The San Francisco call., 1898-03-04
tunUlN =. SHELLS FOR
 THE RESERVE. SpaniardS Believe the : Hour to Fight Is
 at Hand. No Further Manifestations. of Hostility Toward =.
 Americans. Even the Volunteers Hold Themselves in Check for
 the Battlefield.
FOR PROCTOR'S BENEFIT.
The Cuban Insurgents Arrange a Show For of the Distinguished
 Senator From Vermont
Copyrighted. 1898, by James Gordon Bennett.

Copyrighted. 1898, by James Gordon Bennett < KEY WEST, Fla, on board <
 4 the special Herald Call dispatch <. < steamer Albert F. Dewey, March 4 < 3.-Havana was loading shells in 4 4 its reserve magazines and talking < 4 about war and next Sundays < 4 bull fight when the Dewey A
 4 steamed out past Morro to-day. 4
 The activity in the batteries and Y. v the talk of the officers convince v Y one that the Spanish believe the. 7. Y hour of hostilities Is near at Y 4 hand. Americans walk the streets ;<
 < unmolested. Publicly there is <
 4 no sign of the hatred toward %
 < them known to be felt by the 4
 volunteers and lower classes, and $-
 < which crops out from time to 4
 4 time
 The arrival of more Spanish < 4 warships IS eagerly awaited by 4
 the most loyal element. The vol
 unteers are more restless. So much for the city. As to <
 the Maine, the tell-tale plates
 from her bottom found yester- v day confirm more fully the v theory now accepted as proven by Americans that only an out Y < side explosion could have caused * 4 the disaster. A report has been % < circulated in Havana for two. $ < days that the loss of the ship has:;% < been already officially set dowri < 4 as due to a submarine mine be- :x 4 cause of the latest discoveries 4
 Ia I,, At--
 dispatch to that effect has been <
 ' sent from Havana to Washing-..V ton The fact is the official de- Y cision regarding the matter can Y Y come only from the Court of In- 4 4 quiry, and the latest information 4 4 secured by the divers is in pos 4. 4 session of witnesses who have 4 < not been heard by the court < < since the discoveries were made. 4.
 The nature of the latest developments nevertheless, has been told by the Her. ald All the work done recently at the wreck tends to confirm the theory o Powelson, fully outlined in the Herald he publication of which caused a sensa ion here Since 1 cabled regarding the of the keel and its being found n two sections, three more plates. the natural position of which was near the keel, have been found in debris near the present highest point of the wreckage which is nearly thirty feet from where they belong.
 The work done by the Spanish divers .or Blanco's Court of Inquiry yesterday caused much comment among Ameri- cans engaged at and near the wreck. One of them went down alone in the morning. He descended at point about forty feet from that part of the ship where the mine IS believed to have been located, and went around to that spot. He remained down only fifteen minutes. It was thought this man sought traces of a mine, or perhaps evi- 1ence tending to show an inside ex- 3losion, and 1t was reported that two others who spent an hour under the water in the afternoon found something which they accepted as supporting such theory. This the American divers re- ,ard as both impossible and absurd. as hey have had only one theory since hey began work, and that has been that he explosion was from the outside.
 As to the fact that the initial explo- ion was due to, a mine under the ship, American naval officers and residents lave been satisfied for days. The dis ussion here now is mainly concerning he direct responsibility and whether the nine was placed after or before the Maine was assigned to that particular 
 Tn this connection I notice more emperate tone on the part of Americans n discussing the affair than few days go. It is now known that neither Lee or Sigsbee believes the highest Span ,h officials had any knowledge of plot f any intention to injure the Maine An American whose view of the matter ,ould have great weight in Washington,