The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1898-04-09
INFERRED AS NOS. | AND 2.
Pathetic Incidents of Burfnis of Vic
Inns of spa nIsh Treachery.

IhS Vi
Relatives OF the victims of the Maine
explosion are inccnsed at the careless
manner in which the authorities sent
the bodies of two of the dead to this
city from Havana. They were incased in
costly caskets. but there was nothing to
identify them. Both bodies have been
inferred as unknown 1t took a great
deal of time, money and influence to get
the bodies out of Havana, but those in
charge of the arrangements simply num-
bered them, like so much merchandise.
On Monday one OF the bodies reached
this city from Havana on the City of
Washington. 1t vas labelled No. I.
Thursday another body arrived on the
steamer LaInpasas. labelled No. 2. Both
were in Theoretically sealed lead caSAets
and consigned to the eommandant of the
navy yard at Brooklyn.
To open the Baskets was out of the
question. The work of decompJ iticn
had been going on for weeks Even Il
the lids were removed IL would be i'm
possible to Identify it's contents.
On Thursday casket No. was Inferred
in the cemetery adjoining the Naval
Hospital Rev. Father Reney. chap
lain of the receiving ship Vermont. con-
dueted the funeral services. It was said
the casket contained the remains Of En-
gineer Merrill. IL such was the case IL
was the duty Of the commandment to ship
the body to MeFrnl's relatives who i've
in Iowa. There was nothing. however.
to substatiate the Merrill theory. and
so the corpse was inferred az mo. i.
Yesterday casket mo. g was buried.
1t also contained an unknown. Father
Reney conducted the burial service.
Since the arrival of the bodies in this
city various relatives of the victims OF
the Maine have been trying to discover
whether or not the Baskets contained
their kin. No one was able to throw
any light on the matter.
During the past six weeks the Navy
Department at Washington has been
flooded with letters from relatives of
the deal sailors begging for information
as 10 how to secure the removal of the
bodies to this city. Hundreds of letters
of like nature have been received by
Admiral Bunce.
Albert j. HOIzer. contractor. No. 15H
Avenue A. had a brother who persisted
with the battleship. He was anxious
TO have the body brought TO this city.
no matter what the expense. The dead
man had been member Of several
singing societies. and il was their in
tentiOn should the body be brought
here To have a public funeral. Mr..
Holzer did everything in his power To
have the body sent to this city. He
appealed TO Admiral Bunce and to the
Navy Department.
When the arrival OF the two sealed
caskets from Havana was announced
he thought one of them might contain
his brothers body. but there was moth
ing 10 tell the story of the contents Of
either casket.
IL cost this Government between 500
and $500 to have these two unknown
bodies brought here. In addition to the
money there was no end of red tape to
overcome before the Spanish authorities
would permit the removal from Havana.
There is a law in Cuba which pro-
hibits the shipping Of bodies from the
place of death. 1t was adopted for the
purpose Of preventing the spread Of dis
ease At times fever is rampant in Gu
ba. Its victims are practically buried
where they fall This prohibitory law
is seldom violated. To remove the
Names victims from Havana II was
necessary to overcome it, Consul Gen
eral Lee had to make "A personal appeal
to have the bodies sent here.
At the commandments office in the ma
Wy yard yesterday the following state
ment was made:
I'VE kno" nothing further about the
bodies than that they are the remains
of Maine victims There was nothing
to identify them. They are buried a
unknOwns."