Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1898-04-14
The Official Report OF the
"Maine' Disaster.

1t i not within the province OF tine
Scientiic American to discuss the polltl-
cal asp, : of the problem which con-
fronts :-s country with regards 10
Cuba. I. is not for us to determine
whetsIel the present condition OF the
unhappy island, blighted as 1T is by all
the miser.2s of two years war, can
be considered as affording casus belli
between ourselves and Spain.
The blowing up of the battle ship
Maine" however, presents problem
of an entirely different complexion
one that has touched the nation to the
quick. How deeply we haye felt the
loss, and appreciate the terrible circum-
stances attending it, is shown by the
significant, the portentious, calmness
and self-restraint with which the stu
alton has been endured. The attitude
of the public has been one of anxious
and patient expectation, in which nasty
conclusions and precipitate actions
have met with universal disapproval.
The report of the Naval Court was
made public by the President without a
word of comment on Monday, March
28, and with regret we have to say that
the worst fears have been realized and
the suspicion that the Maine, was de
stroyed by submarine mine is fully
confirmed.
The summary of the official report
has been published in the daily press
and is already widely known.
The appearance of the wreck, as in
dicated by the drawings, proves not
only that.the ship was wre cked by an ex-
plosive placed beneath her, but that the
mine must have been of vast size and
power. No automobile torpedo could
have blown the central portion of the
hull out of existence and forced the
keel at frame Is right up through the
body of the ship through vertical dis
tance of thirty-four feet. We have on
record. thanks to Chilean war, concrete
evidence of what effect Whitehead
torpedo will have against the hull of a
ship like the Maine" In that war the
"Blanco Encalada" was struck below
the water line, at about the same point
on the port bow as the Maine, by a
torpedo CARRYING 175 pounds of guncot
ton. The result was horizontal rent
in the plating, twenty-five feet in length
and not over five feet in width at the
widest part. The ship was raised and
repaired the injury being quite local.
If' it took 175 pounds of guncot-
ton to produce local rent in the 'Blan-
co Encalada," it must have taken a
simply enormous amount of explosive
to produce the awful wreck of the hull
of the 'AIaine" which is shown in the
official drawings referred to. The
tearing open and throwing back of the
decks was undoubtedly the result OF
the subsequent explosion of one or
- wit
The scale on which the scheme OF
destruction was carried out was too
elaborate for execution by private indi-
4viduals, and it is unlikely, on account
of the risk to general shipping, that the
struck by n moving vessel The
Maine, lying at anchor, would swing
about with change of tide over on arc
some 700 feet in diameter. The exact
location of the mine must have been
understood by the conspiratorS on
shore, and careful observation of the
exact position of the Maine must
have been obtained in order that the
mine could have been electrically ex-
ploded at the exact moment at which
the ill-fated battleship, hoated over the
fatal spot.
nc dubuOIS VI bulS uOIIIUlC CdIdooiO
phe are unknown In all probability
the solution of the question will ever
remain mystery. 1t seems. however,
impossible that a mine containing
many hundred pounds of guncotton
or similar explosive could have been
placed under the vessel after she was
anchored there. If mine had been
placed there before this particular point
Of anchorage had been selected, il
must have been with the knowledge
of the authorities. The fact that this
place of anchorage was an unusual one
and that, according to the reported
eyibence of Capt. Stevens, of the
''City of Washington, it was the least
used buoy in the harbor, and no war
ships had been moored there, to his
knowledge, for five or six years lends
food for a terrible suspicion. .-Scientif-
ic American.