Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1898-03-04
Maine DisasterStiII Shrouded
in Mystery.
CONFLICTING REPORTS.
Rumor that the Board OF Inquiry Had
Wired Startling Information to the
Navy Department Officially De-
nied--Situation Unchanged.
lBY T@lagranh-l

lbe given as to the movement of the
court from Key West, as the court is
fuly uuthcn!iZed to shape its own move
rfentS. The original orders to thz court
We're issued by AGMnirul Sicard, as COM
nandes OF the fleet to which the Maine
belonged, and it has the technical status
OF an adj'Iiiro.' S court, reporting directly
TO nun, both as to it's movements and
as TO it's findings m the cause OF the
disaster. The understanding here is tha
the cu;1It has not c~uncluled its work.
but Will return to Havana to take tes-
tIlnony which has been dElayed by the
i'm the way Of TIE divers.
That Admired Sicard expects his move
back tho Havana Was shown by a dis
patch from him a few days ago, sug-
StSttng that arrangements he made for
a vessel to take this cC1rrt back. AS the
lighthouse lerIier Mungrove had been
ddlng this service, the Treasury De-
partnteht Was X TO assign the MAN
grove for tt41 return ds THE court to KEY
West, ami this was dome. With these
a~rlallgements concluded, it is said at
the Navy Department that the court
WIN proceed without consulting Off
Gals ha.e-
arrangements are being made for the
trip .f the cruises Montgomery and the
sunjboat Nashville to Cuban ports With
relief supplies. The Navy Department.
was advised tNe4aay that THE Mallory
llne steamer Geav1ing New York mkt
saturday would caI,uy, free OF charge
seVanty-five tons of supplies, to Ibe
transferred to the Montgomery ami
NASHVILLE at KY West. The Mallory
Steamer is expected to take about fcrlr
days IN this run dow the coast. so
that The t. ansfer TO the war shins and
Their start to Cuba cauNn5tt be mad.
before next THURSDAY Tha two war
shTps are poorly atlapretl, for CARRYING
SUPPLIES, having scanr quarters for tt~e.r
oMnl OF coriage. provisions.
canvas nrd ships eQufpInent, 1t is only
BECAUSE they can make the n,un i'm dav-
iISht THAT any atremp pit is madh to carry
the Seventy-tive toms of Supp les. Thesa
VIII! De stored on the spar deck, and
WIN god Weather THE daylight run Will
.ot suoJect them to Amy damage. The
reiiel measures ARE provIng unexpect-
euly successful, the supplI 5 Running
INTO the car loads oIAf Hundreds of t.,ns
inc state DEPARTMENT. has had nottrne
from the Cuban Relief CounnnNt tsxa at
New York that there were shipped on
n!an q | IRON New York to Santiago
aVo'ooo pounds of Gief supplies: sn the
"a, TO Havana, 70, 900 pounds: ro-Gny, TO
.NatanzaS, 100, 600 pounds, and to ,.acIa
Ia Gfiund=, 100. 900 pounds. In these ship
n1ents are SOC. 900 g,uins of uuinine
GotfSlSnsd To each of the ports. except
Havana. ~
THE lain Relief FUND, uni ,er Mr.,
total Of So, lla. " :"
me only telegram relating IL, the
Maine disaster tt,at came ITO the NAVY
pepartne'nt during the Say was the roi-
Key West: a.
Bach arrived. Brought one BODY
th!dentlired. and Paul Leoftus. private
mal.re: Jeremiah Shea, coal passer:
John Heffner, ordinary Th.os
:; irony Maiers, ol'a5naIy seaman wounded
sS,nt to the army hospital. The funeral
Of the body ma stacted Tor the Genre
terry"
In the course of the inquiry into the
naval resources of the United States.
an order has been ISSUED to maku. q
test of the machinery OF the old war
monitors at the League Island Navy.
Yard These are single turreued craft
that ant. armed with big smaoth-b ~
gums i'm turrets that Could Ekely b..
plerca: by the moielm high powdered
RIFLES on the hattFeships, but they would
SUM he OF service. in am emergency.
There are eight of these monitors at
letigEe island, and the Government
WINS several others that are now,
loaned to the naval militia evrganiza-
tlonS "r some of the States. Those at
League Island are the following: Cam
4nIcus, xMahorsac. Manhattan. Catsklll.
Jason, LIesI!g'h, Mon'tauk and Nalhapt
Ilfs'y ara all between 1880 and 2.NOo
ions displacement. and draw very little
water. SO that they could take up ad-
vantaseouS' plsitiSns on shoals com
manding channel approaches. The in
tertFon Us 10 turn over the Oh engines
and work the machinery that is madt
to turn the turrets if it can be made 10
| work at all.
ourlng the course of the day similar
INQUIRIES to thai made by TIN. Japan4Sp
legation, as to the number of her sub
5ects aIboald this Maine. came tn the
Navy DEPARTMENT. from the German and
swedish Legations. and 1T is expected
that others Will follow. Nearly every
nat rGNnallty was represented in the
Mainta big crew.
Secretary Long to-day authorized an
absolute. and positive denial of u report
asserting that a partial or preliminary
report mad BEEN received by the Gov
eminent from tina Maine inquiry board
ndi% ting that the loss suf the Maine
":S due to an EXTERNAL explosion. He
SaId that no repNrt of eny kind had
been received. aini that the public had
all the Information that had come to
hand.
If the progress of the inquiry at Ha-
ANA depends upon THE work of the
Wreckers. as seems to be the case, for
NftnaHlg of substantial impontancs can
zoe achieved until the heavy debris is
removed from THE wreck, considerable
delay must inevitably occur. To tow
the large derricks from Boston and
New York to Havan is nEver a speed u
and seldom, a safe undertaking.. As a
mattT of fact. the derrick Chief. at
Norfolk. is nt'w storm bound just IN
Side of itiNe Chesapeake cape!s. although
II was fully expected that by this TIME
she would he far below Hatteras. This
makes 10 V~mprohaible that the DERRICK
can reach Havapa tharbor and get to
| Work Inll(sh lhIJor.. tho nooi13ha ne ,..x,+