Arizona republican., 1898-03-09
The First Article Of the Report
 will Ezonerate Sigsbee
SIGNS OF AN EXPLOSION
After that Comes the Fixing of
 the Responsibility
The Difficulty of Getting tho Cuban Relief Supplies Into the Interior Points for Which They Were ln- tended.

Washington, March 8.-The Star
 prints the following Havana dispatch
 from Charles M. Pepper, its special present attitude of the Spanish author
 ities:
 "The status of the Maine inquiry is
 such as to justify the expectation of a
 court of inquiry. Nothing has so far
 been uncovered by the divers this week
 which conflicts with what they pre- viously discovered. The court had
 the idea that this might happen, and did not want to formulate conclusions which might be modified by subsequent
 evidence. This expectation having been shown fruitless, the court can go forward with it's report. The divers however, may continue their investi-
 gations in the extreme forward part of
 the vessel, but there is nothing to be learned there. As the raising of the
 entire hull is a doubtful proposition, the examination of it already made
 probably discloses all that may ever
 be known of the way the external ex- plosion effected it.
 'The exoneration of Captain Sigsbee
 from the remotest responsibility for the wreck of the Maine will neces- sarily be the first article in the courts report. That will carry with it dec
 laration of the improbability of an
 accident that might have been pre- vented. The improbability of an ac-
 cident from any mysterious cause will also appear. After that comes the evi- dence of an explosion by design and the responsibility for it must be fixed.
 ''The Spanish government will be able to learn nothing from it's own divers to controvert what the divers from the navy department have found. All it can do is to claim that an ex- plosion from external sources has not been proven. What the United States is to do about it may be known in Washington.
 "All we know in Havana is that ths Spanish authorities are waiting for the first step to be taken by the United States, but they are not in fear of early acion. The Havana populace finds satisfaction in the presence here of the Vizcaya, and eagerly awaits the com ing of other Spanish warships. The
 government itself is puzzled by these demonstrations.
 While everybody's mind is st Il in tent on the Maine disaster the people l of Cuba continue to die of starvat on. I wonder if President Mckinley has 1 influence enough to get some of the | food contributed by the American pee pie out into the country among those 1 for whom it was meant? Nothing has yet gone into the interior, though large supplies are warehoused in Havana Consuls who have been waiting two | months for promised relief, instead of food receive explanations that the sys tenn of distribution has not yet been perfected. Trains are running to the interior, but food does not get beyond Havana. In the neighboring towns the demoralization attending the in terior affairs of Cuba continues. 8lanco was never more powerless tc accomplish results. It is only a ques- tion of days when Gomez will be heard from again rejecting the latest prop ositiOn of the autonomist cabinet.
 That proposition was in substance that
 Gomez and the insurgents should con- trol the Cuban government under Spanish supervision. Govin and Dolz
 of the autonomist cabinet have under taken to open negotiations.
 "Gomez will receive no Spanish
 commission that does not come to ar
 range terms of independence. When
 his answer is received the last pre-
 tense of autonomy will be gone Dolz
 and Govin know in advance that their
 mission will fail The feeling of des-
 peration among higher Spanish off
 cials does not lessen. Many of them
 do not disguise their hope that the Maine incident will bring about a rup-
 ture which will enable Spain to let go of Cuba with honor.'
 ''It is certain that the naval court has been able to find nothing which will quiet the American people or in duce them to let the wre6 king of the Maine pass into history as an inex- plicable visitation of Divine Provi- dence. The government here dis courages as far as possible this reck- less feeling among it's own servants. The effort is kept up to make people here believe that the administration