The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-02-16
Many Wounded and Many Killed and
Drowned.

Drowned.
Washington, Feb. 15.-The secretary
of the navy received the following tele-
gram from Captain Sigsbee:
Maine blown uD in Havana harbor
at $40 and destroyed. Many wounded
and doubtless many killed and drown
ed. Wounded and others are on board
Spanish man-of-war and Ward line
steamer Send lighthouse tender from
Key West for crew and few pieces of
equipment still above water. No one
had other clothes than those upon him.
Public opinion should be suspended
till further reports. All officers beliey-
ed to be saved. Jenkins and Merritt
not yet accounted for. Many Spanish
officers, including representatives of
General Blanco. now with me and ex-
press sympathy.
-tSigned.) SIGSBEE."
The officers referred to in the above
dispatch are Lieutenant Friend w.
jenkins and Assistant Engineer Darwin
p. Merritt.
From the wording of the dispatch, the
navy department think it is possible
that they were on shore at the time of
the accident. The secretary of the navy
received another dispatch from Key
West at the same time with the above,
but its contents were not made public.
The orders for the lighthouse tender
were at once sent TO Key West in plain
language, thus avoiding the delay that
would have arisen from the use of a
cipher
Paymaster Charles W. Littlefield, who
is given in the list of officers on the
Maine, has recently been replaced by
Paymaster Ryan. Littlefeld is now in
Washington.
The Maine was built in New York in
1890 at a cost of $2,5SS,000 She had a
steel hull and a complement of S74
men.
Secretary Long received Captain
Sigsbee's dispatch but a few minutes
before the Associated Press dispatch
was handed him. He received the news
with apparent calm, and his first act
was to comply with Captain Sigsbee's
request that assistance be sent from
Key West. He Immediately wired Cap
tain Forsyth at Key West to proceed
with the naval tender, Fern, to Havana
harbor.
A GREAT DISASTER.
Secretary Long then sent for Captain
Dickens, and the two discussed Cap
tain Sigsbee's brief telegram. No other
naval officers were present, and besides
the secretary and Captain Dickens. the
naval colony here is ignorant of the
disaster, the greatest which has befal-
leu the AMERICAN navy SlIce the ulSdS-
ter in Apia many years ago. The sec
rotary is inclined to believe that most
of the officers OF the Maine were on
shore at the time of the accident, as it
was still early in the night. While
neither the secretary nor Captain Dick
ems is inclined to discuss the probable
cause of the accident, several sugges-
lions were ventured. They believe that
it may have been caused by a fire in
the bunkeTs, heating the bulkhead near
a ma gazine, or that an accident may
have occurred while inspecting high ex-
pl0sive for torpedoes. Of course, this
is mere speculation, and the secretary
is anxiously awaiting a more detailed
report from Captain Sigsbee.
Later the secretary sent another tele-
gram to Key West, directing that the
tender Mangrove also be sent to Ha-
vana.
Commander Dickens, after carrying
out the instructions of Secretary Long
with regard to relief measures, went at
once to the White House. where the
president was aroused and informed of
the disaster. President Mckinley re-
ceived the news calmly and expressed