Devils Lake weekly world. (Devils Lake, N.D.) 1911-1914, 1912-03-15
BATTLESH|P MAINE
TO Be BURIED TODAY

Washington, March s.--The Of
fetal burial at sea Of the old battle
ship Maine, has been postponed UNI
til March Is on account Of unexpect-
ed difficulty in removing the Golfer
dam around the wreck. It is fully ex-
pected, however, that about The 18th,
which falls on Friday, the hulk will be
lowed out to sea from Havana harhor,
escorted by the cruisers North Carolina
and Birmingham, and sunk to the bot
tom, with full naval honofs.
AS the Maine Now Appears.
Havana, March S.-The days are SO
nearly done, now, in which the Maine
will lie on her bier, close under the
city wall, that last visit Of respect
seems almost obligatory on any .Ameri-
can here. Yet there is something more
than human in the great, still thing,
once full Of life and strength and bril-
lance, now shattered, dead, sea chang
cd that one feels rebuked On her pres
ence, like an intruder upon tragic 81
lence, whose defense should have been
the pitious majesty Of helplessness. It
is as if some noble creature, stabbed
and drowned by a secret madman, had
arisen after many years to look with
sad, wise, passionless eyes upon the still
troubled world, before sinking back
forever to consecrated rest.
Even the tourists feel it, for as they
draw near their voices grow hushed
and their faces very grave. Even the
laborers, delving with pick and shovel
and flaming knife in mud that held the
fragments of the bow, worked silently
in the latter days. For at the very
close they found still other bodies in
the miry tomb that had already surren-
dered SO many dead.
Masses Of Crumpled Steel.
On the risen hulk hang masses of
crumbled steel, flattened and clamped
fast by the terrific force that tore
them, as coming towers, from their
roots. Yet it is possible to walk free
ly from deck to deck. Mud and weeds
have been scraped away and loose
wreckage removed. The place is very
clean. But in parts the solid oak has
been riddled through and through by
the devouring worms of the sea, till it's
very substance is soft and moss-like.
Or again, where the wood is sound,
oysters beset it as thickly as blades Of
grass sod. You may lift your hand
between decks and touch their sharp
valves where they cape in myriads on
the ceilings above your head
Stores jealousy Protected From Relic
Hunters.
In one dim chamber, whose bare,
scared timbers are the color Of dead
leaves, dark bottles of wine lie stack
ed in a pyramid. These were mess
stores. One flask they opened and
found it as sound as though it had not
shared the cellar Of the shark for four
teen years. The rest, untouched, will
60 down with the ship.
In another room, carefully barred
and locked and guarded, stand open
barrels of rifle ammunition and rows Of
cartridges for ships guns. Their shells
are dull and rusted, but their charges
are still alive, and could serve pur-
pose as well today as on the day they
left the armory. just as they are, and
jealousy protected from the hands Of
rclichunters, these, too, will share the
final sanctuary.
In the Engine Rooms.
Down below, the great engines stand
in place, cleaned and oiled from the
rust and canker of their long sleep.
When the ship goes out to her burial,
she might, it is believed. move by her
own power, but the attempt will not be
made. Those who have labored over
her till her very spirit inspires them,
hold that such thing would be as
grim sactlege as to galvanize the
earthly lodging of departed soul into
show Of life.
do you feel,' some one asked OF
Major Ferguson, the army engineer
who has been in charge of the vessel,
"Do you feel that she should be sunk
with attendant ceremonies, or that it
would be best to do the thing unmark-
ed, to let a morbid question lie the
question:"
The answer was very earnest.
"The Spanish war is over. It's
rights and wrongs, It's causes or follies
or mistakes are things of the past and
need have, no meaning here's But a
captain is escorted to his burial by his
proper guard. A colonel, brigadier-
general, receive their greater honors.
And I think the Maine should go down
to her grave in the presence of every
available ship of our navy" n