The Chanute times. [volume] (Chanute, Kan.) 1897-1913, 1898-04-08
THE MAINE CASE LAID BE.
FORE CONGRESS-.
Maine Sent to Havana on General Lees
Request-Her Mission Purely One
OF Peace - Spain Informed of
Maine Inquiry Findings
Full Text OF tho
Document.

port, findings and testimony, whicl
forms a document of about 100, 90
words. The message was read in boil
houses and promptly referred, withou
debate, to the foreign affairs commit
tees. The findings of the court of in
quiry were also read in the Senate
and were then, together with the ties
timony, referred to the foreign affair!
committee. Two thousand copies O.
the report and findings were ordered
printed for the use of senators anC
representatives.
The report is very brief, and con
tains nothing that was not covered in
the abstract which was printed yes
terday.
President McKinley's message was
as follows:
10 the Congress of the United States:
For some time prior to the visit of the
| Maine TO Havana harbor onr consular rep
resentatives poin ted out the advantages to
flow from the visit of national ships to the
cuban waters in accustoming the people to
De presence of our flag as the symbol of
good will and of our ships in the ful6llment
of the mission of protection to American
interests, even though no immediate need
therefor might exist
Accordingly on the oath of January last
after conference with the Spanish minister
in which the renewal of visits of our war
We ssels to Spanish waters was discuss ed
and accepted, the penlnsular authorities
at Madrid and Havana were advised of the
purpose of this government to resume
friendly naval visits at Cuban ports and
that in that view the Maine would forth
with call at the port of Havana.
This announcement was received by the
Spanish government with appreciation of
the friendly character of the visit of the
Maine and with notification of intention to
return the courtesy by sending Spanish ships
10 the principal ports of the United States
Meanwhile the Maine entered the port
Of Havana on the 25th day of January, her
arrival being marked with no special Incl
dent besides tne exchange of customary
salutes and ceremonial visits.
The Maine continued in the harbor of
Havana during the three weeks following
her arrival No appreciable excitement
attended her stay. Upon the contrary, a
feeling of relief and confidence followed the
resumption of the long interrupted friendly
intercourse. So noticeable was this imme-
date effect of her visit that the consul
general strongly urged that the presence
of our ships in Cuban waters should be
kept up by retaining them at Havana or
in the event of her recall, by sending there
vessel to take her place
AT forty minutes past in the evening
on the 10Th of February the Maine was de-
stroyed by an explosion by which the en-
tire forward part of the ship was utterly
wrecked In this catastrophe two officers
and 26O of her crew persisted, those who
were not killed outright by her explosion
being penned between decks by the tangle
Of wreckage and drowned by the imme date
sinking of the hull Prompt assistance
was rendered by the neighboring vessels an
chored in the harbor, aid being especially
given by the boats of the Spanish cruiser
Alphonso XII and the Ward line steamer
City of Washington which lay not far dis
tant The wounded were gener ously cared
for by the authorities of Havana, the hos
pitfalls being freely opened to them, while
the earliest recovered bodies of the dead
were inferred by the municipality in pub
lie cemetery in the city. The tributes of
grief and sympathy we're offered from all
official quarters Of the island.
The appalling calamity fell upon the
people OF our country with crushing force,
and for brief time an intense excitement
prevailed, which, in community less just
and self-controlled than ours, might have
spirit however, soon gave way to the
calmer processes ofreason and to the re-
solve to investigate the fac IS and await the
material proof before forming judgment
as to the cause the responsibility and, if
the facts warranted the medy due.
This course necessarily recommended
Itself from the outset to the executive, for
only in the light of dispaSSionately ascer-
tanned certainty could 1t determine the ma
and IS f,,I
matter
This mode of procedure is proceeded with
In all cases of casualty or disaster to ma
tional vessels of any maratime state. A
naval court of inquiry was at once organ
lied, composed of officers we'll qualified by
ran1 and practical experience to discharge
the onerous duty i'm posed upon them. Aided
by strong force of VIZ ckers and divers,
the court proceeded to make thorough
investigation on the spot, employing every
available means for the impartial and ex-
act determination of the causes of the ex-
ploSon Its operations have been conducted
with the utmost del beration and judgment
and, while independently pursued no
source of information was neglected and
the fullest oppor tunity was allowed for
investigation by the Spanish
authorities ..
THE finding of the court of inquiry was
re dCneu a1ter twenty three days OF cont1n-
uous labor, on the lSt of March instant
and having been approved on the 22d by
the COMMUNICATIVE chief of the United
States naval force on the North Atlantic
station, was transmitted to the executive
1t is here with laid before Congress to- day,
and herewith the volumiEous testimony
taken before the court
Its purport is in brief as follows: When
the Maine arrived at Havana she was con-
Quoted by the regular government pilot to
buoy No. 4, to which she was moored in
from five and one half TO six fathoms of
water.
"The state of discipline on board and the
of her magazines, boilers, coal
bunkers and storage compartments are
passed in review, with the conclusion that
exc client order pl walled and that no indi-
cation of any cause for an internal explo-
sion existed in any quarter.
AT 8 o'clock in the evening of February
Is everything had been reported secure
and all was quiet
AT forty minutes past o'clock the YES
sci was suddenly destr Dyed
There were two distinct explosions, with
a brief interval between them The first
lifted the forward part of the ship very
perceptlbly. the second. which was more
prolonged, is attributed by the court to the
partial explosion of two or more of the for
ward magazines
The evidence of the divers establishes
that the after part of the ship was practi-
cally intact and sank in that condition a
very few minutes after the explosion. The
forward part was completely demolished.