Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-03-29

L T TOIn lTdIuc oil 70 frame ID the Iak8eQ
edge slopes IN toward the keel. The APP
Pearance of things at frame IS would indl-
cate that the ships keel commences to be
lifted at that point. He testified that he
the ship forward at frame IS. Technical
details were then given by the chief gun
ners mate as to the plating which 3 left
on the keel at the frames above mentioned.
and Is only interesting to students Of
mathematics. Olsen stated that the steel
| part Of the bilge keel was broken on. show
ing rough edges and the wooden part ex-
tending forward Of it ragged and torn In
splinters. He found the bow of the ship
on the starboard side and the ship was
lying on the starboard side. The depth
over the break of the keel at frame Is was
found to be six feet and was pl,mbed at
the point where the keel plates are broken
away from the bottom angle irons of the
vertical keel. No wreckage was found on
the port side.
Who Was "An AdMirerr'
Henry Drain, 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-
SIGN Of the Maine. Witness produced the
letter, the date of which was February 10
Of the present year. There was no sigma
ture, 1t being signed IAN Admirer." Drain
said 1t seemed to be the document of a
fairly vell-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 appended to
the record and marked "F.''
The letter is translated as follows: "It
should be remembered that at dawn of the
day OF the terrible catastrophe an individ-
u2l was killed in a small boat, together with
another, who Is to be found wounded and a
prisoner. They were going about the
cruisers Maine and Alphonso XII, and as
the said individuals are the worst ante
cedents as harbor thieves have interested
myself in investigating what connection
this occurrence could have with the ex-
plosion of the Maine, and have discovered
that those two men, together with another,
who is called Pope Taco, had bought in a
hardware store in Mercaderes street, called
La Mariana, hose, such as Is used by
divers, and that the three left Regla in a
smau boat, which they placed under the
walls OF Saint Catalina, and they were lott
er1ng more than an hour and a half while
fepe Iaco, who Is a calker and diver, prob
ably the best in these parts, did the work
" orins ABOUT the explosion Of the Maine.
Found the Family.
with this data went to Regla and dis
covered that the family Of the dead man,
who lived in the utmost misery IN a house
In Rodriguez Batista street, had moved to
well-furnished one in Gelabert street.
There learned that they had agreed with
some merchants of Muralla street for the
work OF blowing up the ship for the sum
OF $1,000, $1,000 in advance. the other $4,000
after seeing the result. But as they did
Tot come out of the adventure very we'll
having been attacked when thew were re-
tiring, the result of which was the death
OF one, who left his teeth in the boat and
another one wounded, the third one has
not presented himself to collect the rest of
the money, and it could probably be Sc
cretly done that by paying him the rest
that the others will not now pay him. He
would declare the truth of all this. The
one whom I call the third is the diver,
Pope Taco who was unwounded who no
doubt is afraid to present himself to collect
the rest. In Muralla street they tell me
was the pl zee where the business was ar
ranged with Messrs. Garcia Corujedo, Viii
lasuso. MaribOna and Others whom 1 do
rot remember. The man arrested is being
administered more morphine constantly to
sec II he will die, and not give evidence,
so as not, as they express it, to spoil the
affair after 1t has come off SO much TO
their taste"
In response to the question as to whether
anything had bean done to ascertain the
truth of the statements contained in the
letter. 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 SER
vice money.
man by the name of Pope Taco was
mentioned in the letter. Witness said he
had triad 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 a Pope Barquin; that he also
rad died suddenly, about two or three days
after the explosion of the Maine. Witness
declared his informant was Mr.. Charles
Carbonnell, an American citizen.
Gunner's Mate SchuIter.
Gunner's Mate Schulter, testifying regard
ing his work since he appeared, said that
March he went down over the port side
forward Of the break and found the main
deck slop.ng to starboard. Il put my hand
over the port side and felt the plates bent
inboard."
Gunner's Mate Schulter, on being recalled
on the thirteenth day, said that he had
been down the day before looking for the
boilers. He found boiler which was in
good condition. While he was on top of
the boiler he hit his helmet against a plate
overhead, and in crawling up on top of that
pate he found a piece of wire. This wire,
he thought, did not belong to the Ship so
he cut off piece of it and sent it up on
TIE line. After Mr.. Powelson had inspected
It, he called Schulter up and sent him down
again. telling him to saw off a piece of the
wire and send it up. SchuHer went down
In the afternoon to look for the wire which
he located after an hour or So He tied the
could, sawed it off and sent 1T up. 1t was
then taken aboard the Fern, and Mr. VAIN
wright pronounced 1t tslophotos wire.
Blnndin Had the Deck.
Lieut.. John ]. Blandin, who was watch
officer on the deck of the Maine the night
of the disaster, testified that the quarter
watch was on watch all night When he
took the deck at pm. everything was in
normal condition. Just before the explo-
sion occurred he looked over the port side,
but noticed nothing. There were fewer
boats in sight than usual. He was stand
ing on the port side of the deck Just abaft
the after turret, talking to Lieut.. Hood,
when the explosion occurred. He thinks
there were two explosions. AS he went
forward something struck him on the
heads nearly knocking him down. He re-
ported to Capt. Sigsbee, who ordered the
boats lowered Mr.. Wainwright reported
to the captain that it was useless to try
to do anything. A few minutes later Capt.
Sigsbee gave the order to abandon Ship
Witness impression was that the ex-
plosion occurred on the port side, forward
He saw flare. but no actual flame He
could not locate definitely the explosion j
He saw no water thrown up by the explo-
sion. Within a minute after the explosion
the forward part of the ship was under
water. In less than three minutes she was
on the bottom. Although he was impressed
by the idea that there were two explo-
sions. he could not describe the difference
between them. He noticed no upheaval
of the ship.