Semi=weekly graphic., 1898-02-19
PURELY AN ACCIDENT.
SEEMS TO BE THE IMPRESSION AT WASHINGTON OF THE
 MAINE DISASTER.
Ex Senator Butler Hints at Preach ery-The Cost of the Battle.
 ship Maine.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 16.-The great est interest prevails among Senators and Representatives as to the ex- tent of the Maine disaster, and many of them hurried to the Navy and State Department 10 learn if there were any further details. With only the first reports before them and a recognition of the gfaveness of any utterances, there was @ hesitancy to express opinions at this time.
 Senator Platt, of Connecticut, ex- pressed the opinion that the explo- sion would be found to be the result of an accident from within, and he doubted that any one could have planned and carried out plot to bring about an explosion on theship.
 Ex-Senator Butler, of South Caro- lima, who was member of the com mittee on Foreign Relations in the Senate during his service, said that it was decidedly strange that Ameri- can vessels have visited every port in the world and no accident befallen them, but that as soon as a vessel visited Havana this great disaster should occur. Gen. Butler was oi the opinion that some bold man had gone aboard the Maine and placed a grenade with a slow match where it would explode the magazine. 1t is probable, he thought, that many people had been permitted to visit the warship and that some one oi the visitors had carried a grenade aboard
 A very prominentnaval officer wEo did not wish his name used because of the meagerness ofpresent informa- ton as to details, expressed the in formal opinion that the accident oc- cured from spontaneous eombus ton in the coal bunkers, the heat of which exploded the powder in the supple mentary magazine adjoining. Still another prominent officer was very confident that the forward maga- zine of the Maine could not have ex- ploded. Had the magazine explod- ed, said he, athe ship would have been blown to flinders.
 Senator Hale, Chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs and q member of the Committee on Appro- priations, said that he had justcome from an interview with the Secreta- ry of the Navy and that he felt conf, dent that the Navy Department would institute thorough inyesti- gation of the disaster.
 "There is no oceasion, said the Senator, "for Congress to take the matter up. Surely something should be left to the department, and this is one of the things which, in my opin- ion. should be so left It is, ofcourse, impossible, from the information re- eeived, to say how the accident oc- cured, but feel confident tbat the facts when developed will show that it was an accident. The Maine was, of course. prepared for action in case action should be necessary and had, therefore many vulnerable points ex- posed. A battleship is little less than a volcano under the most fa- yorable circumstances, and when legislaung for the increase Of the navy always feel that war vessel may prove to be almost as dangerous to those on board as to those whom it might engage in hos tile conflict. For this reason 1 am sure the <aliair in Havana harbor will prove a genuine sensation in naval circles, aside from any politi- cal aspect of it,
 The Senator expressed the opinion that Congress would take steps to prevent the decrease of the navy, but did not undertake to say that there would be immediate efforts to replace the Maine. He said that whatever could have caused the catastrophe, he was sure that no friend of Spain could have been guilty of such conduct, for the reason that if their had been no higher motive the act would have been a very foolish and fooihardy one.
 He said the Maine had cost, ac- eording to his recollection, between B ,000000 and $4000.000
 ADMIRAL BROWNS OPINION.
 INDTANApDII Ind Fah 16 -Paor