Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1898-03-29

phonso XII, he said. were prompt to go to
the rescue and were aided by the search.
lights. =:
Captain Frank Stevens. Of the City Of.
Washington, testified he was standing
| amidship Of his ship where he could look
towards the Maine when she was blown
UP. He heard dun, muff1ed explosion,
and commotion as though it was under the,
water followed instantly by terrific ex-
plosions on the Maine. There was a de-
blaze and filling the air with flag missiles.
which fell all around him. He felt a
| trembling Of his ship at the last Of the ex-
.ploision on the Maine. There was de-
cided interval between the first and Sec
ond noise of the explosions. He was not
standing where he could see the Maine lift.
Naval Constructor ]. B. Hoover appeared
as a witness March s. His testimony was
very technical. describing the various parts
of the ship by number of frame and sec
| ton. Summed up. it was that the bottom
plates of the ship at the point of explosion.
! the berth deck over them and protected
deck had been turned over and forward, re-
| volving through an angle of 80 degrees. The
siX-inch magazine was just below these
pieces of the deck as they originally stood.
Captain G. A. Converse. of the navy, sum-
moned witness. testified he had made
a study of the natural effects Of explosives.
+ The largest quantity of explosives me had
| ever seen used consisted of a torpedo con-
| tanning 800 pounds of gunpowder and 200
pounds dynamite, all in separate cases.
| 100 pounds in each case securely lashed to-
| gether. Being shown a blue print of the
| forward magazine and shell room Of the
| Maine, and asked If one or more of those
/ should explode or partially explode it would
| lift the forward part of the ship partly out
| of the water. he replied that he did not
| think it would. After a long description of
| the effect of torpedoes. he was asked what
| his experience was in the case of the ex-
| ploson of a submarine mine; as to what be-
came of the mne He replied that they
We're almost invariably ruptured and lost;
| blown uD and pieces of them are rarely
| found. This experience did not allow him
| to remember case where he saw any
| considerable pieces remaining from a sub
| marine mine or its iron case after its eX-
| plosion. On one or two occasions small
| fragments of castiron thrown into boat
| indicated complete demolition OF the case
| containing the explosive. d
When asked If submarine mine exploded
| under the bottom of ship and containing
enough explosives to completely destroy
| that part of that ship would be similarly
demolished, he replied that the violent ex-
| posive would cut hole in the ship, blow
| ing out the part that was cut in small
fragments. Being shown sketches of the
magazines ana asked their eA.
| plosion would leave the bottom of the Maine
| in the condition it was shown in the
sketches. he stated that the distortion of
the keel of the Maine was too far forward
and too remote from the magazine to have
been caused by their explosion. He was Of
| the opinion that the binding of the plates
on the bottom Of the Maine could be pro-
| duced. by the explosion Of a submarine
mine containing large amount Of the low
er Xplosive-gunpowder, or similar-not in
contact with the ship but some distance
below 1T. perhaps on the bottom. Con-
| tinuing, he said he had never in his ex-
perience seen any interior explosion that
was possible to produce the effect upon the
Maine.
do you think that necessarily there
must have been an underwater mine to
produce these explosions?"
indications are that an underwater ex-
plcsion produced the conditions there" was
| the reply, with further statements regard
ing the impossibility. in his opinion, Of an
internal explosion causing the Names
wreck. His testimony was closed.
A witness was introduced whose name
was suppressed by agreement between him
and the court, He had to talk through an
interpreter. This witness was crossing
about half past o'clock on the morning Of
the 18th from Havana TO Reglas on a ferry
boat. He was sitting near three Spanish
officers. two OF the army and one of the
navy. and citizen. They were talking
about the Maine One Of the army officers
said: THAT is nearly arranged"
The citizen asked If making explosions in
the bay would not endanger Havana The
officer. "No.". 1t was arranged so that it
would simply explode, open the vessel and
she would sink Immediately. Tho other
man loosely exclaimed: "Oh, will take
plenty Of beer on that occasion" Someone
came by and they suddenly stopped the
conversation. They had said 1t was a
shame she the Maine) should be in the bay,
and they would blow her up. anyhow.
Henry Drain, a clerk in the United States |
consulate. Havana, was examined as to the
receipt Of an anonymous letter received by
the consul general in regard to the explo- |
sion Of the Maine. Witness produced the
letter, the date of which was February Is |
of the present year. There was no sigma
ture. it being signed "An Admirer." Drain |
said it seemed to be the document Of a |
fairly well 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 referred to in |
the record as being marked "F." but was |
not appended.
In response to the question as to whether |
anything had been done to ascertain the |
truth of the statements contained in the |
letter. the witness said that he had.
He asked General Lee to look into the |
matter, and he did not appear to know what |
to do. stating he had no secret service !
money.
A man by the name of Pepe 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 few days before the |
explosion of the Maine. and that the letter |
referred to Pepe Barquin; that he also had !
died suddenly about two or three days after |
the explosion of the Maine. The witness
declared his informant was Mr.. Charles |
Carbonnell. an American citizen.
Lieutenant Commander Richard VAIN |
wright testified that the regulations in re- |
gard to naintS and inflammableS and all |