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TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY-EIGHT AMERICAN SAILORS DEAD. COUfiT OF INQUIRY, 0 YU- v. ----- -- «-- * v.f>. >,t'. . ^ • Terrible Destruction of the Magnificent Battleship Maine Was the Greatest Calamity that Has ••• • 1 ' Ever Befallen the Navy of the United States. ° NAVAL BOARD TO SEARCH 0<JT THE FACTS. tmrfi fear Maine Destroyed inTfavana Harbor. Several Days May Elapse Before a Ver­ dict Is Reached, butThere Will Be No Unnecessary Delay--Investigation to Be. Rigid. ^ Four Men to Decide. On Thursday the court of inquiry to in­ vestigate the cause of the Maine disaster was called to meet in Havana by Admiral Sicard. It is composed of the following officers: Capt. William T. Simpson, Capt. French E. Chadwick, Lieutenant Com­ mander William P. Potter and Lieuten­ ant Commander Adolph Marix, judge ad­ vocate. The verdict of these four naval experts, writes a Washington correspond­ ent, may .mean war with Spain. •••.• Under the direction oft.Admiral Sicard, says the correspondent, writing immedi­ ately after the calling of the court, the members will hear evidence and examine the debris. The splintered and twisted hulk is expected tb tell its own story. The plates will be bent in or out. If all point outward, the disaster was caused from Carelessness or probably treachery op board the ship; if they point Inward, then to Spanish treachery from without. Be­ neath the Waters of the harbor the divers will turn their electric searchlights as they search the deep for the submerged "debris of the once mighty battle ship. They will report speedily to their stir periors. There will be no unnecessary de­ lay. Public opinion will not stand-indefi­ nite suspense. The verdict of the court of inquiry will go to the Secretary of the Navy aiul to the President. There will he a cabinet meeting. There will be no splitting of hairs, no quibbling over offi­ cial etiquette. This matter is executive; it. will not follow precedents; there are none to follow. TRIP TO, DISASTER. Commissioner Evans Is not prepared to hazard a guess as to the number of vet­ erans of the civil war now living whose names are not upon the pension rolls and who have not applied for a pension. Va­ rious estimates have been made and the accuracy of the calculations may be said to depend almost entirely upon the allow­ ance made for deaths among soldiers since the close of the war. There were, the commissioner - says, about 2,100,000 separate and distinct enlistments, that is, there were about that number of soldiers in the Union army. Of this number about 960,000 have obtained pensions out of a total of 1,349,133'applications filed, and 410,000 were killed in battle, died from wounds received or while.in prison;, This estimate would leate about 343,000 vet­ erans to be accounted How many may now be living can be estimated by o n eper so rra 1 ra o s t as accurately as anoth­ er. ' The exposure, privations and hard­ ships of the" battlefield undermine thevcon- stitution to .such an extent as to render valueless the best established life tables. At the last reports there were 975,014 pensioners on the .rolls, including widows, minors and other dependent relations. The last report from the Commissioner of Pen­ sions shows that there have been allowed 962,000 invalid and 462,940 widows' claims, etc., growing out of the civil war, or a total of 1,424,940 out of a total of 2,052.126 applications filed. At that time there were pending in the office 582,513 claims to be disposed of. Two Hundred and Fifty=eight American Sailors Dead. Belief That the Terrible Affair Was Not Accidental, WILD TALK OF WAR, Many Americans Would Wipe Span ish Off the Earth. Powerful United States Naval Vessel Sent by This Government to Cuban Waters Lies at the Bottom of the Bay a Charred and Torn Hulk--Ca­ tastrophe Took Place at 10 O'clock at Night, When All the Sailors Ex­ cept Those Detailed for Duty Were Sleeping--Explanation Which Seems to Best Fit Circumstances Is That a Torpedo Was Exploded Under the Ship. Being first lady of the land lias proven exceedingly beneficial to the health of Mrs. McKinley. In fact, she has improv­ ed so remarkably that it is the subject of general comment. When she first came to Washington she never thought of mov­ ing about without crutches. At one of the recent receptions she walked down­ stairs and into the assembly room per­ fectly erect and without even a cane. At the large receptions she usually receives sitting, but the physical labor of such functions does not appear to affect her as much as it does some of the cabinet la­ dies who are supposed to be perfectly strong. One reason for this appears in the fact that Mrs. McKinley enjoys thor­ oughly performing the social duties which devolve upon her. Although naturally domestic and inordinately fond of chil­ dren, she has taken an unexpected liking to the glitter and whirl of White House gayeties. In her face Mrs. McKinley bears none of the marks of the invalid. She is singularly young looking and her expression is one of great and constant happiness. When and Why the Ill-Fated Maine Went to Havana. 'The Maine arrived in Havana and drop­ ped anchor in the inner harbor on the morning of Jan. 25. The trip had been hasty and the arrival of the boat so soon had not been expected by the residents of the Cuban capital, yet no demonstration was made and no unpleasant occurrences had to be recorded. It had been the in­ tention of President McKinley for a long time to send a war ship to Havana. Sev­ eral weeks were spent in preparation, al­ though the details of what was going on were not known to the public until the final orders were given. The Maine started from Dry Tortugas early in the morning of Jan. 25, and in a few hours reached her destination. As the big vessel steamed into the harbor through the narrow strait over which Morro Castle stands guard, friendly" sa­ lutes were fired. The answer was at once returned by the guns of the forts and the Spanish flag ship Alphonso XIII., which was at anchor in the harbor. Almost be­ fore anchor could be dropped a small boat was alongside containing officers of the Spanish vessel. The visitors were met by the officer of the deck and at once con­ ducted to the captain's cabin. Here in­ troductions were made in the most friend­ ly manner. When the Maine entered the harbor she anchored almost in the center, and quite close to the Spanish flag ship. The docks were lined with excited Spaniards and cu­ rious Cubans. They did not cause any trouble at the sight of the vessel so hated or so much despised, but it was reported that some of the ignorant Spaniards went off in grumbling disgust when they saw their own boat hoist the enemy's flag by way of courtesy. According to orders, Admiral Sicard established a line of small boats between Dry Tortugas and Havana in such a way that signals could be rap­ idly transmitted from the Maine to the fleet. This was done to make certain of speedy aid to the vessel on guard if it should happen that the use of the cable was made impossible. This was only one of the precautionary measures that were taken, not only to prevent trouble but to make sure of having a strong defensive position if unavoidable trouble should arise. AS VIEWED BY EDITORS. THE United States battleship Maine lies at the bottom of Havana har­bor, a charred and torn hulk, and a tomb for over 250 of her crew. She was blown up about 10 o'clock Tuesday Bight by a terrific explosion said to have been an accident. The explosion oceur- jred in the bow of the vessel and at an honrwlienthe honest sailors had retired, while most of the officers had returned from the gayeties of the city. Whether the magazine of the ship was fired by ac­ cident or treachery, whether bomb or tor­ pedo placed beneath the bow sent the Maine to the bottom of Havana bay and its bine-jackets to their long home per- fcaps no man shall ever know. All that sailors and officers of the fated craft could say was that there was a crash and a roar --that men were hurled headlong from their banks upon the cabin floors, and that out of the darkness, the grinding of burst­ ing timbers, the surging of the water rush- WAR SPIRIT AT WASHINSTON. harbor of Havana is full of submarine torpedoes, which need only an electrical connection to make an explosion possible. The theory that the Maine was destroyed by a torpedo found ready believers. No­ body was willing to assert that the Span­ ish Government was primarily responsi­ ble for touching off a torpedo, but among the hotheads roaming the streets of Ha­ vana in the state of excited feeling now existing there are many, it is believed, who would not hesitate to commit such an outrage. It is not known the depth of the water in which the Maine sank, but it. is known that the harbor of Havana is the vilest on the globe, and that the great mass of steel, weighing many thousand tons, has probably sunk in the mud of that harbor, where divers can neither live nor work. The Maine at the time of the explosion was at anchor about 500 yards from the arsenal and some 200 yards from the floating dock. There is no precedent for an accident of this sort. No ship of war lias ever been mysteriously blown up. Naval experts are unanimous in the opinion that an ac­ cident to the powder magazine could nev­ er result in a catastrophe of this sort, and they say the precautions taken on board a modern man-of-war make an accidental explosion in the ammunition a practical impossibility. COUNTRY GREATLY EXCITED. proud, strong ship, and she will go down Into history alongside the Royal George, the Victoria and other men-of-war which were wiped out of existence with their crews under appalling circumstances.. The Maine was one of the best ships in the American navy. In an up and up fight she would have .stood her own against any boat of her class afloat. She was not a cruiser. She was built to fight, and she was a floating fort. All the in­ genuity of modern naval architecture was brought to bear upon her construction. Director of the Mint Preston's estimate of the amount of gold taken from the Klondike is, in round numbers, $6,000,000. i<- is at present, however, exceedingly difficult to obtain anything like authentic figures on the output of gold, as the Treas­ ury Department only has quarterly re­ turns from the mint at San Francisco, and what is received there by no means covers the amount brought into this coun­ try. Some is deposited at Helena, Seattle, and quite a quantity has come as far east as Chicago. A great deal also goes to private refineries, and reports from them are only received annually; so it is plain to see that anything like accurate figures will not be had for some time. * * * There are few men who get more amusement out of life than Speaker Reed, and yet he is a man of few diversions. He loves to read newspapers, spending sev­ eral hours a day in that occupation, and political cartoons are to him a delight-- especially those in which his own counter­ feit presentment figures. This last may be because such cartoons invariably depict him in a flattering way from one point of view or another; even thq^e of the oppo­ sition represent him as a czar and a per­ sonage holding the reins over Congress. And power is the breath of the man's nos­ trils--no human being ever enjoyed its possession more. Seems as Though Providence Were Leading Two Countries to War. The agitation and suppressed excite­ ment that prevail throughout the coun­ try are shown by the telegrams of inquiry that have been received at the various departments and newspaper offices and by members of Congress as to the proba­ ble cause of the explosion. And it is clear that, however it may be explained, this awful calamity must seriously in­ crease the tension between the United States and Spain by provoking excitement, suspicion and irritation. The comments CONSUL-GENERAL LEE Opinion of Leading Metropolitan Pa­ pers Upon the Maine Disaster. Either a great crime has been commit­ ted or there has been an amazing piece of blundering carelessness.--Chicago Rec­ ord. If the Maine and 250 of her men have been lost through Spanish treachery let Spain take the consequences.--Cincinnati Enquirer. To attempt to pass judgment on the Maine disaster with the present informa­ tion would be the height of folly.--De­ troit News. The first duty of the country with re­ gard to the terrible tragedy is to keep cool, that we may learn the facts.--Bos­ ton Transcript. There is nothing in the reports to offset the fearful suspicion that the Maine was deliberately destroyed by a Spanish tor­ pedo.--Cincinnati Times-Star. No possible explanation can stifle the voicg of the people calling for intervention in the interest of Cuba by our Govern­ ment.--Chicago Inter Ocean. The American people should decide whether plajSin'g at ^ ar is not too expen­ sive an amusement when it entails such a terrible cost.--Chicago Chronicle. The people believe the burden of proof rests upon Spain to demonstrate beyond cavil that the blowing up of the Maine was an accident.--Cincinnati Commercial Tribune. Many modern battle ships have been wrecked in a similar way and just as sud­ denly without any ^asonable ground for suspicion of an attempt at wholesale mur­ der.--Chicago Staats Zeitung. All this occurred in the harbor of a "friendly nation." Now let the Spaniards prove their friendship by absolving them­ selves from all responsibility for the ca­ tastrophe.--St. Louis Republic. There are scores of possible explana­ tions, each of which would seem more rea­ sonable than the base insinuations against the nation whose hospitality our repre­ sentatives were enjoying.--Philadelphia Record. „ The disaster to one of the finest ships of our navy and the sacrifice of so many brave' lives, not to the formal defense of the country, but to a strange and horri­ ble fate, casts a gloom over the whole na­ tion.--St. Paul Globe. The American people are not so callous­ ed by prejudice as to close their eyes and ears to the,probability that the explosion was due to causes with which the Span­ ish Government could have no remote con­ nection.--Detroit Journal. Sober second thought will carry convic: tion to all fair arid open minded men that it is better to await the results of an in­ vestigation before jumping to the conclu­ sion that Spanish malice is at the bottom of it.--St. Paul Pioneer Press.. It is impossible to refrain from the sus­ picion that the explosion may have been caused by foul fheiins. That this terrible event should have occurred in the harbor of Havana renders a solution of the mys­ tery of international importance.--London Globe. ing back to fill the great chasm torn by v the explosion, came the screams of wound- a ed men and long red jets of flame. Ten minutes, later and the Maine, all £ •fire from stem to stern, began to settle n in the water. Over the side went the sail- ( ore, half clad or clad not at all, flinging c themselves into the bay, still dazed, bruis- I ed and bleeding. Out of the red murk and * the horrible upi-oar could be heard the ' load voices of officers, ordering and di- ? recting, cool and plucky in the face of ! death, showing even in that hour of horror ? the grand courage and the steady disci-. \ pline that won at New Orleans and Mo­ bile--the grandeur of Farragut, the iron ] nerve of the Kearsarge's crew upon the ? rock of Roncador. There were no weak i souls nor cowards there; the officers held * place and power even as at a dress review, ' . and to their coolness and their courage is due the fact that the panic did not re­ sult in even heavier loss of life than the explosion and the water caused combined. ' The nation mourns for those who per­ ished with the Maine. Such a startling vision of sudden death has not for years 1 been presented to the public mind. * The , tragedy appeals to all American hearts. ( For all must feel that the lost stood ready at an instant call to make of their bodies a rampart between their country and their conn try's foes. There have been few such i disasters in modern times. The catastro­ phes to the Royal George, to the Victoria, and, in Apia harbor, to the Nipsic, the Vandalia and the Trenton are among the lew comparable to it. A dispatch from Havana said that the wildest excitement prevailed in the city. The wharves were crowded with thou­ sands of people. There was a rush and harry and it is claimed that the Spaniards bent every energy to the saving of the doomed Americans. Out from the great Mack sides of the Spanish warships, says the dispatch, flew boat after boat and the Spanish sailors uever pulled faster oars. Over the bay they skimmed, seizing here an arm extended from the water in the last struggle of the drowning man, grasp­ ing there a drenched blue-jacket, until the boats were full of rescued men and no •tore living bodies could be found upon the surface of the water. The shock of the explosion wrecked ev­ ery window in Havana. Capt. Gen. Blan­ co was among the first to realize what had happened, and lie spared no exertion to aid Capt. Sigsbee's men. Admiral Manterola. and Gen. Solano proved wor­ thy coadjutors, and the Spanish sailors and soldiers alike did all that was in their power. Capt. Sigsbee was not hurt, al­ though the earlier dispatches represented him as severely wounded. The explosion took place directly under the quarters of the common sailors, missing the officers' cabin by many yards. The wouaded sailors in hospital declar­ ed that they were utterly at a loss as to the cause of the explosion--that they were •11 asleep when the crash came, and that •11 they could do was to pick themselves «p front the floor, grope their way amid Dr. Mary Walker is in Washington for the ostensible purpose of having her pen­ sion increased. She now draws a pension of $12 a month for disability incurred while serving as a nurse during the war. She is moreover one of the few women (or men, either,) on the "roll of honor" who have been recognized by the Govern­ ment for unusual meritorious service and voted medals. .Maine, The President particularly deplores the late Dupuy incident. He had great re­ spect for Mr. Dupuy de Lome, and treated him with unusual kindness. He never failed to go out of his way when oppor­ tunity offered.to show the Spanish min­ ister personal attentions, and he supposed that the confidence and respect were re­ ciprocated. Representative Dingley is not an orator. His voice is too nasal to be pleasant and too weak to be heard. This is true even when he speaks with extemporaneous freedom, but when he reads a speech, the nitimbers have to gather close around him to hoar liis words. Congressman Bailey of Texas has bought him a silk hat. When the news reaches Texas Mr. Bailey may be given an opportunity to explain or his constitu­ ents may demand his resignation at once. Some idea of the immense amount of work involved in the production of the Congressional Record may be had from the fact that forty-four muscles are called into play in utilizing the human voice. There are no children in the White House now. It is the first administration since that of Buchanan where there have not been children in the President's fam- WtfS&fNDŜ Cincinnati is perhaps the only city in the country without a. handball cou*t. Peter Mnhor thinks Jim Corbett would be a "cinch" for him if they were to fight. Justice White is the only member of the United States Supreme Court who rides a wheel. Jake Ivilrain wants to fight John L. Sullivan twenty rounds with blackened gloves, for points only. Augusta, Ga., is the city where the Chi- eagos will do their training after a week's boiling out at West Baden, Iud. To give warning with your foot is the latest thing. An ingenious cyclist has in­ vented a bicycle bell which fastens to the pedal.