Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1898-03-31

At noon Monday the findings Of the ma
| val board OF inquiry rs to the cause of the
| explosions that wrecked the Maine
were sent to Congress by President Nc
Kinley. In anticipation of the report be-
| ing presented, the largest crowd which
has attended a session of Congress in
years was at the capitol. Not one-tenth
of the people who stormed the doors were
able to gain admission. The members Of
the House awaited the report with the
same fever,sh anxiety manifested by the
public. and there was scarcely vacant
seat on the floor.
| The verdict OF the court and the mes
sage from the White House accompany
ing is brief. The report as whole is for
NAL, dispassionate recital of facts, and
bears the stamp of that strict officialism
which marks naval procedure. An abb
stract of the eight parts Of the report is
here given
| /. At the time Of the explosion
| the battleship Maine was lying in
| FIVE and one-half to six fathoms Of
water.
| ?. The discipline was excellent.
| Everything was slowed according
| to orders, including ammunition,
| guns, and stores. The temperature
of the magazines ut s p. IN. was nor
| NAL, except in the after 1O-inch
| magazine, and that did not explode.
| 3. The explosion occurred at 0:40
| O'Clock in the evening Of Feb. 10.
There were two explosions, with
very short interval between them.
The ship lifted on the first explo-
| sion.
| 4. The court can form no definite
| opinion Of the condition Of the wreck
from the divers evidence.
| 5. There are technical details of
wreckagc, from which the court de-
duces that mine was exploded
under the ship on the port side.
q. The explosion was due to no
fault of those on board.
Z. In the opinion Of the court the
explosion of the mine caused the
explosion of two magazines.
&. The court is unable to find evil
dence to fix the responsibility.
| The report Is unanimous and is signed
by all the members of the court. 1t does
not refer to the existence or nonexistence
of the mine in the harbor Of Havana, ex-
cept in the specific finding that mine was
exploded under the ship and the opinion
that the explosion of the two magazines
was caused by the explosion of q mine.
This explains the remarkable destruction
wrought. The explosion is thus shown to
have combined the force of mine with
out and two magazines within. The two
explosions which the court finds to have
occurred, with a very short interval be-
tween them, is an additional detail show
ing that two forces operated in causing
the destruction
The feature of the report Of deepest in
terest to the navy is the complete exon
Grafton of Captain Sigsbee and all on
board, contained in the second finding
lsetting forth the perfect order and discip-
line prevailing on the ship, and more di-
rectly stated in the sixth finding, which
declares the disaster to be due to no fault
of those on board.
While the evidence upon which the
court Of inquiry based its findings was not
sent to Congress along with the report
a member of the Foreign Relations Com
mittee who saw this evidence, says that
it presents strong proof Of SPANS respon-
sibility for the explosion. There is not
only evidence of a submarine mine, but
the officers of the Maine found pieces of a
cable and the shore connections. This
agrees with the report that Lieutenan,
jenkins made such discoveries the day
before the Maine was blown up, and with
the statements which have been frequent
ly published.