The Portland daily press., 1898-03-29
HENRY DRAINE.

HENRY DRAINE.
Henry Draine, clerk i'll the United
States consulate at Havana, was ex-
amined as to the receipt OF an anonymous
| letter received by the consul general in
regard to the explosion OF the Maine.
Witness produced the letter. the date OF
which was February IS, of the present
year. There was no signature, it being
signed 'EAn AdJnirer." Draine said 1t
seemed to be the document of fairly
we'll educated man. 1t was written in
| Spanish. The translation was produced
and was handed to the judge advocate
and read by him. The letter was ap-
pended to the record and marked +. In
response to the question as to whether
anything had been done to ascertain the
truth of the statements contained in the
letter witness said that there had.
| He asked Gen. Lee to look into the
matter and he did not appear to know
what to do, stating he had no secret SER
vice money.
A man by the name of Pope Taco was
mentioned in the letter. Witness said he
had tried to discover the whereabouts OF
the man and the one to whom he spoke
said the name was mistake, that the
man mentioned had died II few days be-
fore the explosion of the Maine and that
the letterssreferred to Pepe Barquin, that
he also had died suddenly about two
or three days before the explosion of the
Maine. Witness declared his informant
was Mr.. Charles Carbonnell, an Ameri-
can citizen.
ATTENDANT TARPIN.
Mess Attendant John H. Tarpin, was
the last man who saw Lieut.. Jenkins.
He said 1t was jarring explosion just
one solid explosion and the ship heaved
and lifted, and then all was dark.
Tarpin met Lieut.. Jenkins in the mess
room and by that time the water was up
to his waist in the mess room and run
ming aft. 1t was dark, and Mr.. Jenkins
asked him twice (which way" to which
he had responded that he did not know
When jenkins called the last time he
was was up to his breast. MIR. Jenkins
started forward and then the whole COM
partm emit lit up.
con that whole compartment We're the
torpedoes which lighted up and saw Mr..
Jenkins throw up both hands and fall
right by the Storage pantry
CHIEF ENGINEER HOWELL.
The first witness on the third day of
the inquiry was Chief Engineer Charles
p. Howell, u. S. n He described the
location Of the various magazines on the
Maine and the coal bunkers and showed
by diagrams their proximity to each 9TH
er. Any spontaneous combustion in the
bunker would have been undoubtedly
felt by the people going to and fro i'll
the passing room.
Examined in detail by Capt Sigsbee,
Chief Engineer Howell further ex-
planned tho impossibility of the coal bin
the bunkers, heating or contrasting to
any extent sufficient to fire a magazine
without such condition being known
long before such result could be reached.
Chief Howell testified the bunkers of
the Maine were painted between the first
and tenth of February and that the
bunkers were frequently opened. They
had air ventilating pipes leading to the
open air and there was nothing to cause
combustion or explosion.
ENGINEER BOWERS.
Passed Assistant Bowers, senior assis-
tant engineer to the chief, was examined
particularly as to the precautions taken
on board the Maine against spontaneous
combustion. He said the orders had been
to inspect the bunkers every day and
log it.
Bowers testified that on the day of the
explosion the boilers We're in normal
condition and that good men had them
under careful watch
Mr. Bowers said there had never been
fire from spontaneous combustion in
the bunkers. They had once thought
they had such a fire, but it was from
leaky exhaust pipe from the machine.n
OFFICER GEORGE CORNELL.
First Officer George Cornell of the City
of Washington, testified that he was on
the deck of that steamer when the Maine
was blown up and was looking at the
Maine. He said he heard rambling
tbo aiy raico for
ward. After that the explosion occurred
and sthe staff was flying in the air on
all directions. - She sank Immediately
at the forward end. He said there was
an interval of 16 or II seconds between
the rumbling noise and the explosion.
When he saw the explosion it came from
amidships and there was not much
flame. He said the Maine was lifted
nearly out of the water. He felt the!
steamer on which he stood shaking at
the time the explosion took place.
COMMANDER FORSYTH, Az
James NJ Forsyth, commander U. S.
N, at the Key West station, testified that
on the 18th Of February he had the an
thracite coal pile at Key West thorough
Iy examined for ..''infernal'' machines.
This closed the testimony at Key West.
Every survivor of the Maine was assem-
bled together and put on oath as to
find or complaint to make against any
one on board the Maine as to his conduct
on the night of the explosion or while
the Maine was in Havana harbor. A
negative oath was promptly given by
every one.
GUNNER MORGAN
On February "a, Chief Gunner, Charles
Morgan, who was in charge of the divers,
was called. On first going down in div
ing dress he said he landed in mass of
split and broken powder tanks Of and
10-inch ammunition. He found what he
thought was the ceiling and sides of the
The powder tanks were split
and crushed, some with the heads
knocked off and most of them empty
They did not seem to have exploded, but
being crushed open, the powder had
melted out by action of the water.
GUNNER'S MATE SMITH.
Fifth day-Gunner's Mate Smith de-
scribed his first descent which landed !
him in the 10-inch shell room. The
shells were in good order there.
Living right across the middle of the TO- |