough powder In the magazine
on the port side forward to do the damage inflicted
the bow OF the Maine. While explosion IN
the port magazine would have caused more or less
damage. It would not have blown the ship apart or
caused her TO sink"
PLACING A TORPEDO.
one OF the officers asked the degree Of skill
required to place torpedo under the Maine. and
said that II would require skilled operator TO do
IL without detection.
"A torpedo would not float In Havana Harbor 10
the sldes OF the Maine" said The Trlbunes In
former. ION account OF there being any tide.
The water is so mot.onlesc there that object
thrown overheard will one hundred
yards away from The ship IN three hours The here
been either placed there by. adept hands, under
cover Of darkness on the night OF the accident or
have been stationed there before the Maine entered
the arbor. II II was a submerged mine. already
anchored. that did the work IT must have been an
exceedingly risky proceeding. Cuban sympathizers
would have been among the first TO have discov-
cred the existence Of e.ectric wires reaching from
have set OF the torpedo when A Spanish vessel was
near IT,"
The theory Of spontaneous combustion as nc
cause of the Names destruction does not hnd
many advocates among inc ohcers. Cne OF r,e''
SAID 10 a Tribune reporter yesterday afternoon
ELEMENTS or DANGER ELIMINATED.
with the plans Of the Maine in front of me-.
IN n fr- mi rfel listener
parent impossibity OF the explosion on the Maine
having been caused by spontaneous combustion or
by heat from the dynamos. To begin with said
he pointing the plan Of the Maine. on the star
board side. where the l0-inch magazine was 10
cated there is q passageway SEPARATING me coz
buHkers from tho magazine. This passaSe"ay ~
heated. and besides the temperature of the coal
bunkers Is matter that receives constant watch
all matters OF this kind The Maine was risged
with electric temperature alarms. ana II the Tern
would have been given and steps would have been
taken to lower the temperature. Inc frequent m
would nave made 1t impossible for the bunk'rs 10
become overheated without attracting attsn'iom on
heat communicated to the walls of the magazlne II
would still have been almost Impossible 10Y me rle
powder IS kept In copper tanks. one hundred ana
twenty pounds 10 tank. and these tanks are seo
out from the walls of the magazine eight lnchs 50
b not without affecting the powder The coal car
ricd ON The Maine was anthracite and stored 1t
was IN bunkers compartments. spontaneous
combustion could not have taken place tnere
About the only thing that will make coai Durn
from spontaneous combustion Is to put II mo the
vessel when Il is wet Naval officers IN tnese
days take the greatest precaution TO AVOID loadhg
wct coal and Captain Sicsbee was always par
ticular about that very thing
DYNAMOS NOT WITHIN REACH
Gould any trouble in the dynamo-rooms nave
caused the explosion the official was asked
mo" was the answer. II see by some OF the
Washington dispatches Il IS asserted that 'he
synamo-room was directly over the io-inch maya
zine but that is not So Here IS the plan of the
Maine exactly as she built. ard the dynamo
room is almost exactly amidships. nor Is II over
the coal bunkers The rules governing the as
pos.ton Of explosives ship OF war are me
result Of years OF experiment ana stuoy pE 81,
best brains I'm the employ Of the Government ana
81 there were any risks in arranging the maya
zines coal BUNKER and other compart mentS. a.
they are at present arranged In battie-7hlp,' IL
goes without saying that the practice Wouin 9e
discarded or never would have been countenanceu.
Another dispatch says that the signal rockets may
have been the cause of the explosion MS -
absurd FOR the reason that the signal roChelS or
slowed aft and are not taken he ow az al. ny
are regarded as dangerous necessities ana AZ
kept lust as far away from the magazines as
possble The magazine lamps are htted hnto d
tight box with double glasses over them: ana M
light Is furnished by electricity. All the suey
anpIances known 10 modern science surround lheso,
Iarnns and there Is no likelihood that they caused
the explosion