Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, February 21, 1922, Page Page Six, Image 6
- STORY OF THE MAINE
Reason Why Battleship Went to Ha
vana Is Revealed.
?
Misinterpreted cable messagi
Cable Brought Battleship Instead o
Cartridges?Incident Brought on th<
Spanish-American War. '
W. S. Meriwether in Mississippi Sun.
W. S. Meriwether, the autnor or int
following article, was formerly on the
staff of the New York Herald, but is
new editor of the Mississippi Sun
published at Charleston, Miss.:
In Stephenson's American history
the 6tie now being used in oyr public
schools, occurs this paragraph:"'
"At Havana there were public demonstrations
of ill will toward Americans.
Therefore, the battleship Maine
was ordered to Havana as an intimation
that Americans would be protect"1
r- ed by their government."
The Maine was not sent to Havana
"as an intimation that Americans
v/ould be protected by their governJ
' ' ment." She was sent there because
of a ministerpreted cable message
which a newspaper correspondent ir
Havana sent to his paper in New
York. All the correspondent wanted
" was a box of cartridges. A battleship
was sent instead. The battleship was
blown up in Havana harbor, war with
Spain ensued and a considerable part
of the geography of the world was
charged as a result.
The. writer was in Havana at the
time of the Maine disaster, reported
that immortal horror to the identical
newspaper vhoee assistant cable editor
had misinterpreted the message
about cartridges and makes trus coming
February 16?twenty-fourth annlversy
of the tragedy?the occasion for
setting history right.
> The reason this Yeveating chapter
has not been written before Is this:
Tha correspondent who had sent the
ca|ale was one of my most valued
friends. Under seal of confidence he
had told me the entire story. ,He had
planned -to write it himself but
thought it inadvisable to do so until
Borne yea*s had intervened. I asked
and obtained his permission to make
a passing reference to- it in an article
which I had been asked to prepare
describing the scenes in Havana on
" 'd the night of the Maine's destruction,
but the reference did not attract the
attention it deserved. More with the
idea of supplying my friend with data
than employing it myself, I had, ar
opportunity served aBked the several
actors in the drama, each of w'aom
I intimately knew, the parts they had
played. Then the man for whom those
notes were uiicnueu, come yata uviu
. Havana, where he had been stationed
as correspondent for the Associated
Press, and suddenly died. I felt that
his death released the story to me,
but just at that time I was plunged
Into war work as publicity manager
for the United States Shipping; board
and the episode was forgotten until
.((i the calendar brought its reminder that
the twenty-fourth anntversy of the
1 disaster comes around on this February
16. Here is the full story:
Relieved Havana Man.
It was early in February. 1898, that
I received orders from my newspaper,
the New1 York Herald, to proceed to
Havana and relieve John R. Caldwell,
in charge of the Herald's Havana bureau.
Caldwell was an exceedingly
capable newspaper man, but somehow
had come into disfavor with the thenowner
of the Herald, the late James
Gordon'Bennett, who had cabled from
Paris a curt order to make the change.
Havana at that time was a troublous
city. The relrtions between this
country and Spain were strained to
the breaking point. Riots were frequent
and every American felt that
his life was in danger at all times.
Caldwell realized it and sought to arm
himself. But there was a strict edict
against the sale of firearms, one chiefly
directed against Cubans, for the island
was then in a blaze of insurrection.
So unable to equip himself with the
means of self-defense, 'Caldwell wrote
to the Herald and asked that a revolver
be sent to him. One was purchased
immediately and shipped. Hut
when it arrived there were no cartridges,
and the correspondent could
no more purchase cartridges than he
could purchase revolvers. Meanwhile
the situation was growing worse. Instead
of writing for cartridges he cabled.
The Herald and its Havana correspondent
employed a private code.
This was necessary because of the
stfict censorship exercised in Havana
? by the Spanish. And as it happened
the Herald man, Fred Burgin, who
was in charge of the code and of Havana
cable news, was home sick when
this message came clicking into the
Herald office one night:
Camera received but no plates.
Please hurry by next steamer.
jonn K. uniaweu.
t Young Assistant Mixes Things
The full name "John R. Caldwell"
signified that the message meant more
than the words indicated and that the
office would have to puzzle it out.
Had Hurgin been on duty he would
instantly have understood that the revolver
had arrived but that there were
no cartridges. Rut Spain's Nemesis
was around that night. A young assistant
got the message and turning
to the code book, translated it to mean
y that the American consulate had been
2 attacked.
Fireworks ensued. An attack on our
consulate in Havana was a spark to
set off the long-brewing trouble between
America and Spain. The hour
was 9:30 p. m. The Havuna cable office
closed at 9 p. m. and there was no
possible way of getting further news
< that night. The Herald got its Wash'
' V- - * i
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, ' V '
*1
t
i : .
s
!
1
,
Pere Is Dr. Wellington Koo, Chi
member of the Chinese delegation
baby aon, born January 30. Baby I
i Baby" and the name of "January Sh
L suggested for him.
v. t.
?Ington
Bureau on the 'phone, and di- j
rected that every man be hustled out
on th? story. John D. T^ong was then i
1 secretary of the navy. The word that
1 th^ American consulate in Havana |
1 had. been attacked was telephoned to
him by the Herald's Washington bu- 1
reau. There was a rapid telephonic i
conference with the state department i
and the white house and_along about ?
11 o'clock a wire was sent to Rear Ad- i
miral Montgomery Sicard, command- <
1 ing the North Atlantic fleet, then at
?'iff riw fnrtiio-na tn rl^tnnh n <
vessel of his command and send it to >
Havana forthwith, the reason being 1
that an eminently trustworthy cor- 1
respondent of an important newspap- 1
er had cabled the report of an attack <
upon the American consulate.
After the lapse of all these years I
cannot now recall whether it was lieu- (
tenant, now Real Admiral Albert ]
Gle^ves, whose torpedo boat conveyed
the message from the Key West naval 1
station to the flagship. New York. ;
Which ever it was. the message reach- ]
ed the admiral about midnight and
directly thereafter a signal was made ]
for the commanding officer of the i
Maine to report on board. i
Midnight Visit to Flagship. <
In a conversation I had with Capt. :
Slgsbec some years later, he describ- I
ed that midnight-visit to the flagship, I
his orders from Admiral Sicard to pro- :
ceed to Havana at once, the admiral
adding he did not know what condi- <
tlon he would find upon arrival. Ho <
did not hamper the Maine's command- s
der with any instructions, leaving all 1
to his discretion. I I
Capt, Sigsbee returned to his ship, j 1
gave the necessary orders for spreading
fires under tho boilers and to get I 1
PALM BEACI
*
William Jennings Bryan, dry 1
bride of the former Premier of Gre
Florida winter resorts, where this j
:hinese envoy, and ?
his "conference baby." .
ina's representative to London and
to the Arms Conference, with his
Koo is known as the "Conference
antung Washington Koo" has been
under way as soon as steam could be
made ready. Awnings were rolled up
and sent below, and awning stanchions
which might have interfered with
gunfire, were removed, along with
their ridge ropes. Guns were not
loaded for under the high discipline
that is maintained in the navy, every
one could have been made ready for
opening fire within two or three minutes
after the ringing of the gong,
calling the crew to "general quarters,"
which means that upon the sounding"
of that signal every one jumps to his
appointed place, the men detailed to
the magazines springing to their stations
and sending up ammunition for
the gunB, the gun crews loading with
equal celerity.
The Maine Underway.
Now with the.Maine underway and
churning her way to the harbor where,
her destruction was destined to involve
two nations in war, let us leave
the doomed battleship for a moment
ind take up the narrative from1 the
[nglaterra Hotel in Havana.
It was,Ot an early hour in the forenoon
when a messenger from the cable
office knocked on the door of Mr.
Caldwell's room and handed him a
cablegram. It was from the Herald
and read:
"Hush story you bulletined on Cuban
cane'crop?we want It for main
section." .
Not having sent any bulletin on the
Cuban cane crop, Mr. Caldwell realized
at once that this was a code message
and turning to his code book
found the first part of it conveying the
tidings that "A United States man-ofsvar
.has been ordered to Havana." He
was puzzled a moment over the rest,
lor there was nothing in the code book
i VISITORS.
- I
Copyright by Underwood & Underwood.
aw advocate, and Mme. Venizelos,
ece, are passing the season at the
ilcture was taken, ^
anyway resembling: It. Then St flashed
upon him that the use of the words
"main section" was employed to tell
him the name of the vessel that had
Knan tn Uni'nnn AtKacntioa tha I
i?vtH uiucivu VU umcma, wwnv* mov
Maine.
Directly across the hall was the
room of the former Confederate general,
Fitz Hugh Lee, then United
States consul general to Havana.
"Impossible," Gen. Lee, replied, "the
government would never send a warship
here unless I asked for one and
that I have not don?."
At that moment came the thud of
guns. Hurrying to the balcony the
two saw the Maine entering the harbor
and bulbs of white suqpke drifting
from her saluting battery,.
The Facts ConsldsrstJ.
As a newspaper correspondent who
reported the blowing up of the Maine
and as one who rertia ed in Havana
during the sitting of the ^meriran
naval court of inquiry, a body .whose
verdict was that the Maine had been
destroyed as the result of an jnitside
explosion, I have frequently been asked
ray opinion as to the cause.,.
That the court of InquU-y. was convinced
the Maine had been blown up
by a mine planted b^ the Spaniards In
Havana harbor, I have never for a
moqient doubted. That they did not
say so in as many words was doubtless
due to reasons other than .tfiose
contained in the facts which thev con
sidered. Hero they arc-:
The relations between America and
Spain had been strained to the breaking
point. It was at this moment of
severe tension that an American battleship
entered the hprbor. At her
anchorage inside the harbor she commanded
the entire situation, thjere not
being a 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 Kpaniards
had not laid a mine under that predetermined
bouy in order to dominate
any foreign warship making fast to it,
they would have been incredibly short
sighted.
There has been much talk of an inside
explosion. ^Jut the keel of the
Maine was found within eighteen inches
of the surface. No inside explosion
could have driven thatipart of
the underbody upwards.
Some Unwritten History.
The reference to the finding-or the
Maine's keel so near the suffice of
the water recalls another lilt of unwritten
history.
On the heels of the disaster. *11 correspondents
statipned In Havun& began
receiving: more or less frantic cables
from their home offices telling
how imperative it was for the American
public to b,e informed at once
whether the Maine had been blown
up by & Spanish mine, or whether, as
Spain was contending, she had come
to her undoing throtigh the explosion
of one of her own magazines.
Day by day these messages became
more urgent. But what' were the correhpondents
to do? Pending the arrival
of the American naval court, the
Spaniards had established a cordon
around the wreck and no one was allowed
near it. The court of Inquiry,
headed by the late Reax Admiral
Sampson, arrived on the lighthouse
tender Fern, and began its 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 correspondents
would not have ventured to have obtained
some inkling of the case. But
they were confronted with obstacles
impossible to overcome.
Such was the situation whpn there
came one night a hurried knock on
my hotel door, the hour belog about
10 o'clock. Even after the lapse of all
these years I do not feel free to reveal
the name of this caller. But I
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. I
had been shipmates with this officer
before leaving the navy to tttke up
newspaper wor^c, and we were warm
friends. As he htirried 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
what all the world was on tiptoe to
know.
"The keel of the Maine," he said,
stepping to the door find closing it,
and speaking low and fast, "is within
eighteen ipches of the surface. We
found it there tonight. Mr. Powelson
was with me and he has positively
identified the keel plates."
Wilfred Van Ness Powelson was
ono 01 ine constructors v. no nuu, uum*
the Maine and had been summoned as
an expert to go qver "the wreck. I I
knew his reputation as a highly com- !
petent and thorough-going officer, and
I knew any Information my caller
gave me, could be entirely depended
upon.
Keel Up Eighteen Inches.
Here was the* biggest piece of news
that could have emanated out of Havana
at that time, the answer to the
urgent question which editors were
cabling to their Havana correspondents.
The fact that the Maine's keel
had been hove up until it was within
eighteen inches of the surface
meant only one thing, that the battleship
had been blown up by a mine
placed beneath the keel and had not
been destroyed by the explosion of
one of her own magazines. It meant
war.
Hut how w;yi this portentous news
to be gotten past the Spanish censor?
The rule of closing the cable office at
9 p. m. had been changed and the office
was wide open at .all times. But
Madrid and Washington were kcep ;
<
ing it busy and there was very little !
that correspondents were allowed to |
send, that little being subjected to the !
closest scrutiny by the censors. I had J
a dispatch boat in the barbor, which
had been used for the carrying of dispatches
to the telegraph office at Key
West, hut she could render no help in
Hb fr\v> Kv tllfi Bl'.lftO r\f tho I
Ill 10 ^IliCI I iWi M.? Hit t u??0 w?. V?.v
port, no vessel could leave between
the hours of sunset and sunrise.
Eluding the Censor.
I
There was nothing in our secret code
bpok by which this information about
the Maine keel cculd be conveyed,
and while on my way to the censor's
office I evolved several messages,
meant to deceive him, and yet be clear
to the editor for whom it was intended,
but rejected thera all as unsuitable.
The one was finally submitted, read
as follows:
"In important story which will be
filed from dispatch boat in Key West
tomorrow, please note the main story
Is mine."
?The censor, a Spanish cblonel, and
whose knowledge of English was disappointingly
complete road the message
attentively, and then inquired if
I thought It necessary to pay high
cable toll in order to claim credit for
a dispatch that had not yet been sent.
I endeavored to assure him that unless
I took this precaution the'dispatch
might be credited to some one
else in the bureau. Whereupon the
colonel grinned, said I could tell that
to the American marines, added that
he didn't like the use of the word
"mine" anyway and that tho editor
might ndd an "e" to the word main,
and reach some wholly erroneous con
elusion, that is, erroneous from the j
Spanish viewpoint.
I proffered this altogether too adroit
colonel a cigar and took u turn down
the corridor, in an effort to think up
something else. I knew this particulcr
censor would be going off duty at
11 o'clock, and I was trying to be
ready for the next one.
Making Use of Kipling.
From the hotel news stand that day
I had bought a copy of Life and had
read therein Kipling's poem, "The Destroyers;''
I thought that might help,
and going back 'to the hotel, got the
copy, and when the relief censor came
on, presented him with this:
r^o
I byuracelV
I Copyri^Kt by tittle,
I
T'HE MILLIONS wKos
the story of "Tess of t
were equally affected fc
heroine as acted on the scre<
charmed by this new tale of
lived on Lake Cayuga, a few
Polly herself, crude and uni
and fine in spirit, is an ado
thick and thin, tcmpestuoi
is aroused by wrong or in
to all weak and helpless ere
The situations in "Storm
emotional, skillfully portra
j ?i i?>- ?L..
cuiu u1c icaucl d dyilipduiy
never lapses from start to f
^ ii ii mi n 1111 hi iiiuiiii ii 11 ii mi ni i
This DELIGHTFUL STOI
US to RUN as a SERIAL
DO NOT MISS the OPE
. ?- w
t
interested in Kipling's poem Destroyers
appearing in current issue of Life.
Naval contingent assert technical ac- j
curacy of last verse impossible to im- j
prove upon."
After reading that tribute to Kip-I
1ino?'u r\nom flic* nonori* oal/Arl ma if
I had a cojjy of Life with r.ie. I told
him I did not. Whereupon he summoned
an orderly and told him to go
to the hotel and get one. The last
verse of the poem reads:
The strength of twice three .thousand
horse '
That serve the one command;
The hand that, heaves the headlong
force,
The hate the backs the hand;
The doon?-bolt in the darkness freed.
The mine tlint apllts the main;
The white hot wake, the 'wilder'.ng'
speed?
The Choosers of the Sla'nL
As the crux of the situation was a
magazine or mine, I very well knew
that my office would at once hit upon
that pregnant line. "The mine that
splits the main" as containing tho message
I was trying to get to them.
The orderly returned with the copy
of Life, the censor took it and turning
to the laBt verse of the poem read
down to those fateful linet "Vpry
clever," he said, as he handed back tho
despatch.
Baffled In all efforts to pet the story
through that night I went on board
our despatch boat and set out for Key
West as soon as the harbor rules permitted,
and filed enough on ti e Key
West wire that evening: to occupy a
full page of the Herald, of the next day.
I refer to this merely to bring in the
sequel. On the day of my departure
from Havana, another of the corespondents
got an inkling of what I had
hdard the preceding night. Having no
despatoh boat he had to trust wholly
to the cable. Knowing from experience
how hard it was tc get anything past
the censor, he wrote a purely descriptive
story, the 'crowds on the Prado,
the brilliant sunshine, sea breezes
droning through the palm trees, the
shimmering bay and buzzards roosting
on the keel of the Maine.
As all of it was extremely complimentary
to the scenery and the climate,
the censor let it go. But when it reached
the New York office, the cable editor
failed to catch the significance of the
r? '
pi
l]v :
lillerWhite I
Brown and Company |
i 1=5
ie hearts were touched by
:he Sto^m Country" or who
>y the sweet, pathetic little
:n by Mary Pickford, will be
" the squatter folk who once
miles outside of Ithaca, N.Y.
aught, but beautiful in face
rable heroine, loyal through
is at times when her anger
[justice, but tenderness itself
atures.
Country Polly" are tensely
yed and adroitly handled,
with Polly and her people
inish.
I
llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll
3.Y has been SELECTED by
in THESE COLUMNS V
NING INSTALLMENT
? I
line "buzzards roosting on the keel of \
the Maine," and as the paper had no m
room for flowery description, It was
assumed that the Havana man'had be- *
come over enthused with aguardiente,
and th^3eipatch was spiked. A realization
of what the correspondent was
trj^ng to tell his office came when the
Hcfald-'a full .page account was published
on the ensuing morning.
REAL ESTATE
$$$$$ JfYou ML'
- Want Them, See
80ME OF MY OFFERINGS!
Five Room Residence?On Charlotte
street, in the town of York, on large
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leea than you can build the house.
Better act at once.
McLain Property-rr-On Charlotte St.,
in the town of york. Thia property Ilea
between Neely Cannon and Lockmore
mills, and is a valuable piece of property.
Will sell It either as a whole .or
in lota Here is an opportunity to
make Home money. ' >'?:
90 Acres at Brattonsville?Property
of Estate of Mrs. Agnes Harris. Will
give'a real bargain hera
i Loans arranged an farming lands.
GEO. W. WXLXiIAMS
REAL ESTATE '
j* .
See, Phone or Write to
THOS. C O'FARRELL
FpR
High Grade Monuments
In Marble and Granite
Plant on East Liberty Street, Adjoin*
ing Roee Hill Cemetery.
7
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^ THA^r IS OUR SOLE BUSINESS
?suppTJrihg the needs and demands of
Contractors and Private Individuals
with the -Lumber, Mill Products, Brick,
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We are oh the Job every working day.
We have the pjant necessary to han
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Deal Direct with the
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o r . DLa.. MA -rt <
wvvVt W. v.y riiwne iiu. .<ai.
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PALMETTO MONUMENT O.
"Honor Them With a Monument."
Phone 121 " YORK, 8. C.
PROFESSIONAL CARDS.
J. S. BEIGE
Attorney At Law.
Prompt Attention tp all Legal
Ruslness of Whatever Nature.
Office on Main Street in the Moore
Building, First Floor, formerly occupied
by S. E. Spencer.
J. A. Marlon W. G. Finley
MARION AND FINLEY
ATTORN PVR AT I AW
Office opposite the Courthouse.
Phone 126. YORK.8. C.
Dr. C. L. WOOTEN
-DENTISTOFFICE
OVER THE POSTOFFICE
Telephones: Office, 128; Residence, 53.
CLOVER, - - S. C.
?1 i t f. ?m
YORK FURNITURE CO.
Undertakers ? Embalmers
YORK, - - 8. C. ' /
In All Its Branches?Motor Equipment.
Prompt Service Day or Night In
Town or Country.
w: W. LEWIS
Attorney at Law
Rooms 205 end 206
Peoples Bank & Trust Co/a Buildlno.
YORK, - - 8. C. f
Phonea: Office 61 Residence 44.
JOHN R. HART
ATTORNEY AND COUNSELLOR
A'f LAW.
Prompt and Careful Attention to All
Business Undertaken.
Telephone No. 69. YORK. 8. C.
76 f.t It
.. raw!