Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-04-02

officials will not allow them to be blown
to fragments.
The Maine was a second-class battleship,
324 feet long and $3.50 tons displacement.
The personnel was 20 officers and 32s men.
of whom 267 were killed and only 10
escaped injury. About $50 Of the dead were
originally buried in the old cemetery here
In Havana, but during the American occu-
patton the bodies were removed to An
napolis.
There is a dispute as to the ownership
of the wreck and the jurisdiction of the
United States government over it. 1t Is
held by some sea lawyers that 1t belongs
to Cuba, having been entirely abandoned
by the original owners and by others that
1t Is still the property of the United States
and cannot be disposed of except by vote
Of Congress; but If Col. Black, who is now
acting as minister of public works, re-
mains here long enough to carry out his
plans for the improvement of the harbor.
he will remove all distractions to naviga-
ton in the Bay of Havana, including the
hull Of the Maine, without asking any
body's permission.
Spontaneous Combustion Theory.
There have been many theories In regard
to the cause Of the explosion, and the sub
ject has been probably discussed more in
Havana than anywhere else. Every atom
of light that could be thrown upon the
mystery and every clue to its cause has been
investigated and discussed over and over,
until public opinion here has now practical
ly determined that the tragedy was due, not
to torpedo or any other external cause,
but to the explosion of the powder in the
forward magazine of the ship, caused by
heat from spontaneous combustion in the
coal bunkers. This conclusion is said to
have been strongly supported by the sur
vey of the contractors who undertook to
raise the wreck. Their divers made very
different reports from those given to the
court of inquiry shortly after the tragedy,
and maintain that almost all the damage is
found in the forward part of the ship, in
the neighborhood of the magazine; that
there are unmistakable evidences of a hot
fire in the coal bunkers Immediately next
to the magazine. with nothing but a sheet
of iron one-fourth of an inch thick between
the fire and the powder.
This, OF course, is not conclusive. 1t is
only q theory. But the contractors declare
that they can demonstrate its truth If they
are allowed to use dynamite to separate the
| machinery and other heavy material so as
to hoist it to the surface of the water and
place 1t on lighters. They insist, too, that
the reason why the Navy Department OPP
poses the removal Of the wreck Is its fear
Of disagreeable disclosures. They recall
the fact that while the peace commission
was sitting in Paris the Spanish govern
ment demanded an international investiga-
| ton Of the cause Of the explosion. which
the United States would not permit, on the
preteXt that 1t was ineXpedient and unnec-
essary to revive the discussion. The ad-
yocates of the accidental theory remind you
of several cases of spontaneous combustion
| in the bunkers of United States naval YES
| sells, and refer to the suicide Of the officer
| who had charge of the forward magazine
| on the Maine. They declare that the rea-
sons given in the newspapers for his suicide
are not sufficient