The Red Cloud chief., 1911-11-09

ports have been sent out from
time to time fixing the date for
the final raising Of the dsrelict, not
one Of such reports has been author.
lied, not one Of them 10 or can be
reliable. 1t was stated nearly q year
ago that the ship would be raised by
February /, 1911. Today the greater
part Of the ship 10 buried In sticky,
black mud and there Is every posi-.
bility that six months will lapse, II not
. much longer time. before the hull
10 fully exposed and raised. II It 10
ever found possible to float any part
Of It. And no one 10 to blame for the
delay. The Job has proved itself Just
about ten times greater and more for.
midsble than It originally gave prom.
iss Of being.
Ship . Mass Of Twisted Steel.
No one who has not seen the wreck
and been on It and through It can un.
derstand its almost impossibly tangled
condition. The stern Of the ship, 10
comparatively intact. But not more
than q third Of what WAS the original
vessel 10 recognizable - such. Amid.
ship the tangle begins. Funnels, con.
ming towers. decks. cabins, engines.
machinery, are all . tangled pathetic
mass that even the most expert Of
naval engineers and constructors have
been unable to classify properly. The
whole bow was blown OF and turned
around and pointed back toward the
stern. The old controversy Of what
caused the explosion 10 still on, but
experts declare the uncovering Of the
Maine will never solve the mystery.
The titanic force Of the explosion
or explosions. for there were two Of
them without Question-impresses the
observer ~ having been appalling.
Think Of . force that would break q
steel battleship in twain and dance
the half Of It about like q cork.
The old controversy a. to whether
the Maine was blown up from with
out or within will not be settled by
the uncovering of tho wreck-not
II . million experts render their I'm
disputable" opinions. The consensus
of opinion ID now. a. It ever was. that
an outside mine explosion preceded
and precipitated the interior explosion
that Of the ships magazine. All
testimony goes to establish the fact
that there were two distinct explo-
sions. But the Spanish folk will new.
or admit that there were two. Those
who even incline to listen to the sug.
gsstion that there might have been
two contend that II two occurred that
within the ship must have been the
frst. Some. but not many. Americans
hold to the opinion that the wreck
was caused solely BY an explosion OF
the vessels magazine.
lsnds Color 70 Theory.
But the fact that the destruction OF
the vessel celebrated on Gale Cuba
In Havana. before It occurred. and
that that celebration was participated
in by Spanish royalists. has decided
tendency to lend color to the theory
that the wreck was planned.
Lurid stories OF all sorts to new
discoveries" which are calculated tc
"clear up the mystery" are on con
slant, daily tap In Havana. Within 9
week q circumstantial yarn to the ef
feet that q wire cable leading from
the bow Of the Maine to Cabanas had
been discovered went the rounds. AL
such stories are myths. But the i'm
pressiveness. the wierdness. thu
crsepinsss. the oppressive uncannineI
of the wreck itself 10 by no means
mythical. It gets on ones nerves.
Eighty-eight men perished when tn,
Maine went down. About 25 skele
tions or parts of skeletons =
have been recovered. As thii
II written three skulls CLEAN thei
ghastly welcome from the slime tina
covers the tangled wreckage. Tht