The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-02-24

Washington. Feb 23.-The arrival OF
mail in Washington from Key West
this afternoon. bringing several private
letters from naval officers lately at
taehed to the Maine. caused a wave Of
excitement to run over the department
and the capitol. for there were all sorts
of rumors as to the contents of these
letters, very few of which rumOrs. in
point of fact, had any sound basis
Ihe only feature, so far as could be
discovered, of real Importance as throw
ing any light on the cause Of the ex-
plosion contained in the letters was the
statement that the two aft boilers in
the aft boiler space and all of the eight
boilers of the Maine were under steam
at the time of the explosion. This fact
mad negative value, for it disposed at
once of the theory that a boiler eXplO-
sion had caused the wreck. The ex-
perts all say that by no possibility could
the aft boilers explosion have wrecked
the fore part Of the Maine and left
the other part almost unframed.
RAISING THE MAINE.
Much interest was shown in dis
patch received shortly before 9 o'clock
from Admiral Sicard. giving the recon-
mendatiOn Of Captain Sampson of the
~O04N " inquiry d. ~ Id4SlHR OF
the wreck. The view of the naval Off
GERS was that Captain Sampson and
his associates were giving this advice,
not as a court, but as officers in q pO-
sition to speak as to the best methods
to be adopted for raising the Maine.
Various interpretations were put on the
expression, forward half completely
destroyed" This was regarded as a
partial confirmation Of the theory that
the forward magazine had exploded, as
that is one of the most important por-
tons of the forward half of the ship. At
the same time It was held by some
naval authorities that the destruction of
the forward half of the ship did not
necessarily mean that the forward
magazine had exploded, as this might
still be intact. although a part of the
general wreckaSe- In the absence of an
explicit statement as to the forward
magazine, there was a disposition not
to accept any implied statement as to
its destruction
WRECKING CONTRACT.
Captain Simpsons recommendation
that a contract be made with the best
equipped wrecl6ing company to remove
material and lift the ship without de-
lay, was in line with the action already
taken in closing a contract with the
two largest wrecking concerns in the
cilitieS would be at the service of the
government. The contract contains a
clause binding the wreckers to use their
utmost efforts to expedite the work, so
that the department feels that every
thing has been done to carry out the
views expressed by Captain Sampson
A clause of the contract itemizes the
amounts to be paid for each branch of
wrecking work. viz: Wrecking tug
Underwater, $50 per day; wrecking
steamer Jones, 5000; lighter Seymour,
s75; derrick Chief, S75; barge Lone Star,
$50; wrecking tug Right Arm $500.
wreck master. S15; wreckers, $3.50 each;
divers, $50 each.
UNTRUTHFUL INTERVIEWS.
Evidently the president of the court
of inquiry is fearful of the effect upon
the public of ill-judged attempts to
account for the destruction of the
Maine, for this afternoon he tele-
graphed Secretary Long, doubtless
having in mind certain publications of
this morning, as follows:
Havana, Feb. 23.-Any reported in
teryieWs with divers untrue. Every pre-
caution has been taken. officers al
ways present"
This brief statement disposes of all
the allegations that have been made
pro and con as to the blowing up of
the forward magazines.
COAL BUNKER POCKETS.
The officers here are still thinking OF