The record-union., 1898-02-17


be immediate efforts to replace the
Maine. He said that whatever could
have caused the catastrophe, he was
been guilty of such conduct, for the
reason that the act would have been q
very foolish mad foolhardy one.
Senator Fairbanks: "A thorough in
vestigation doubtless will be instituted
by the proper authorities. 1t is most
deplorable accident, and one which will
awaken the most general sympathy"
Senator Warren of Wyoming: IF it
should develop that the Spanish had
anything to do with the occurrence,
both the United States navy and the
army ought to be summoned to take
the matter up in earnest. If ii should
prove to be an accident, it should De
carefully investigated. for it is high
time that such accidents were brought
to a close. 1t has apparently come 10
be true that our naval vessels cannot
make any move, cannot go up stream
or down a stream, or out to sea, With
out grounding or having some other
accident befall them. | hope, therefore,
that no time will be lost in determin-
ing the cause and placing the respon-
sibility for the occurrence, whether
due to the hand of foreigner or a
member of our own forces
Senators Chandler Mason and Car
ter of the Senate Committee on Post
offices and Post Roads, were talking
about the accident.
| Senator Chandler said that no one
could tell how the accident occurred as
yet 1t might have been torpedo I'M
der the bows of the ship. or it might
have been an accident while handling
ammunition.
| But they are not likely to have been
handling ammunition at 10 O'Clock at
night put in Senator Mason.
/ "Oh, they might have been, con-
| tinued Senator Chandler. IF the eX-
plosion was from within it was no
doubt an accident; if from without,
then no doubt it was by design"
! Senator Carter expressed the opinion
that no amount of investigation would
clear up the mystery. The explosion
would leave no trace of what TOOK
place before, and the burning of the
ship would obliterate ACCESSIBILITY or
learning much of what took place.
Senators Pascoe of Florida and Clay
of Georgia thought the matter snoulo
be fully investigated and full report
made. If necessary, Congress should
| then act.
Senator Clay said: There is no proof
that the Spanish are in any way re-
sponsible for this serious calamity, ana
we should be slow to make charges
without proof to substantiate them.
Senator Morgan of Alabama, mem
Der of the Committee on Foreign Al
fairs, said:
| In the absence of definite informa-
ton as to the cause and results of the
Maine catastrophe, l would not VEN
ture an opinion upon it. If it was an
accident as the first dispatches seem
to indicate, it was most deplorable; if it
was due to treachery, as some are in
clined to believe, it was most heinous,
and no penalty would be too severe for
those responsible for it. But whether
the calamity was due to accident or
treachery, 1 should like to see intro
duced in Congress joint resolution
providing for the immediate construc-
| ton of two battleships equal in size
and equipment to the Maine, and cost
| ing not dollar less than the Inflated
Maine cost. Action of that kind by Us
|
ever or wherever one of our tentacles
was cut off, two would at once grow in
it's place.
1T seems almost out of the question
| that it was the result of an accident.
1t is usual for a ship of the Names
class to carry her magazines in her
bow, where the explosion seems to
have occurred. But I can say nothing
Of that now cannot guess and can
not speculate. Let US await the par
| ticulars."
Senator Perkins, who has been nav
igator all his life, and knows thorough
| ly every detail in the construction and
handling of great ships. said:
Il cannot conceive that such an ex-
plosion as that which is reported to
have wrecked the Maine could have re-
suited from an accident. The chances
it seems to me are nine hundred and
ninety-nine in a thousand that the ca
lamity did not result from accident. II
has been suggested that the explosion
might have occurred while ammuni-
ton was being handled, but that Is
scarcely credible, as ammunition or
warships at anchor is not handled at IL
o'clock at night Then, too, the am
munition on a warship is fixed ammu-
milton, which is not in contact with
anything at all likely to produce an ex-
plosion
Every electric wire and every spark
of fire on board the ship is far distant
from the magazines, and there is nc
possibility of danger by those means
being communicated to the ammuni-
ton. The discipline OF both officers
and men Of the Maine, as we'll as or
every other vessel Is such that tbs
e~nlosion could not have been caused
by any action Of any one Of them The
magazines Of the Maine and other
ships of her class and the mechanism
which operates them are constructed
with all the nicely OF watch. By the
simple pressure of an electric button
any magazine on board the vessel could
be instantly submerged. and no fire
could gain such Roadway as to endan-
ger any of the magazines without dis
| covery.
II am firmly of the belief that the
horror in Havana Harbor last night
was not due to accident. / can scarcely
conceive either that it was due to the
treachery of Spanish officials, or was
brought about through their cogni-
zance. However. the situation in Ha-
vana is so critical and the Spanish fee
so keenly what appears to many OF
them an affront that the Maine should
have been in the harbor that it seems
not unlikely the catastrophe was due
to the action of Spanish sympathizers
That it was not an accident, / feel as
sured. and that it was due to treach-
cry. I am convinced
Senator'S Mills, of the Committee on
Foreign Relations expressed the opin-