The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1898-02-28
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81 THE REC oNcENTRADos.
D Special Correspondents.
4 HAVANA, Cuba, Feb. ls.-Long be-
fore this letter can reach Wheeling, In
the regular way, the cable viii have
! brought you nm account of the Official
funeral Of our poor boys of the maine"
the most splendid public demonstra-
tlon which Havana has witnessed ina
quarter OF q century. You may imagine
the thirty collins IN row in the grand
salon; OF the cop tain generals palace,
the lines OF Spanish soldiers standing
Z silently on guard, the thousands Of mag
I nllleent floral tributes and the tens Of
Thousands Of sad-faced people OF all
7 nationallties. many Of them in tears.
/ who came to view the black boxes: the
twenty-four hearses, the hundreds OF
5 horses with noddins plumes, the long
procession Of carriages and pedestrians,
n and the band playing solemn dlrges.
\ Every official OF the Spanish govern
ment partlcipated--eyen z the bishop.
who, has taken part In but one previous
funeral. Perhaps the most pathetic
: part OF the procession was the !, 900 re-
I concentrates who brought UP the rear.
Ragged, hatless, bare-footeda and dirty,
g hardly able to walk from sickness and
starvation, they followed hunbly In the
rear. Knowing that the dead We're cit.
B. izens OF the United States-the country
which has sent them food and on which
Z they base all their hopes Of better days,
they expressed their gratitude In the
only way they knew.
Let nobody persuade you that Spain
was responsible for the great disaster
Z In all probability II was an accident,
which will be explained In the course of
Z the pending investigation; or at the
. worst. the horrible crime was commit.
ted by some irresponsible lunatic, like
Guitteau. or Booth, or the last assassin
\ OF the president Of France. Everything
+ in the power OF man to do for the relief
y OF the survivors and to further the full
Investigation has been done by the
Spanish government and the people Of
Havana They bore the entire cost Of
the funeral, and nobody In the city will
( accept any pay for the service rem
T. dered Neither pain nor expenses has
2 been spared, and the fathers and moth
ers OF the men could not have been
4 kinder The marines OF the Spanish
man-of-war that lay alongside the
a''.Maine" in the harbor, and the Bonn
5 beros (firemen) Of Havana risked their
Z lives In assisting on the night of the dis
aster. and the doctors in the Spanish
I military hospital of San Ambroslo.
where many OF the wounded were taken,
9,aithor mi l,1o q a in fhtrt ". civ hntrc
in unremitting care Of the suffering Z
OF course, In time of war. when feel
4 ing runs so high, all manner. of stories
4 are in circulation. One ofthem is to the
select that'for come time a strange man
4 had been haunting the United States
consulate, begging General Lee to send
4 the "Maine" away. as something horri-
( BILE was about to be done to her. They
{ thought he was crank, such as fre-i
D quently visit the white house, and sent
him away again and again; but now
they are diligently hunting for him and
he cannot be found. heard one of the
officers OF the, Maine" say that 1t was
not possible for q bomb to. have explo-
y ded beneath her. The keel lay within
!! two and one-half feet OF the bottom OF
the harbor, and bomb large enough to
destroy the big vessel could not have
: crowded between the mud and the keel;
Z Furthermore, bomb OF sufficient capac-
+ ity to have lifted the Maine" would
3 also have wrecked Havana and de-
s stroyed every other ship in the harbor.
An oft.repeated cannrd liz that the
commanding officer OF the Maine.
when the explosion first occurred, sent
s FIVE men down to remove the gunpowdcr
= and dynamite in the hold, in order 70
4 gave the city, and that the men obeyed,
knowing that 1t meant death to them
4 all. AS q matter OF fact but q few Gee
( onds elapsed between the first alarm and
= the final explosion, and there was no
time for the giving Of any orders what
ever III. 2 t&g l3iis
4 i am spending q few hours every day
! with the wounded men who remain In
: the Hospital de San Anbrosia, writing
Z letters for them to their wives and
sweethearts. ard carrying them the
grapes and cigarettes and little Injuries
which some OF them crave. In no case
X have I been allowed 10 pay a penny for
+ anything for the hospital; every mer-
4 chant In Havana Is ready to place his
( entire stock at my disposal. These are
! the worst cases among the living, oil the
Z rest having died here or been sent 10
Key West. They are all patient and
cheerful fellows, bearing their pains like
! heroes. Though terribly burned, their
scverest injuries came from being DASH
y ed with such violence against the rocks.
Among them is Fred c. Holger, of New
Z York city. with both legs and arms en-
tirely helpless. besides terrible burns
4 and bruises. One Of the most pitlablc
{ cases is that OF William Mattingly,
handsome young fellow from Bay City,
Michigan. His jaw Is crushed and his
whole body n mass OF Injuries, and so
excruciating are his suftcrings that he
lis kept most OF the time under tho In
q fiuence OF oplates. The burned and
Z powder blackened faces of oil arc COW
Y cred with, sheets OF cotton batting, put
! on helmet fashion, with sllts for eyes,
mouth and ncstrls: and Sister Mary
Wilberforcc. OF the English Rcd Cross
Society, who Is their devoted nurse,
calls them her crusaders In battle array.
This dear little woman has washed md
A Never-die.
The 'slle.time'of DR.. Bulls Cough
3 Syrup will never draw to close.
n mother once uses il, she con-