Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-02-14
HONOR MAINE DEAD
Movement Given Encourage
ment at Memorial Meeting.
SIGSBEE AND OTHERS TALK
Declare Men Who Met Death in
Havana Harbor Gave Their Lives
for Mankind.

The movement to have the wreck of
the battleship Maine removed from Ha-
vana harbor and brought to this city
and the project for the erection Of a
monument here in honor of the men
who went down to death in the Maine
were given an impetus at the Maine
memorial services held last evening in
the First Congregational Church.
THE Maine. we should remember. still
lies washed by the waves of Havana
harbor," a. Z. L. Leckie, the presiding
officer, said I'VE should not rest until
the Maine is placed among our most
precious relic and every brave sailor
who went wn with the ship shall
find Resin place in the consecrated
ground of OF national cemetery at Ar
lington''
The Maine is the Lexington of the
Spanish war;. Rear Admiral Charles
D. Sigsbee declared. 1T was born in
an epoch. 1t ended in an epoch, and it
gave rise to an epoch. l urge that
the American people cooperate with the
Maine Monument Association and raise a
suitable shaft to the memory of the
dead"
THE heroes of the Maine gave their
lives for the flag just as much as those
who met death on the battlefield" Rev.
Samuel H. Woodrow said.
The gathering was under the joint
auspices of the Army and Navy Union
and Maine Monument Association. The
committee in charge was composed Of
Commander Lemuel Fugitt of Porter Gar
rison. Charles w. Blush, inspector gen.
eral; Thomas A. Green, Charles Claggett,
Vernon Patteys. Mr. Platz and Mrs.
Christine Walton Dunlap, assisted by
twenty-five seamen gunners from the
navy yard.
Salute to the Flag.
The Maine memorial services were well
attended by patriotic men and women.
The auditorium of the church was dec
Grated with American flags and flowers
arranged by Mrs. Christine Walton Dun
lap, secretary of the Maine Monument
Association. Following the singing of
THE Star Spangled Banner by the au-
dience the salute to the flag was given
by the Isabel Worrell Ball Flag Associa-
ton, composed of fifteen women. each
carrying a flag or union jack Of the navy.
In the memorial sermon by Rev. Sam
uel H. Woodrow he spoke of the inevita-
BILE death that awaits every one, and
said:
Death comes to all. rich and poor, the
wise and the simple, the good and the
sinful. the small and the great, for only
last Saturday the country was mourning
the death of Abraham Lincoln. It comes
at all times, when least expected, for a
derailed switch might cost the lives of
hundreds, and so with the Maine, a puff
Of smoke in a harbor and their brave
lives were put out.
VIII Live in History.
In his opening address a. E. L. Leckie.
judge advocate general of the Minute
Men. who was presiding officer. said the
a - h. in ic-
tory with Lexington. Gettysburg and APP
pomattox. He added:
I'VE were called upon to aid weak
and defenseless people, struggling for
right. struggling to be free, and while
we waited the world was suddenly
shocked by the explosion of the Maine.
which only FASTENED the call to arms and
the entrance of new epoch
Applause greeted Admiral Sigsbee as he
stepped to the fore. He said he would
not repeat the story of the Maine, but
would plead the cause of the Maine Mon
ument Association in erecting a fitting
memorial to the memory of those who
lost their lives on that occasion. He
added:
Anchor Their Only Monument.
lone hundred and sixty of the Maine
dead lie buried in Arlington, twenty-five
at Key West and the rest are scattered
at different places. The only thing to
commemorate their deaths is an anchor"
Admiral Sigsbee appealed strongly for
CO. operation with the Maine Monument
Association in its efforts to raise a suit
able shaft to the memory of the dead.
The two ways to raise the money, he
said, were by national and local sub
scriptions. He urged that the latest plan
in selling ribbons bearing the words
Member Of the Maine Monument Asso-
ciation'' for 81 apiece had been found to
oe the most successful.
In lauding the men of the Maine Col.
John McElroy said they died as eff
fectively for man and as nobly as any
ever did on the field of battle. Each
died doing his duty for man, as all
Americans who have lost their lives un-
der the flag have done. They now live
in glory, in that greater United States,
presided over by Abraham Lincoln, sur
rounded by George Washington, Grant,
Sherman, Sheridan, Meade, Mcclellan
and the rest of that brave host"
The exercises were concluded by the
sounding of TAPS" by Bugler Walter
Bear and the singing of MY Country.
'Tis of Thee by the audience.