The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-03-16

"Far better that her sheltered hulk
 Should sink beneath the wave.
 Her thunders shock the mighty deep And there should be her grave" From "Old IronSides. Washington. March 1S = Recalling with poignant memory the day when the battered hulk, today sunk to rest on the oceans bed, was brave in her power and pulsing with life, Rear Ad miral Charles D. Sigsbee, former cap- tain of the iH-starred Maine. today told the United Press that the Maine was an inspiration.
 .Sentiment in the Maine?' he re- peated reminiscently. "Yes, there has been and will long continue to be a men aboard did not die in battle but in their beds and their fate caused deep sadness throughout the States. | The disaster reused all our people and was an Inspiration in all parts of our country. Important events that made great history followed inn mediately.
 ''The destruction of the Maine pre- | cipttated but was not the cause of the war. It was gratifying to me the l way the thing was managed in Hal vana in the raising of the Maine. The | explosion did not occur within the vessel but was due to cause out IAide the ship. Nobody aboard the Maine ever had any doubt of 1t. T really think that the sinking of i the Maine, as carried out today. was | the best course to pursue. If the 1 Maine had been reconstructed she | would still have been an obsolete type of warship. In my own opinion, 1t l was the most sacred disposal that could have been made of the ship, to sink her to rest on the ocean bot tom.
 "As long as the Maine lay in Ha- vana harbor there would be constant petitions for her removal AS 1t was, patriotic societies in all parts of the | country were demanding that some
 thing be done. The movement was voluntary and among the most influ-
 ential factors were the veterans Of the war with Spain.".
 1 As to the slogan Remember the
 Maine, Admiral Sigsbee said: tThat was never taken up in the navy One quartermaster raised a flag with those words inscribed upon
 it and he was subjected to a sharp rebuke by the Secretary of the Navy. | Men of the navy considered it was
 better to Remember the Maine in | the right way, but not as war slo- gan. Int Maine has certainly been we'll remembered in this country Regarding the victims of the disas-
 ter in Havana harbor on February 15,
 1898, the Admiral declared:
 "It was my policy to get the dead out of Havana. Of course. at first
 with the conditions that existed, it
 was impossible to do anything but bury the men in Colon cemetery, at Havana. Later, when I could man
 age the situation, l sent 25 cofffns
 to Key West"
 twill they be removed to Arling-
 ton?" was asked.
 s'weH, Key West was very sympa- thetic and patriotic and perhap l would not like to let them be taken
 away" he responded. Relatives and 1 friends of the dead would not object
 ways believed that the government
 would eventually take charge of 1 them.
 "Nearly all the victims of the dis aster whose bodies were recovered
 immediately after the explosion rest
 more than 150 of them to Washing
 ton in December, 1899, and President
 Mckinley took part in the cerem onies
 attending the burial of their remains
 in Arlington"
 Havana, March 16-Trade and com
 merce stopped in Havana today in final honor to the Maine. Govern
 ment buildings were closed, shutters were on the windows of most of the mercantile establishments. On flag staffs on nearly every business build ing in the city, government structures and forts and cid Morro, the national ensigns of the United States and Cuba
 were displayed.
 They 1uttered lazily, entwined with great bands of crepe. Through the 1 streets of the city men in uniform l passed and repassed.
 Privates wore bands of crepe on their left arms, officers wore it knot ted about the hilts of their side arms. On all sides. the scene was one of | solemnity.
 It was Cuba's last tribute to the old Maine and the 275 officers and men of her company whose death in
 the local harbor that warm night in February, IA years ago. gave the lit tie island a separate place in the his tory of the nation. The wreck of the fighting machine, robbed of all sem blance of the majestic vessel which once cleft the blue waters of the deep
 and kept afioat by great bulkheads of timber, was to be forever laid to
 rest in the quiet Florida Straits, nine
 miles from the place where the vessel
 met her death.
 Conveyed by sister ships and ac- companied by the entire strength of the Cuban navy, the wreck was to 0~outiuued on paoa 2N