The Mena star., 1898-03-30
THE FULL REPORT.
Findings of the Board of Inquiry as
 to the Maine Wreck.
A Subma rine Mine Was the Awful Agent of Devastation and Death Unable to Fix ResponsibIlity-MaIn or
 6cers Blam eless.

United States Ship Iowa, First Rate. Key
 West. Fla, Monday March 2l, 1s9s-After full and mature consideration of all the testimony before it. the court finds as follows:
 l. That the United States battleship Maine arrived in the harbor of Havana. Cuba, upon the 18th day of January, 1895, and was taken to buoy No. 4, in from 5H to six fathoms of water by the regular government pilot
 The United States consul general at Havana had notified the authorities at that place the previous evening of the intended arrival of the Maine.
 2 The state of discipline on board the Maine was excellent; and all orders and regulations l in regard to the care and safety of the ship were strictly carried out
 All ammunition was slowed away in accord | anco with instructions, and proper care was taken whenever ammunition was handled. Nothing was slowed in any one of the maga- zines or shell which was not permitted to be slowed there The magazines and shell rooms were always locked after hay ing been opened; and after the destruction of the Maine the keys were found in their proper place in the captains cabin everything having been reported secure that evening at eight o'clock. The temperatures of the magazines and shell rooms were taken daily and reported The only magazine which had an undue amount of heat was the after ten-inch magazine and that did not explode at the time the Maine was destroyed The torpedo heads were all slowed in the after part of the ship. under the ward room and neither caused nor participated in the destruction of the Maine. The dry gun cotton primers and detonators were slowed in the cabin aft and mote from the scene of the explosion. The waste was carefully looked after on board the Maine to obviate danger. Special orders in re- gard to this had been given by the commanding officer Varnishes. dryers, alcohol and other combustibles of this nature were sto wed on board the main deck and could not have had axrf fO dn xrfe 4tx.. Maine The medical stores were slowed aft, under the ward room and remote from the s;ene of the explosion No dangerous stores of any kind were stored below in any of the other storerooms
 The coal bunkers were inspected. Of those bunkers adjoining the forward magazines and shell rooms four were empty namely: B3 B4 B., B6 Al5 had been in use that day and Al6 was full of New River coal This coal had been carefully inspected before receiving it on board The bunker in which it was stowed was accessi- ble on three sides at all times. and the fourth side ut this time account of bunkers B4 and
 36 being empty. This blNs.nr Al6. had been inspected that day blythe engineer officer on duty. The fire alarms in the bunkers were in working order and there had never been case of spontaneous combustion of coal on board the Maine.
 The two after-boilers of the ship were in use at the time of the disaster, but for auxiliary purposes only, with comparatively low pres sure of steam and being tended by reliable watch These boilers could not have caused the explosion of the ship The four forward boilers have since been found by the divers, and are in fair condition.
 On the night of the destruction of the Maine everything had been reported secure for the night, at eight o'clock by reliable persons, through the proper authorities. to the com manding officer. At the time the Maine was destroyed. the ship was quiet and therefore. 1iof from those on board.
 The destruction of the Maine occurred at $40 p. m of the 18th day of February, 1898, in the harbor of Havana. Cuba. being at the time moored to the same buoy to which she had been taken upon her arrival
 There were two explosions of distinctly dif- ferent character, with a very short but distinct interval between them, and the forward part of the ship was lifted to a marked degree at the time of the first explosion. The first ex- plosion was more in the nature of report. like that of gun, while the second explosion was more open, prolonged and of greater vol ume This second explosion was, in the opin- ion of the court caused by the partial explo- sion of two or more of the forward magazines of the Maine.
 4 The evidence bearing on this being prin- cipally obtained from divers. did not enable the court to form definite conclusion as to the condition of the wreck, although 1t was estab- lished that the after part of the ship was prac- tically intact and sank in that condition a very few minutes after the forward part.
 The following facts in regard to the forward part of the ship are. however. established by the testimony;
 That portion of the port side of the protec- tive deck which extends from about frame 30 to about frame 4l was blown up aft and over to port The main deck from about frame 30 to about frame Al was blown up aft and slightly over to starboard. folding the forward ,f top of the afte. part This was. in the opinion of the court, caused by the partial explosion of
 two or more of the forward magazines of the Maine.
 E. At frame 17 the outer shell of tho ship from point 1lH feet from the middle line of the ship and six feet above the keel when fa it's normal position, has been forced up as to be now about four feet above the surface of the water; therefore about 34 feet above where 1t would be had the ship sunk uninjured The outside bottom plating is bent into reversed shape. the after wing sf which, about i5 feet broad and 82 feet in length (from frame F to frame 25). is doubled back upon itself against the continuation Of the same plating extending forward.
 At frame IS the vertical keel is broken in two and the fiat keel bent into an angle simi- lar to the angle formed by the outside bottom plating. This break is now about six feet be- low the surface of the water and about 30 feet above it's normal position
 In the opinion of the court this effect could have been produced only by the explosion of mine situated under the bottom of the ship at about frame IS
 The court finds that the loss of the Maine on the occasion named. was not in any respect due to fault or negligence on the part of any os the officers or members of the crew of said ves- sel
 2. In the opinion of the court the Maine was destroyed by the explosion of Q submarine x..tx. tl l.1o al