Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1898-02-24

some reason | cannot explain to nv.
SELF now. | moved TO the starboard side
and sat down there. | was feeling 8
bit GUM, and, in fact, was so quiet
that Lieutenant J Hood came up and
asked laughingly ii / was asleep. |
said: No, | am on watch Scarcely
had spoken when there was dull
sullen roar. Would to God that J
/ could blot out the sound and scenes
that followed. Then came a sharp ex.
! plosion; some say numerous detona
/ tons | remember only one. II
seemed TO me the sound came from the
port side forward, Then came a per.
feet rain of missiles OF all deserip-
tions-trom huge pieces of cement TO
blocks of wood, steel ratings, trag-
ments Of gratings and all the debris
that would be detachable at first in
case of an explosion. | was struck
on the head by piece of cement and
lrocked down, but l was not hurt, and
got on my feet in moment. Lieu
| tenant Hood had run to the poop and
| followed him. When ! got there
| though scarce a minute could have
elapsed | had TO wade in the water up
| TO my knees, and almost instantly
/ the quarter deck was awash On the
| poop found Captain Sigsbee as cool
as If at ball, and soon all the officers
; except Jenkins and Merritt joined us.
/ The poop was above water after the
/ Maine settled to the bottom. Captain
! S.gsbee ordered the launch and gig
I lowered, and the officers and men, who
| by this time had assembled got the
! boats out and rescued a number in the
water. Captain Sigsbee ordered Lieu
tenant Commander Wainwright for
ward TO see the extent of the damage
and if anything could be done to res
cue those forward. or extinguish the
fl mes which followed close upon The
| explosion and burned tlercely as long
| as there were any combustibes above
/ water to feed upon. Wainwright on
| his return reported the awful charac-
ter of the calamity and Sigsbee gave
! the last sad order Abandon the ship.
| The men were overwhelmed with grief
but calm and apparently unexcited
| In the meantime four boats from the
/ Spanish cruiser Alfonzo XII arrived,
| being followed soon by two from the
| Ward line steamer City OF Washing
ton. Two boats were lowered from
the City of Washington and were
| found to be riddled with flying debris
/ from the Maine and unfit for use.
| have no theories as to the cause of the
explosion. | cannot form any.
/ EXaminatin by divers may tell some
\ thing to a court of inquiry I With
I others had heard that the Havana
harbor was fun OF torpedoes but officers
whose duty it was to examine into that
reported that they found no signs OF
| any. Personally | do not believe the
! Spanish had anything to do with the
| disaster. We were in delicate posi-.
| tion on the Maine so far as taking any
ecautions was concerned. We
We're friends in friendly, or alleged
friendly, port and could not fire upon
or challenge the approach OF any boat
boarding us unless convinced that her
intention was hostile. I have been In
! two wrecks now and have had my
/ share, But the reverberations OF tina
sullen, yet resonant roar. as If the bot
tom of the sea was grooming In tor
ture, will haunt me for many a day
and the reflection of that pillar o
flame comes to me even when I close
my eyes. ="