The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-02-17
THE NAMES STORY,
Continued from First Page.)
total loss or missing number 253.
TOTAT, LOSS o53 MEN.

This afternoon Secretary Long sent
the following dispatch to Commandant
Forsythe at Key West:
admiral Sicard ordered to come to
Key West with ship and serve out cloth
ing as necessary. Should he not arrive
before the Olivette you are authorized
to purchase the necessary articles and
serve out"
1t is said at the Navy Department
that there is no lack of precedent for
such disasters as that sustained by the
Maine. all of which can be traced to
accidental causes. In 1885 the United
States man of war Missouri then lying
at Gibraltar was totally wrecked by the
Explosion of her magazine. Another
case famous in Naval history is that of
Her Majesty's ship Doterel In 1887 she
was lying at anchor off Puenta Areneas,
in the Straits of Magellan. An explosion
wiped the ship from the face of the wa
tiers and left almost none of her crew
alive. This was another case of maya
zine explosion, though it may have ORR
ginated in the coal bunkers or boilers.
Senator Hale. chairman of the Com
mittee on Naval Affairs and member
Of the Committee on Appropriations,
saId that he had just come from an in
teryiew with the Secretary of the Navy
and that he felt confident that the Navy
Department would institute a thorough
investigation into the disaster.
The Senator expressed the opinion that
Congress would take steps to prevent
rhe decrease of the Navy but did not
undertake to say that there would be
immediate efforts to replace the Maine.
Senator Warren. of Wyoming:
IF it should develop that the Spanish
had anything TO do with the occurrence
both the United States Navy and Army
ought to be summoned to take the mat
ter up in earnest. If it should prove
to be an accident. it should be carefully
investigated. for it is high time that
such accidents were brought to close
OPINIONS OF SENATOR'S.
Senator Clay, of Georgian
THE presumption is that the Navy
Department will give careful and
thorough attention to the matter and
that it will make such report as it may
deem necessary. If then it becomes ne
cessary for Congress to act, / am sure
there will be no hesitation in dealing
with tire matter. There is no proof that
the Spanish are in any way respon-
sible for this serious calamity, and We
should be slow to make charges without
proof to substantiate them"
Senator Perkins, California:
1.-The situation in Havana is so criti-
cal and the Spanish feel so keenly what
appears to many of them an affront that
the Maine should have been in the har-
Dor that 1T seems not unlikely the
catastrophe was due to the action of the
Spanish sympathizers. That it was not
an accident / feel assured, and that
it was due to treachery | am convinced"
Senator Mills, of the Committe on
Foreign Relations, expressed the opinion
that the occurrence was the work of a
torpedo. Il would not say" he said,
that the Spanish were responsible for
it, but some one must have been who
had free access to the waters of the
bay. don't think it could have been
due TO an accident. and / think Congress
should Immediately take the matter up
for thorough investigation"
Representative Newlands, of Nevada,
member of the committee on Foreign
Affairs, said it would be very hard to
convince the American people that the
explosion was an accident. He would
not wish to express an opinion until
further information was received.
NIGHT At WHITE HOUSE.
Washington. ID. c., Feb. 16.Hard
work and harder waiting and expectancy
marked the evening for most of the de-
partment officials whose duties connect
ed them in any way with the Maine dis
aster Secretary Long, who had been
news first reached Washington, was
IL II a.. L. Il
unusually early He turned over to
Lieutenant Whittesly. the receiving of
all dispatches relating to the disaster
with orders, following out those of the
President at the Cabinet meeting. TO
make public everything relative to the
affair Very littlC was received that
would throw light on the situation, but
nearly hundred private teelgrams came
from friends and families of the officers
and crew, begging for specific news OF
the loved ones, and relatives who were
with the fated ship. Replies were made
to such inquiries as could be answered.
The effort of all government officers
to remain calm in the face of the shock
ing disaster and its attending mystery,
was apparent. and a number of Naval
officers volunteered theories in support
of the accident hypothesis, all of which
in the absence of any facts on which to
base reasonable opinion were decidedly
unsatisfying.
At the White House the President
spent the evening till midnight in his
office. There was no official conference
ON the disaster, however, and but one
caller, Senator Fairbanks. Of Indiana,
who merely discussed the Maine catas-
trophe incidentally with the other bust
ness which induced his call
The President displayed the keenest
terest in the appalling story and the
pest sympathy for the sufferers, and
as at his suggestion that the order
nasting all government flags was
He was kept informed of the
of events by private dispatches
Sc of the Associated Press
ere sent to him from time to
gh the evening.
SENATE COMMITTEE.
ID. c., Feb. 16.-The
formed the principal