Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1898-03-03
7HE NAIYE EXPLOSION.
,..,.d BY the Explosion Of a Floating su'"a-
'' rine Mine,
,sfD FROM AN ELECTRIC BATTERY


ro March 2-vla Key West
ha adding unnecessarily to the
WIZ =, surmise, conjecture ana
t"u ,os concerning the finding OF the
p'v ~ inquiry, 1t is fair to say tha'
cow .,ar of fact. most of the naval
,s.rs here and at Key west iiicIhe
V-' .so opinion that the court VIII iinu
.ha disaster to the Maine was
'-s IA bv the explosion of hoatins
es,,rs mine under the port side oil
tD1 .h,n forward. opinions dilfer'as &c
us I'D the mine was made of high
N" ",os,ves such as wet and dry gun
op .on or ordinary gunpowuer' A..
cotton, AGREE, not only as to the
Vli'sa of mines in the harbor, pul
exs'tht This one was laid purposeiy
also w. huoy where foreign Vesseis
near sl,rected to moor, and was hreu
were an an electric battery ON shore.
non a. believed hardly possible thai; the
y Titan 70 of the mine was the result OF
tApIa,essness or ignorance OF SpaniSn
aesrs in charge of the NINE statio..
Ssys when testing the circuit pu. .i
latter supposition is ieit u NC p'''
able. -. ,a,,orded os settled by
,,,5enre before the court that the
,ps aide Of the hull forward was conf
lUi,.iv hIo,yn to pieces, and that the
ltrH vnlosion on the Maine. except
Vn;,olntad cases of fixed ammunition
VI r.s that Of 1000 pounds OF salu,ins
,owdlr. stored forward ana OIL Whicii
no trace can be found, an
80 ypho talk with great reserve, ana
vi, ,non the assurance that their
,inn,ty will never be revealed. The
IVY. ranains that only the members or
AZ cn,irt Of inquiry know all the testi-
,n n elected and none is authorized
~ make such matters known in ad-
vance of the inal adjudgment.
GOOD deal of surprise was eX-
,rsssed by Americans here on learning
~, Inc snanish divers were to be per-
rnIttad TO make an examination OF the
wrack NJ the Maine, especially as II
was also said American naval officers
would give such divers all consistent
tac1litles and would throw no obstacles
IN ,he way of thorough submarine
Inspection. ,.., o 4.
came to he later that the Spanish
search was to be entirely independent.
and while il was being made theAmer-
loan investigators would proceed un>
der Cant. siGbee's supervision. As un-
dersto6d here, the Spanish request
made Immediately after the disaster
for a point investigation was prompt
4 " refused at Washington, but after
that the Spaniards had moral and In
ternational right to discover the cause
Of the wreck for themselves. II posi-
a HE. Therefore permission for an in.
"a dependent examination was granted,
"a on the grounds, az understood here,
81 that II could not he refused TO Il
friendly power in her own harbor That
the permission was not accorded I'M
Ill after the court Of inquiry had fin
ished its work here and gone to Key
West is regarded as significant. 1t
opens wide field for speculation.
Some assert that the court now has
no objection to Spanish inquiry for
ore Of two reasons either the court has
sufficient evidence already of accident
or maice-evidence that cannot be
controverted by the Spaniards-or ar
ter digent search. the mystery re-
mains as deep as ever, and the court
does not think the Spanlarls will
reach a conclusion where the Ameri-
cans have failed.
OF course, all this refers principally
10 Inspection of parts of the ship
other than the hull. Until the guns.
decks, engines and debris of all kinds
have been removed and the mud has
been pumped out of the hull 1t cannot
be examined thoroughly by anyone.
Some good authorities thing 1t will
be necessary to build q Golfer dam
around the wreck, piles being driven,
e'c mat any important testimony be-
4 iofe The court has found its way to the
4 public Is very unlikely.
some or the witnesses have told GER
\ laln correspondents OF alleged testI-
h Mony pnt IN every case investigation
has shown their stories to be widely
improbable and contruverted by known
facts, or else absolutely irrelevant,
some OF the correspondents have tried
Wtslqt information from members
81 the court or from naval witnesses
uyrpWtlng clever hypothetical inter.
IVsalores' But the queStioners were
.ut experts in naval architecture and
ne questions were, so the results We're
unsatisfactory.
,.i pr9bably the court knew before 1t
.tt havana for Key West whether the
Wh'inoh magazine on the starboard
onward did or did not explode. but the
msinoeis gave no sign, and the divers
r Slen tney TAX ut all, contradict each
suei' Doubtless even the contractors
~, ,Sl the removal of the inner debris and
e ias'ng OF the hull do not fully APP
mN,ate the difficulties to be encoun-
h,s I certainly the tug Right Arm
r.
@pain not having sufficient authority
ssh.i Monday to employ the HELM or Ia
nm NE needed lighters.
,,nme enucisinc the naval divers for
~. NJ ,soWness, 1t must he remembered
ami, 'lcis Is grim, dangerous and difB
tn WORK In muddy. foul water.
,av sh a mass of riveted steel. bent |
over , Tna,sered gratings and ladders. |
80 upturned matches, scatterad ON,
ia
WsIun wires, they must make ar c,,t |
eisa ' , intricate way. They must eyer |
b s ssa. care lest their air tubes viii |
,sass ,ieu ny sharp projectiles All, |
r,sas many have had bad falls in Inc
m Nm ai hght and difficult passages
4 Ia h,use weight Of the wreck cni,ses |
re barlou "eeper INTO the soft mud of |
# No NJ. making the task of raising
~ uie herculean. While mo on,
M ms Us allowed on the wreck tho o..,
mi ,h ues are not 50 rigid as fornari,,
sI o,,. oo9ts OF visitors are allowed 10
,, uuse 10 the mass of debris
AhERlcANs IN DANGER.
trso1.aasa. March THE ouestIop !,
danesr ~ asked; Are Americans in
answer ~ haFana?" The only trutbfui
dent nv sven by well informed ra,i
We tbirl erlean official or layman Is
COURSE sro, ho, We don't know" ar
on The sppsish officials who Will taiIs
dsrt T. but they are "a mmS S 'qea oil
1a,A as the rest 60 much In the
position informed mo Cuban of high soc,o,
goyernTsaa.iu on good terms witb ~
Of the A ssos,,said to the corresnond ~,
the low SdIjy yante Press; "Of course in
constant p boss,. and saloons there are
sons as to WIS SbS, 10y ,y irresponsible per-
americans. h,,, they Intend to do to