The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-10-06
Gruesome Sights In Wreck Of Our
 Warship ''Maine''
Water Not Low Enough Yet to Permit of Recovery of All
 of the Bodies

Havana, Oct. 6-While there have
 been 22 bodies of the victims of the
 Maine taken from the wreck, these
 will not be all that will be recovered,
 TOT there are three more now in
 sight, and they will be taken out as soon as the work has progressed suf- ticIentIy to bank on the strength of
 the cofferdam. There may be more,
 Tn the petty officers quarters, for it
 was in this section of the ship that the explosion cut off all means of escape
 Those who have explored this sec ton of the wreck found many grue- some sights, the bones of parts of the skeletons showing that the petty officers were hemmed in for some time before death came, and they met their fate, some of them clasped in each others arms, for the bones of the hands of two of the men are still intertwined. There is absolute ly nothing by which the identity of these men can be determined, only silver watch having been found near the bones of one of the men. This watch is an old fashioned one, with initials engraved on it, but apparent ly mot the initials of the one who owned it at the time. There were a few particles of clothing, but none from which identification could be obtained. These bodies will not be removed for some days, because the water level is not being kept very low, the workmen being at present engaged in strengthening the walls of the cofferdam. The water has just been pumped out as low as 21 feet, but it is now being held at about 15 feet or less. The castings of the cof- ferdom have not the sufficient strength to resist the outside pressure when the level is lower than 25 feet, yuil hn tn or perhaps 35 feet or lower to get at the portions of the ship which may assist in determining the cause of the explosion.
 The work now is placing braces across the cofferdam so that the walls cannot be forced in. This might have been obviated when the cylind- CTS were constructed and filled, per- haps,e with less, labor and expense, but as this is the first thing of this kind ever built the engineers had to work the details out by themselves in ex- perimenting and closely watching the result of what they had already done. It was undoubtedly serious mistake in dumping the hundreds of tons of rock On the inside of the cofferdam, which it was thought would strengthen the cylinders sufficiently, but that was before the order to go to the bottom Of the wreck was issued. The after
  if necessary. Sheets of steel have been placed in the passageways leading to the forward part of the wreck, but as there is to be large quantity of mud pumped out yet, the engineers do not want to disturb the bed of the hulk now standing.
 This being the cyclone season. a sharp watch on the weather is being kept The big dredge Barnard is se- curely moored for an ordinary storm, and so are the other dredges and der rick barges lying about the cofferdam but what will happen if one of the fierce West Indian hurricanes breaks cannot be guessed.
 The bodies ASof the sailors recovered from the wreck are being guarded at Fort lCabanas.s A guard of Cuban sol diers is maintained all the time, over the portion of the fort where the re- mains are kept, and will be until they are removed. When bodies are remov- ed from the wreck a guard meets the launch at the wharf at Casa, Blanca and there is an army ambulance fur nished by the Cuban government tod convey the remains to the temporary morgue. With the exception of the remains of Lieutenant Merritt, which have been shipped to his relatives in Iowa, all the remains taken from the wreck are still in Havana, and will re- main ,here until battleship designat- ed by the government comes for them. l