The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-03-01
IF TREACHERY Is PROVEN
THE ADMINISTRATION WILL ACT
VIGOROUSLY.

NICK .nley Waiting for Report of the Court
of IBquiry-Evidsnce of an Outside Ex-
pIosion ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Appeals
to Have the Bodies Brought Homo-Its
Impossibility- SPaniards Admit subter.
ran.an Passages-No Oficial News to Ee
H~Ad-Violence of Madrid Press
Washington, February 24.-Rumors
of startling discoveries in the wreck of
the Maine were less frequent, but there
were enough of them still afcat today
to warrant Secretary Long i'll making
this statement to the newspaper men
as he left his office: Summing up the
situation, / should say that the -GIy
department knows today nothing lore
about the cause of the disaster than it
did five minutes after the receipt Of the
first dispatch from Captain Sigsbee."
The secretary's attention was drawn
to the published statement that Cap
tain Crowninshield, chief of the bureau
Of navigation, had just arrived at
Tampa, Fla, on the Monterey, from a
trip to Cuba, where he had been in
speeding coaling stations neal Matan-
a. Hc SCNitLdI > IOIlIiiIciI WdS
simply this: Captain C~roWninshiald
has not been to Cuba. He has been off
with his boy on matters not in any
wise connected with the business of
the navy" Secretary Long further
said that he rather expected to see
Captain Crowninshield tomorrow.
Until the conclusion of the ~investiga-
ton OF the court of inquiry at Havana,
the principal business of the navy de-
partment in connection with the Maine
will relate to the conduct Of the wreck
ing operations. Captain Lemly, the
judge advocate general, who has this
branch Of the work Immediately in
charge, today received kilograms from
the Merritt and Chapman Wrecking
Companies at New York, stating tina
the steamer Merritt and wrecking
lighter Sharp has sailed for Havana
and that the tug Underwater, with the
chief, would leave New York Saturday
for the same place. The assistant
wrecking master was going to Havana
on the Ward Line steamer Saturday,
and it was suggested to the depart
ment that it's inspector should a k the
same steamer In asmuch as Lieuten-
ant Commander Kimball, who is now
at Havana, has been assigned to the
duty Of inspecting the wrecking opera
lIOlS IL " III lOl De utCeSSdIy 10 ODScTtC
this suggestion.
The only exact information received
at the navy department from Havana
during the day was conveyed in Cap
tain S~igsbee's telegram, as follows:
Havana, February "a, 1898.
Long, Secretary Of the Navy:
The Wrecking tug Right Arm arriv-
ed yesterday. She begins work today.
Much ~encumbering metal must be
blasted away in detail. Navy divers
have been down aft seven days and
forward four days. The bodies of Jen-
kins and Merritt have not yet been
found. Two unidentified bodies Of the
crew were found yesterday. The after
compartment is filled with detached,
broke and %buoyant furniture and
fittings, mud and confusion. The Span
ish authorities continue offers Of as
sistance and are for the wounded and
dead. Everything that goes from
wreck to the United States should be
disinfected. The Wrecking company
should provide for this. The surgeon
Of the Maine, after consulting with
others, recommended that all bed
ding and clothing should be abandoned
1t might go to the acclimated poor
Useless fittings and equipments might
be lowed to sea and thrown overheard
I will take all Immediate responsibility
but invite the departments wishes
Shall the Old metal of the superstruc-
ture and the like be saved? Friends
of dead should understand that we are
in the tropics. Chaplain ChidWi is
charged with all matters relative to the
dead. His conduct is beyond praise
l don't know what reports are being
printed, but the intensely active repre-
s%entativeS of the press here have beer
very considerable of me and my posi-,
ton. "SIGSBEE.'
Secretary Long Immediately answer
I'd Captain Sigsbee, approving all hi:
recommendations. He was directed t
have Lieutenant Wainwright, the eX
ecutive officer Of the Maine, max ar
rangements with the WreCkers for tht
disinfection of everything sent to tn
United States. The recommendation
that all bedding and clothing be aban
doned and if need be, be given to thu
aCclimated poor, was approved WlthOu
The same approval was Civ
en- to the suggestion that useless fit
tings and equipment be tOwed to Sea
and thrown overheard, it being left t,
CAPTAIN Sigsbee's judgement to deter
mine how far this destruction should
be carried on. To the captains inQuiry
a. to the saving of old metal and part!
of the Superstructure, the answer wa!
given hat such material was of no us
to the bureau of equipment. 1t wa
left to Captain Sigsbee to say what o
this shattered material was worth pre-
serving. His statement that niue
blasting will be required to clear ava.
e~ncumbering material indicates that /
is essential further to destroy the up
per portions of the wreck in order t
get at what is more valuable beneath
Captain Sigsbee'S statement that TN
divers have been down aft seven day
and forward four days, gave the nav
department the first information or tn
time that the divers had been in tn
vicinity of the zone of the explosion,
as he mad termed it. This zone is con
fined to the forward part of the shlI
and while the divers have been dow.
aft for the last week, their work for
ward. in the vicinity of the large mag
.azine, has been in progress only fou
days, which presumably began o
Monday and included today.
WHY THE DEAD CANNOT BE
BROUGHT HOME.