Worcester morning daily spy. (Worcester, Mass.) 1888-1898, 1898-02-18


all that could be CLEANED was a denial
of some absurd story or other that ha6
crept into print or become current gos
sip. All Of the news of the day came in
the late afternoon in the shape of Capt
| Sigsbee's report of the authorization Of
the funeral of his dead sailors.
| The officials of the navy department
! devoted the day to the effort to correct
the lists of living and dead, to answer
frantic appeals from relatives of men or
| the battleship Maine, and last, but moi
least, in meeting with unwavering cour.
tesy and patience the exacting demands
upon their time of the press representa-.
tives, The disposition of the survivors
Capt. Dickins, acting chief of the navi.
cation bureau, has arranged for, as wei
as could be from that distance. The
wounded sailors in the Havana hospit
ais, on the Spanish flagship and else
where, when not in condition to be
brought back to Key West, will be care
fully looked after by Miss Clara Barton
who has been given carte blanche to buy
any and everything necessary, food
clothing, delicacies and hire nurses and
physicians.
The wounded able to get across to Key
West will be taken care of in the ma
nne hospital there. The sound surviv-
ors viii! be quartered in the spare army
barracks there.
AS to the Maine herself, notwith-
standing discouraging reports from
Lieut.. Hood as to her condition, the
navy department will make the effort
to raise her. While this is not required
by every creditable sentiment, they say
that they are bound to remove the hull
from the small harbor in any case, and
it will be easier to raise her than II
would be to destroy the hull and ma
chinery by the use of divers and dyna-
mite. 1t is believed this work can best
be done by private wrecking corpora
tons, and negotiations are already afoot
for placing the contract, based on work
by the day, at an estimated cost OF
5000 600
At the navy department specific denial
was given to the report emanating from
Madrid, that a torpedo fotilla was
about to leave Key West for Cuba. II
was stated that only two torpedo boats,
the Gushing and the Ericsson, are at
Key West, and these have not been or
dered, and will not be ordered, accord
ing to present plans, to Cuba. 1t was
strongly asserted that no present pur-
pose existed Of sending any warship
there
Senior Du Bose, the Spanish charge
d'affaires, had received no instructions
up to 6 o'clock as to going to New
York and stopping the Spanish ship
Vizcaya from entering the port, and re-
ports to this effect We're discredited.
The air of suppressed excitement
which characterized the movement OF
the employees and visitors at the White
House yesterday, was not noticeable to.
day There were comparatively few
visitors during the morning hours, and
for a considerable time in the middle, OF
the day the White House bore an al
most deserted appearance. Only linn
tied number of members of congress
called during the morning, and the in
terviews were brief. Mr.. Gary was tht
only member of the cabinet who called
and his business related entirely to de
partmental matters.
Assistant Secretary Day saw the pres
ident for a few minutes, but he hat
nothing of Importance to communicate
until after o'clock, when ne carried tt
the White House official information OF
the closing of the De LONE letter in.
cident.
SO far as could be learned, the only
information of the situation in Havana
that reached the president direct, came
through the Associated Press. On the
streets there was notieeably less ex-
citement than yesterday, when the peo-
pie were 10th to believe that under the
circumstances the loss of the Maine
could be traced to other than Spanish
sources.
All the flags throughout the city, In
Guiding those on the capitol and the
department buildings, are flying at hall
mast today, and among the others is
conspicuous that "Cuba Libre,' which
flies from the staff on the Hotel Raj
eight. the headquarters of the Cuban
junta.