El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-02-19
STORY OF A SURVIVOR.
Lieut.. John j. Blandin Furnishes
Thrill. q Recital

Thrill. g Recital.
Key West. Fla-Lieut John J. Blan-
din of Baltimore, one of the Names
survivors, who is at the Key West
hotel, gave the correspondent Of the
Associated Pre- So this evening q sue
ciuct account of the disaster, saying
that not until now has he been able
the awful ten minutes follow ing the
explosion. Lieut.. Blsndin Gays:
II wss on watch and when the men
had been piped below I looked down
the main matches ard over the side of
the ship. Everything wss AbsOlutely
normal. 1 walked aft to the quarter
deck behind the rear turret, as is al
lowed afse~ o'clock in the evening,
and sat down on the port side, where
remained for q few minu:es.' Then for
some reason I can not explsin to my
self now, moved to the starboard side
aud sat down there. 1 was feeling a
bit glum, and, in fact, was 80 quiet that
Lieut.. Hood came up and asked laugh
ingly If was asleep. said, No, am
on watch
Scarcely had spoken when there
God that could blot out the sound and
the scenes that followed. Then came
sharp explosion, SONS say, numerous
detouations. remember only one
It seemed to me that the sound came
from the port side forward. Then
came perfect rain OF missil of all
kipds, from huge pieces of cement to
blocks of wood, steel railinge. frag-
ments of RratinRs and ell the debris
that would be detachable in an explo-
sion.
81 was struck on the head by q piece
of cement and knocked down. but 1
was not hurt and got to my feet in q
moment.
"L'eut. Hood had run to the poop nd
I followed. He was dszed by the
shock and was about to jump
overheard. I hailed him and he an
sw cred that he had run to the pc p to
there. though scarce a minute could
have elapsed, I bad to wade in water
| to my knees and almost instantly the
Qnxr ter teck was awash. On the pop
found Capt. Sigsbee as cool as if at 3
bali, and soon all tn officers except
Jenkins and Merritt joined US. The
pc p Yas above water af er the Maine
settled 70 the bottom. Capt. Sigsbee
ordered the launch and barge lowered
and the officers and men who by this
time had assembled got the boats out
and rescued a number in the water.
Captain Sigsbee ordered Lieut.. Com
mauder Wainwright forward to see
the extent of the damage and if any
thing could be done to rescue those
forward or to extinRuish the flames
which followed close upon the explo-
sion aud burned fierceiy as long as
there were any cOnbustibles above
water to feed them.
"Lieut. Commander VAIN wright on
his return reported the total and awful
character of the calamity and Capt.
Sifsbee gave the last sad order. 'Aban
don ship to men overwhelmed with
grief indeed, but calm and appa- emily
unexcited.
meantime four boats from the Span
'sh cruiser Alphonse XIII arriv, d, to
he followed soon by the txo from the
Ward line steamer City OF asLingtOn.
The two boats lowered from the City
of Washington were found to be ridd-
led with flying debris from the Maine
and unfit for use. Capt. Sigsbee was
the l. st man to leave his YES ell and left
in his own gig.
Il have no theories as to the cause OF
the explosion. I cannot form auy. An
examination by divers may tell sope-
thing to account for it. 1 with others
had beard that the Havana harbor
was full of oOrpedOes, but the officers
whose duty 1t was to examine into that
report said they found no signs of any.
Pers onally don't believe the Spanish
had anything to do with thu disaster.
Time may tell; hope SO.
1--WE were in q delicate position on
the Maine so far rs taking any precau-
tions were Concerned. We were
friends in q friendly or alleged friend
ly port and could not fire upon or chal-
lrge the approaching of any boat beard
log US unless convinced that her inten-
lions were hostile.
81 wish to heaven could forget it,
I have been in two wrecks aud have
had my share. But the reverberations
IF that sullen roar, as if the bottom of
the sea were grooming in torture, will
haunt me for many day and the
reflection of that pillar of flame comes
to me even when close my eyes"