Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1898-03-29
torpedoes since he had had command Of

torpedoes since he had had command Of
| the ship.
| Private W. Anthony, of the United States
| marine corps. whose coolness at the time
| of the explosion in reporting to Captain
| Sigsbee has become the theme of admira-
| ton throughout the worio, was the next
| witness. He testified that he had the first
| watch, from to u o'clock. on the night Of
| the explosion. There was drill that day
and it was not necessary to open the mag
azines. In response to questions. Private
Anthony told his story.
Il was standing on the main deck just
| outside the door on the starboard side. I
| first noticed trembling and a buckling Of
| the decks. and then this prolonged roar
not 2 short report, but prolonged roar.
| The awnings We're spread. and where the
wing awning and the quarter deck awning
/ should join there was space of at least
| eighteen inches I looked out and saw an
immense sheet of flame. and then started
| in to warn the captain"
did you notice any perceptible list to
| the ship at the first shock?"
''At the first shock, the ship instantly
| that is, the quarter deck, where 1 was
standing-dipped forward and to port just
| like that Gndicating). 1t apparently broke
| in the middle like that (indicating), and
| port"
| Witness said the upshoot Of flame he saw
| was well forward. 1t must have been for
| ward of the superstructure. Il could see
| the debris going up with it. do not know
| what it was. but I saw firebrands going
| up.''
Was it on the port or starboard side?"
1T looked more to port than it did to
| starboard. 1t looked like it covered the
whole shin IN MI CLARA q
| illumined the whole heavens for the mo-
| ment, as much as 1 could see for the
| awnings"
Did you see any water with it?"
Il did not notice that. sir. started for
the cabin at once" ..
This closed the brave marines testimony.
Lieutenant A. W. Catlin, who was IN
charge of the marine guard said that when
the ship went into Havana harbor, two ek-
| ira night sentinels were put on, one in the
forecastle and one in the poop, armed with
rifles. They had special orders to challenge
all boats which approached the ship near
enough for a challenge. There was picked
man on the port gangway. The icorporafs
guard inspected the ship lights below every
half hour, the patrol taking his place while
gone. Lieutenant Catlin set the sentries
| twice every night, once before and once
after midnight, while in the harbor at
Havana, anu Always 1ouuu tueiA Ni5hahI
and attending to business. He was sitting
in his room at the time Of the explosion.
He heard a dull sound, a loud conclusion
and felt the shaking of the ship. The lights
went out and he went on deck, and as he
did SO the whole heavens were full or
sparks There was no flame and he felt
but one shock.
Passed Assistant Engineer Bowers, senior
assistant engineer to the chief, was eS-
amined particularly as to the precautlons
taken on board the Maine against spon-
taneous combustion. He said the order had
been to inspect the bunkers every day ana
log them. In the case of the bunkers that
had an escape door they had always opened
those doors. He was on duty on the day
before the explosion. The coal in bunker
A he said had been stored either in Nor
folk or Newport News. There was about
forty tons of 1t and it was soft coal. The
bunkers Immediately aft were empty. The
door leading from the bunker to the ten
inch leading room was kept closed.
The after boilers, he said, were practic-
ally banked and were in good condition,
and he did not consider that there was
any danger of their having too much press
ure in for safety on the evening of the ex-
plosion.
Mr., Bowers said there had never been
bunkers. They had once thought they had
such a fire but It was from leaky exhaust
pipe from the ice machine.
Chaplain John Chadwick, Of the Maine,
was in his room on board the night OF the
occurrence. He said:
IT heard loud report and everything at
once became dark. The lights went out and
there was a crashing sound of things fall
ing rushed on deck and got to the cap
tain's poop, where 1 saw the captain CIV
ing his orders. After trying to cheer up
the men who were crying out on the water
for help, I was ordered by Lieutenant Jun
gen to go into boat which 1 did. He
rowed around the ship and picked up one
man, then, at the order of the captain. we
pulled for the City of Washington"
Asked how many shocks he felt, witness
said he remembered only one.
Louis Wertheimer. tobacco dealer OF
New York, who was a passenger on the
steamer City of Washington in Havana
harbor the night of the blowing up of the
Maine, the moment of the explosion was in
the stern of the Washington and was look
ing directly at the battleship when the ex-
plcsion occurred
"I heard a report" said Mr.. Wertheimer,
land at an interval of anywhere from five
to fifteen seconds following the first report
came a great explosion. In the burst of
flame which followed I clearly and plainly
saw the vessel rise in the water, apparently
three yards out, then settle down before
the light of the explosion went out. The
whole thing was over so quickly that l
could not hazard guess at the length of
time
Sigmund Rothschild, one of the passen-
gers on the City of Washington. was an
eyewitness to the explosion. In company
with his friend Louis Wertheimer. who
was aboard the City of Washington on the
night of February 15 as she sailed into
Havana harbor. he was on the stern of
the Washington, which was astern and on
the port side of the Maine. The vessels
were about 100 yards apart Rothschild
said he was naturally interested in the
could get good look at her. Just as he
had taken his eyes off her to move his
chair, there was a sound like cannon shot
in the darkness. He Immediately looked
toward the Maine. He saw the forward end
of the vessel rise, he thought a couple of
feet OUT of the water. An instant later
came a second distinct explosion. This
seemed to burst from the interior of the
vessel forward in dull flame and the air
was instantly filled with flying debris. The
vessel lurched back in the water after the
force of the first detonation that had lifted
her bow, and quickly began to sink for
ward.
In less that minute. her bow had dis
appeared. The wreck took fire and burned
for two hours. There were single reports