The San Francisco call., 1898-03-18


 < direct from Havana, where he 4 < has been staying ever since 4 < last November, told The Call 4 4 man to-day the damning evil 4 4 dence he gave the court of in- 4 Y qutry. Captain Canavan was an eye-wit- ness of the explosion that destroyed the Maine, as well as a constant visit or of the various resorts around the shore of Havana where the Spanish soldiers and sailors congregate.
 Captain Canavan is we'll known all along the Atlantic Coast as man of the highest integrity. He is as fla miliar with the Spanish language as the average American is with the English, and as he is short and slender and very dark he would pass without suspicion in a crowd of Spaniards. He overheard something in his travels in Havana during the interval between the reception of the news of the dis patch of the Maine and her arrival there which led him to call on and consult General Lee and warn him that there was trouble in store for the ship.
 He says General Lee promised to mo- tify Captain Sigsbee immediately on his arrival and cause him to keep a sharp lookout both day and night for trouble. Captain Canavan says he heard a man who is in an official position somewhat similar to our inspector of buildings tell another man who keeps a hardware store that he had heard form rela- tive who was in the Governments service that a terrible accident was likely to happen to the Maine.
 He got into conversation with the captain of one of the harbor launches the day the Maine arrived and asked him if he thought it was safe to have her anchored as near the shore as she was The Spaniard replied that they would look out for that all right at the proper time and would see that no harm came to any innocent persons.
 Captain Canavan further states that it was common talk among men who hang around the Wharves all the time that the harbor was full of mines and torpedoes. He says the Maine was moved from her first anchorage to the fatal buoy, at which no vessel had been known to have tied for the last two years. A German bark was moored there late one afternoon, but she was immediately lowed away by Govern ment tug. The reason given at the time was there was a converging pipe for the mine system near the buoy and it was feared that some accident might happen.
 Captain Canavan was on the water front in company with junior officer of one of the Spanish regiments at the time of the explosion. He described it not as a sharp explosion, such as one would expect from an explosion on a ship.
 He said slowly and impressively You can say that I give it as my own individual opinion that the explosion was below the surface of the water. and not in the hold of the ship on the surface of the water
 He says there were two explosions precisely the same in force and volume, with an interval from four to six sec l onds between them. His companion be- came greatly excited and made some admissions which Captain Canavan said he felt it his duty to repeat to Gen eral Lee, and later to the Court of In- | quiry. He refuses to tell what the off, cer said, but got around it by saying: 'tI gathered from what I heard that the explosion occurred before it was | expected
 l Captain Canavan says he thinks there was a well arranged plot to do 1 the trick on a certain night or day, and that some one who was in the Se- 1 cret inspired, either by aguadiente or patriotic zeal or by accident, touched | the mine off prematurely. Captain Can avan says a bugle was blowing on the | Alfonso XII at the precise moment of the explosion. but thinks this was only | a coincidence.
 1 He says the suspicious suddenness with which the boats put out from the | Spanish ship and began picking up the
 wounded was not a thing to cause ex- | citement The men had been drilling with boats and going away from the ship for weeks, and it is not to be won- dered that they were in good prac- l tice.
 Captain Canavan says he had a talk with a workman on the tug Right Arm, who said he saw piece of submarine cable with seven wires in it which Lieu l nt-Commander Wainwright cut off