The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1922-03-09
Reporter Gioes Reason Why the
Maine Went TO Hauana Harbor

room of the former Confederate gen.
/ eral, Fitz Hugh Lee, then United
| States consul general to Havana.
impossible, Gen. Lee replied,
the government would never send
a warship here unless l asked for
one and that l have not done.
At that moment came the thud of
guns. Hurrying to the balcony the
two saw the Maine entering the har-
Dor and bulbs of white smoke drift
ing from her saluting battery.
The Facts Considered.
AS newspaper correspondent who
reported the blowing up of the Maine
and as one who remained in Havana
during the sitting of the American
naval court of inquiry, body whose
verdict was that the Maine had been
destroyed as the result of an outside
explosion, have frequently been ask
ed my opinion as to the cause.
That the court of inqniry was con-
vinced the Maine had been blown up
by mine planted by the Spaniards
in Havana harbor, have never for a
moment doubted. That they did nct
say so in as many words Vas doubt
less dut to the reason other than
those contained in the facts which
they considered. Here they are:
The relations between America and
Spain had been strained ID the break
ing point. 1t was at this moment OF
severe tension that an American bat
tleship entered the ha:hor. At bar
anchorage inisde the narbor she COM
manded the entire situation, there
not being single Spanish gun that
could be brought to bear against her,
all of these being in the batteries that
overlooked the sea approaches.
A Spanish pilot brought the Maine
into harbor and designated the buoy
to which she was to make fast. If,
under the circumstances the Span
iards had not laid a mine under that
predetermined buoy in order to domi-
nate any foreign warship making fast
to it, they would have been incredibly
short sighted.
There has been much talk of an in
side explosion. But the keel of the
Maine was found within eighteen in
| ches of the surface. No inside ex-
plosion could have driven that part
of the underbody upwards.
Some Unwritten History.
The reference to the finding of the
Names keel so near the surface OF
the water recalls another bit of un.
written history.
On the heelsof the disaster, all cor
respondents stationed in Havana be-
gan receiving more or less frantic ca
bles from their home Offices telling
how imperative it was for the Ameri-
can public to be informed at once
whether the Maine had been blown
up by a Spanish mine, or whether, as
Spain was contending, she had come
to her undoing through the explosion
of one of her own magazines.
Day by day these messages became
more urgent. But what where the cor
respondents to do? Pending the ar
| rival of the American naval court,
the Spaniards had established cor
don around the wreck and no one was
allowed near it. The court of inquiry,
headed by the late Rear Admiral
Sampson, arrived on the lighthouse
tender Fern, and began it's hearings
on board that vessel. But that did
not help the harried correspondents
none of whom were allowed on board.
There were no risks the correspond
ents would not have ventured to have
obtained some inkling of the case.
But they were confronted with OBJ
stacles Impossible to overcome.
Such was the situe tion when there
came one night a hurried knock on
my hotel door, the hour being about
10 O'Clock. Even after the lapse of all
these years do not feel free to reveal
the name of this caller. But l may
say that he was an officer attached
to the flagship New York and that
he had been sent from Key West to
| superintend the work of the divers
engaged in examining the wreck.
had been shipmates with this officer
before leaving the navy to take up
newspaper work, and we were warm
friends. As he hurried into the room
I saw he was intensely excited. He
first swore me to secrecy, exacted a
! promise that 1 would not reveal the
source of my information and then
without more ado, told in one breath