Worcester morning daily spy., 1898-02-20

took from New York city for the Maine
was on board the Maine at the time of
the explosion, as no opportunity had
offered to transfer them from the Tex
as, where they still remain"
Expressions of coincidence still con-
tinue to reach the state department from
sympathetic foreign nations. Notable
among them was one that came to hand
last evening from the queen regent of
Spain as follows:
| Madrid Feb IS.
President Mckinley, Washington:
Her majesty, the queen, mas just sent
one Of the gentlemen Of the royal house
excellency, her profound sorrow and
sympathy in the sad accident which has
befallen the United States ship Maine at
Havana.
Woodford.
1t is scarcely expected at the depart
ment that any information of value as
to the cause of the explosion will be
available until the court has begun the
formal inquiry. The divers now at work
in the wreck are understood to be EN-
ployed in securing dead bodies, and in
the removing Of ships papers and small
articles of value, so that it is unlikely
| they would give any heed to the bot
tom of the hull, buried as it probably
is deep in the mud The officials here
intimate that the discovery of pieces of
torpedoes is not to be taken in itself as
| evidence of an outside attack upon the
vessel, for it is fully expected that of
the eight torpedoes on the Maine, some
We're more or less ruptured and scat
tered by the explosion which destroyed
the ship
There was a good deal of talk among
the officials Of the need of speedy relief
! measures for the benefit of families of
the victims of the explosion. Under the
treasury rules, the allotments of por-
tons of pay to members of their fam
lilies made by the men who persisted in
the wreck must stop at once. 1t is not
doubted that congress will do as it did
in the case of the Samoan disaster
provide for years pay to the families
of the sailors who died at their posts.
The difficulty, however, is that such a
measure cannot be passed at once and
meantime some of the families Of the
dead sailors will be in great distress.
The subject has been taken up by Mr..
Long who has called a meeting for Mon
day to initiate the movement. 1t hap
pens that by the rare chance of an I'M
! expected change of paymasters recent
ly, very little of the savings of the
Names sailors went down in their yes
sells
Since the spontaneous combustion
| theory has come SO prominently to the
| front, as accounting for the disaster,
the officials have been looking over the
records to find a parallel case, as near
as may be. The flagship New York
was discovered to be on fire March 8,
| 1896 Smoke was issuing from her main
magazine. This was cleared of powder
safely and 1t was found that the wood
work had been charred deeply. The
cause was not at first perceptible, but
it was soon discovered that an adjoin-
ing coal bunker was burning. When
the bunker was opened the coal on top
was not hot, but as the men dug into the
| mass 1t was found to be red hot inside.
| There was no manifestation of heat on
the top of the bunker nor on any save
the one side next the magazine. That
startled the naval officers and the con-
structors made considerable air space
between the bunkers and the magazine.
In the designing of the new battleships,
now in the stocks, the lesson was
kept in mind, and everything possible
was done to insulate the coal bunkers
from the magazines.
Secretary Long has given orders that
with the expiration of this day there
need be observed no longer the. order
to all ships and commands to display
the national colors at half mast
There is no abatement of the talk of
the expediency of raising the Maine,
Constructor Hichborn is one of the most
earnest advocates of the resurrection of
the ship both from sentimental and prac-
teal considerations. He points out that
the shin lies i'm a land locked harbor,
easy for the wreckers to operate in,
and that if she can be rebuilt at cost
of a million dollars, the government will
save four Millions the first cost of such
battleship with all of her equipment;
Great Britain, he said, never abandoned
ship if there was the least chance to
save her, and has not even yet ADAM
doned the hope of raising the Inflated
Victoria, sunk in collision with the
Camperdown, off the coast of Syria seve-
raj years ago.
portions of the Maine, and il possible
raising her. was not disclosed today,
although representatives of wrecking
| concerns were in conference with navy
department officials throughout the day
Can't Lemley, who will frame the con-
tract, said that progress had been made
toward understanding the general plan
of operation, but a final agreement had
not been reached Until today the Mer-
rift and Chapman Wreck!ng Company
and the Boston Tow Boat Company
have been the only contestants for the
work, and the department understood
/
today the Luckenbach Wrecking Com
pany of New York entered upon a COM
petition for the work. and made a bid.
! The other concerns did not bid today,
but expect to do 20 Monday. The plan
as proposed by them, is TO use the
large wrecking tug Orion of the Boston
Company In conjunction with the pow
erful cranes of the Merritt company. If
this plan is adopted, the Orion will car
! nv the wreclxing material to Havana
and then serve in transporting the
heavy turrets, guns and detachable
parts Of the Maine back to the Norfolk
navy yard, where it is proposed to as
semble the remnants of the ship.
The Luckenbach Company propose
different plan Their bid contemplates
the use of large barges hauled by
ocean tugs in bringing parts of the
wreck of the Norfolk In cthet respects
the plan of operation of all bidders is
to assume the entire work IN furnishing
appliances, divers etc, and delivering
such material as is saved at Norfolk.
A government official is to make gen
eral report of the work as it proceeds.
The Luckenbach company claims that
the use of barges will cost one-fourth
| less and will give better results.
! e. G. Packard, wrecking engineer
and contractor, was present at the con-
ference, and urged that the contract
should be divided into two parts: first,
the saving of such parts as can be de-
tached, and, second, the raising of the
hull He also made the point that the