The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-02-19
A JOINT INVESTIGATION.
Spain and the United States Will
Examine the Wreck.
A FORMAL APPLICATION
Long Says 1t Is a Request Which Can
not Be Retused-No Additional In
formation Received as to the
Cause of the Disaster.

Washington, Feb. 1s.--The feature of
the day at the navy department was
the large number Of rumors of a war
like tendency that came to the atten-
tion of the officials as requiring atten-
tion and in every case contradiction. So
formidable had grown the list that at
the close of Office hours Secretary Long
was induced to make the following
statement as the easiest manner of dis
posing of these stories:
Really no information has been re-
ceived since Captain Sigsbee's first
dispatch adding anything To our knowl-
edge of the disaster. All we know is
that the Maine blew up. There is
abundant room for speculation of all
sorts but no conclusion can be arrived
at until an examination has been made
by the divers and more facts obtained.
1t is a simple fact to say that such a
thing might happen by design or 1t
might happen by accident. AS yet
there is no indication of such design.
Therefore my impression has been all
along, and | rather think the general
opinion preponderates in the same di-
rection, that it must have been acci-
dental.
AT the cabinet meeting to-day the
matter NdS not uINIHSSEu except as
any body Of men talk about an event of
that kind, and most of the talk related
to the terrible loss of life and to ex-
pressions of sympathy for the sufferers.
1T certainly was very kind thought
of the president To send flowers to the
families of Captain Sigsbee, of Exec
utive Officer Wainwright and of the
lost seamen whose residences are in
Washington.
You may say absolutely that there
has been no secret cabinet meeting:
that nothing has taken place in the
cabinet that the public has not been
informed about; that the whole policy
of this department has been to give
the public all the dispatches; that the
department has no more knowledge on
the subject of the cause OF the disaster
or even of the circumstances attending
II than the public, and that the report
which was to the effect that Captain
Sissbee had warned the department
that the Maine was in danger from
submarine mines or rofpedoes lis utter
ly without foundation, no such report
ever having been received from him or
from anybody else"
The secretary also denied briefly and
cemprehensively wild rumors that he
had requested the chief Of police of New
York To guard the Nizcaya. and that he
had selected Constructor Bowles to go
to Havana and raise the Maine. The
last work Of the day for him was to
consult the reports of the wrecking
companies who probably will have
charge of this work. and endeavor to
arrange for both of them to work to-
eether SO az to secure the use of each
peculiar plant and to save time. The
secretary when asked what was the
departments estimate of the conduct
of Captain Sigshee. In the trying situa-
tion in which he had been placed. re-
piled: Il think | express the feeling of
the president as well as my own. when
I say that Captain sigsbee has conduct
ed himself as an officer of our navy
should. He was the last To leave his
ship when she went down. His dis
patch to me that night was so COM
plete that, since then | have thought OF
no question of fact to ask him which Is
essential TO the situation and which he
could answer, which Is not covered by
that dispatch. It's tone, too, is that of
a discreet and level-headed man. who
realized the impression any word from
him. at that time, would have on the
public mind. Nothing Is harder than
for a naval officer To lose his ship so
that | have great sympathy for him.
wait With confidence further reports.
During the day the department was
in receipt of a number of telegrams
from different parts of the country ask
ing in behalf Of relatives of the dead
sdIibIS. ildI liltiT remains De
back to the United States for inter-
ment. Among them were queries from
friends of the two officers. Merritt and
Jenkins. The department forwarded
these to Captain Sigsbee. whose answer
was that the officers bodies nave not
been found. that as 10 many others.
identification is not possible and throw
ing great doubt upon the practicabiity
of taking any of the remains away
from Havana. While no decision had
YET been reached formally upon the ap-
plicatinn Of the Spanish government
for authorization IN examine the wreck
of the Maine to ascertain tine cause of
the explosion the officials seem inclined
tn regard her request as one that could
not be properly refused, and Ii is likely
that each government will make an in
vestigation Of this character concur
rently.