The San Francisco call., 1898-03-07
POWELSON'S CLEAR PROOF
 AS TO CAUSE
Continued from First Page.

formulate certain predictions which believe will be verified in all essentlai particulars. The court Is practically certain to report that the Maine d1sas- ter was not an accident. I believe It equally certain to indicate clearly Iacts which prove the primary explosion to have been under the ships bottom ana not over it. The court is not hkely to fasten the act on any person or per sons. much less to attribute It oirectly to any representatives of the Spanlsn Government Its report will propaply he unanimous. On this last point lhere is some controversy among naval oiii- cers. Captain Chadwick is by common report believed to have assumed more conservative attitude toward Po"el- sons evidence than any other neIiioei of the court, though the pest lnIoriiia- ton available at present represents him as being now thoroughly Ill hiie with his colleagues and conVlneeo as they are that no interior eXploSloii wrought the destruction
 It is believed by some well informed officers. however that Lieutenant com mander Potter snight not unnoticedpiy be influenced by the judgment or Cap tain Chadwick, who is his immaculate and only superior in rank in command of the flagship at Key West Potter pe- ing the executive officer.
 There seems to be some doubt now whether the Maine's guns, even after they have been recovered by the wreck ing apparatus, will ever be fit for serv- ice. During the fire that swept through the battle-ship after the explosion they were subjected to an intense heat. A practical expert in Key West recently told me that to render them fit for use again they would have to be annealed and practically recast. This would in- volye considerable expense, but without it my informant said he doubted whether any gunner in the fleet would care to assume the responsibility or firing one of them either at target practice or in active service.
 Ten arrests on political charges have been made in Havana between mid night Friday and Saturday, and there is some excitement in consequence Aside from Honore Laine, whose sec ond incarceration I reported yesterday, the more important suspects detained are Senor Estrada, who was released under the amnesty proclamation not dong ago from Chafarinas, and an all legged former insurgent named Pardo The other prisoners are for the most part accused of participating in rebel lion.
 This renewed activity of the police IS regarded as foreshadowing the more | stringent policy of the autonomist gov | ernment against political offenders. | Laine, it is said will probably be per mitted to leave the island on the next | steamer. He is a French subject.
 The Herald of February + print 1 cd A sectional view of the Amer1- can battle-ship, showing the location of the magazines, coal and stores. The plan was reproduced here in the Diario del Eiercito, February 19, and yester- day clipping from the latter was posted in the Havana Produce Ex- change, and under it was written mo- tice to the effect that it is time all loyal l Spaniards took note of such informa- l ton concerning American ships. Re liable persons who were among the crowd which welcomed the OquendC | yesterday heard cries: Let more Maines come to Havana now"
 A letter received at the American Consulate for Joseph H. Lane yester- | day was marked under the address
 Probably one of the survivors of the 1 Maine." A blue pencil mark of the Spanish postoffice under the address announced some postage still due an6 the same pencil wrote under the sur
 vivor words T hope he is not" Lan: was one of the wounded men taken ts Key West. He says the roar of rocket: and cadence of the military awoke Ha
 vana this Sunday morning, and at sun rise the harbor was alive with all craf summoned by signals flying at Morro | announcing the arrival of another ship
 It turned out not to be the expected cruiser Cristobal Colon, but the Alfonst
 XIII of the Spanish line. Her deck;