The record-union., 1898-04-15

Consul-General and saw DR.. CongostO,
the Secretary to the General. I told
DIR. Congosto that I had received in
struetiOns to leave the island and go
to the United States and 1 called to pay
my final respects, and would like to see
General Blanco He asked me to sit
down, and said he would go and let him
know. He went off and stayed about
fifteen minutes, and came back and
said the General said please excuse
him; he was not well, and was lying
down. I told DR.. Congosto then to say
good-b by to him, and turned around and
left.
Senator Davis-Were there any dem
constructions of ,il-will toaard you as
you left?
Consul General-When we were COM
ing out on the street Saturday evening
there was hallooing, cat-calling and
whistling, and some Spanish express
sions Mean towards" Running
away" and so on. / think that was
confined to the lower order of men,
however.
CAPTAIN SIGSBEE'S, TESTIMONY.
Captain Sigsbee, in command of the
Maine at the time of the disaster, was
examined on the 31st of March, He
repeated his opinion that the Maine was
destroyed by a mine, either temporary
or permanent. He thought it had been
very large mine, but in his opinion it
was larger than could! be planted near
the vessel at any time except broad
daylight and under supervision He
| thought twelve men, having mutual
confidence and preserving secrecy,
could have planted it. and that it could
have been done while the ordinary dis
cipline and watchfulness~ were observ-
ed on the ship. A ship moored at har-
Dor would swing around to given
point where a mine might be- located,
and when it had reached that point
the mine would be exploded. He
| thought it could have been planted
from a scow between decks. There
| were. he said, a lot of idle army OFF,
| GERS in Havana, and while he would not
charge them with anything, he thought
| it not out of place to speak of the pos
| sibilities.
Captain Sigsbee said he had shown
| a sketch involving these theories to
| Captain Sampson, who had also COM
manded a torpedo station, and had ask
ed him if vessel could drop a mine
| like the one he had described instantly,
and that Captain Sampson and other
officers had replied that it could.
That" said Captain Sigebee, us the
real reason l asked to have the Mont
gomery taken away. If they were go
| ing to do anything to blow us up, l
wanted to have it done with smaller
vessel. They had no vigilance what
ever, and no guard over our vessels.
| Their vigilance was great where their
! own vessels were concerned, their boats
coming and going all the time, and
| they generally refused to answer when
we hailed them. When they did reply
| it was generally in an impudent man
ner.''
| In reply to a question, Captain Sigs-
bee thought it possible that the ex-
plosion could have occurred without
| the knowledge of the higher officials.
He said that it was curious fact that
| the officer of the deck said that the
vessel had never swung before in the
peculiar manner in which it swung on
| the night of the explosion, and, con-
| tinuing, he said THE Maine is now
| lying in about the position she would
| have taken to play on the Spanish bat
teries. If a mine could have been
placed there, 1 assume it would have
been planted that way"
In reply to a question as to what ex-
animation the Spanish boards made of
the accident, Captain Sigsbee said they
had not done anything for week; had
not been down at all. Our people
laughed at them They did very lit
tie work on the wreck; it was absurd
as compared with our work.
Captain Sigsbee said that the keel
plate was driven up thirty feet from
it's normal place by the explosion.
Asked why he had advised that no
war vessels be sent to Havana after
the explosion, Captain Sigsbee replied:
I'm the first place there was great
deal of excitement, and / wanted to
work along without men of-war. and to
allay the excitement in the city: and
in the next place, if there We're any
more mines, / did not want any more
war vessels blown up. Up to that time
I had strongly recommended that the
| Indiana be sent there, just to show
| them that the Maine was not the only
| vessel in the navy, nor the most pow
erful. After that time / had no more