The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-03-20
NAMES OFFICERS ARRIVE
OFFICIAL DENIAL THAT THEY
BROUGHT COURTS REPORT
In conference With the President
and Secretary Long the Survivors
as Their personal OpinOins" Ex-
pressed the View That the BattIe-
ship Was Wrecked by External
Explosion.

WASHINGTON, March 19-The ar
rival of several survivors Of the Maine
and their extended conferences with
President Mckinley and Secretary
Long furnished the most interesting
feature in today's developments on the
Spanish situation.
Three officers of the Maine, Lieut. G.
E. Wheelman, Lieut.. George P. Blow
and Lieut.. A. W. Catlin, of the marine
corps, accompanied by Boatswain Lar
kinS, came on unexpectedly from Key
West Ut was said their visit was
purely voluntary on their part, as they
are now waiting orders and are free
to go where they please.
Their long conferences at the navy
department and later at the White
house led to much conjecture, it being
asserted that Lieut.. Blow brought with
him the report of the court Of inquiry,
or at least the general conclusions
reached by that court
1t can be stated positively, however,
from an authoritative source that the
officers did not bring with them the
report, either as a whole or it's general
conclusions. 1t is stated with equal
positiveness and authoritatively that
they do not know what the action of
the court of inquiry is and therefore
are not In a position to convey any
information to the president or secre-
tary Of the navy on that point.
Graphic Stories.
Their talks were confined entirely to
graphic narratives of their experiences
on the night Of the explosion In the
course of this narrative, however, tndi-
vidual opinion as to the cause of the
explosion found expression. These
opinions, as already stated, were pure
nprSOnn1 IoI
proceedings Of the court of inquiry.
These personal opinions, however, it
was learned reliably, were strongly
favorable to the theory Of an external
cause leading to the destruction of the
Maine.
The officers themselves maintain the
stricteSt reserve not only as to inter
views for publication, but also in
speaking with their associates in the
naval service. This led naval officers
to refrain from referring to the Maine
disaster while talking with them One
of the officers volunteered the sugges-
ton that he would be glad to talk if
his lips We're not sealed by the strict
est orders.
After the conference with the presi-
dent and the secretary of the navy, the
Maine officers did not return to the
navy department, and considerable care
was exercised in having their where
abouts kept from public attention.
Another interesting arrival of the
day was Constructor Hoover the tech
nical expert sent to Havana to identify
the twisted plates in the Maine wreck
age with a view to learning whether
the explosion was of internal or eX-
ternal origin. Mr.. Hoover also main
tanned silence
Senators Interested.
A.,
ators took advantage Of the fact that
the senate was not in session today to
call upon the cabinet officers with the
hope Of securing definite information
as to the Cuban situation.
They succeeded only in learning that
the report Of the Maine court Of In
quiry had not arrived, but that it was
expected early next week and that it
would be forwarded to congress imme-
diately upon it's arrival, unless of an
Unexpectedly startling character.
Some of them found the high officials
of the state department celebrating
upon the line Of policy to be pursued
in case the report Of the naval court
should have the effect Of entirely elm
mating the Maine incident from the
situation. So strongly was this con-
tingency dwelt upon that the inference
was drawn by some of the senatorial
visitors that the department had been
led to believe, or had been even inform
ed that the report would fail to connect
the Spanish authorities or the Span
iards with the tragedy.
Still the state department officials did
not make any positive declaration that
such information was in their possess
sion, rather advancing 1t as tentative
suggestion and when pressed for infor-
nation on this point replied that they
only knew that the report was to come
next week and that they had no ad-
vance information as to It's contents.
They seemed inclined to seek sugges-
tions rather than to give out opinions
as to plans apparently indicating that
no definite course has been decided
upon pending the Maine report.
Watching Spain.
Besides receiving the Names sur
vivors, Secretary Long today conferred
with members of the senate and house
naval committees and with number
Of ship owners.
The secretary expressly contradicted
a report to the effect that the orders