Evening star., 1898-03-25
FROM A MAINE SURVIVOR.
John 4. White Tells His Experiences
in the Explosion.

John Il. White Tells His Experiences
I'm the Explosion.
From the New York Times.
graphic account of the destruction Of
the Maine has been received in a letter
written by John E. White to his brother
Luke, who lives at 146 Nassau street,
Brooklyn. White enlisted on the Maine
,, just one year ago yesterday. The letter
is dated March l at Key West, but was
delayed in transmission. The letter is, in
part, as follows:
that all are well. There is some talk down
here about some Of the Names crew,
| those that's left of them. going to New
York. 1 guess when they do get back they
will put them on the Vermont for awhile.
They won't send me, for, in the first place,
it wouldn't do me any good to go north,
as am not able to help myself. At any
rate, they don't intend to send me, for
the doctor told me SO this morning. l
dent know how soon they will send the
others, but they are pretty nearly all able
to get around now. We expect some bod
les here from Havana today or tomorrow,
but they haven't arrived yet. Yes, Luke,
this certainly was a horrible disaster, and
one not likely to be forgotten for WHILE
We had one of our own divers go down
in the wreck, and he arrived here yester-
day. He says that the sights were awful.
He says that the men were lying in their
hemmocks as If nothing had happened.
Poor fellows, some Of them never woke
up. You have been through the berth
deck; you know how long that was. That
was where most of the men slept. Only
two men escaped from there, and they
must have been blown through the bottom.
I must have teen blown a pretty good
distance myself. for when I came up I
was about fifty or sixty yards from the
ship.
1 turned in about 0 o'clock. and this
thing happened about $50 or SO. l was
just getting asleep when I heard the ex-
plcsion 1t was an awful sound. couldn't
begin to describe 1t. Then there was a
crash. was doubled Up In a heap and
went down. I struck the water almost as
soon as I heard the noise. Well, ! had
all my senses about me- and went shoot
ing along at an awful rate.
Suddenly 1 stopped, then I felt every
thing getting thrown around me. The wa
ter was horrible. I opened my mouth once
and swallowed lot Of 1t. Then tried to
swim up and found I was Gagged in, for
only went up a few feet. and found my
head cracked against something, and /
found 1 couldn't get out. Well. I kicked
around there trying to get clear. / went
up again and the same thing happened.
Well, about gave up then, for my mind
was almost gone. Everything shot
through my mind and I thought was
q gOner, sure.
/ kicked out once more. although /
didn't think 1t would do me any good, and
J. seemed to shoot through an opening ana
up went. thought would never make
the top. thought would burst, but /
tell you / did swim, and when came up
1t was like new life. although the air
was full OF smoke. came up good dis
tence from the ship. could only see ore
fellow swimming near me. sang out to
him and asked him what had happened.
He said he didn't know. Then lost him.
although / found out afterward he was
saved. I could hear the shrieks and cries
Of the men near the ship. tell you Il
was awful
The ship was then on -fre and sinking.
struck out again, but my feet gave out.
and thought they were blown on. put
my hand down and found they were all
right, but knew I could not keep up
much longer, 50 SWAN right in among
the wreckage. and got mattress under
one arm and box under the other. and
there / hung until was picked up by
Spanish boat. When 1 got into It,
showed my feet where nobody could step
on them. Then / started to get the water
out OF myself. They took me first to q
Spanish man-of-war. and then to the hos
pital.
Some OF the scenes were awful. couldn't
begin 10 describe them. Well, after being
in the hospital few days they did my
feet up and sent me here. II takea Ht-E
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