WHO 18 TO BLAME? Throe Theories Regarding Cauae Of Maine Disaster. A Torpedo, an Infernal Machine or an Ac •lilent—Which Wan It?—The Many Safeguard* Employed on Mcn of-Wur to I'rpvpiit Such Catastropheti. Washington, Feb. 17.—Naval officers cannot agree upon any theory to ac count for the destruction of the Maine. Perhaps a majority are inclined to the belief that the explosion was purely accidental; another considerable num ber feel that a torpedo was exploded under the vessel, and a third theory is that some infernal machine was smug gled aboard the ship and set off. An examination by a diver of the hull of the Maine would demonstrate instant ly whether or not a torpedo had been used, for in case it had the plates of the hull would surely be driven in. On the other hand, protruding plates would be an evidence that the explo sion was purely internal. • 'apt. Sigsbee's brief report, as well as Gen. Lee's dispatch, indicates that they now incline strongly to the belief that the explosion was of internal origin. Both agree that the force of it was in the forward part of the ship and this is borne out by the escapes of the majority of officers, whose quar ters are aft, and the heavy casualties among the crew sleeping forward. Probably in the latter case the deatli list would have been even larger, but for the fact that the Maine, having a superstructure forward on the main deck, a portion of the crew were quar tered there and so escaped the greater violence of the explosion as felt on the berth deck below them. The Maine had three magazines. The one for ward was used for the storage of am munition, weighing 15.000 pounds. There was no smokeless powder on board the ship, and the ten-inch am munition was made up of brown pris matic powders. Not only is this powder carefully packed in hermetically sealed copper cases, but its heat resisting qualities are so great that it cannot be ignited by the flame of a match, 000 de grees Fahrenheit being the amount of heat that must be applied for some time to set oft' the powder. On the other hand it is readily ignited, as iu the case of the charge in a gun. by the explosion of a good quantity of fulmin ate. Every precaution is adopted aboard ship to safeguard the magazine. In its vicinity a sentry stands on duty continually. The doors are closed her metically except when the ship is cleared for action. At 8 o'clock every night the temperature is taken and the keys of the locked door are placed in tin* captain's hands for the night. The records of the navy department show that 87 degrees was the maximum temperature in the Maine's magazine during the past month, a very low and safe temperature. These facts make it extremely difficult to account for the explosion, particularly as no visit ors are admitted under any circum stances to the magazine. Of course it is possible that there was spontaneous combustion of some fulminate or gun cotton intended for use in torpedoes. There were no steam pipes or furnaces near enough to the magazine to cause the belief that they might have ex ploded the powder. The coal bunkers there were in the neighborhood, and it is just possible that in them might be found the origin of the accident. It depends on whether they were empty or contained coal. It is said to be the practice of commanders to empty the fore-bunkers of the ship tirst, in which case the Maine's bunk ers in that quarter were probably emptied, owing to the length of her stay. If, however, the bunkers were not entirely empty they undoubtedly con tained elements of danger that might account for the explosion. The depart ment has been greatly troubled by spontaneous combustion of coal in the ships' bunkers, which have endangered the lives of the crews and the safety of the ships. The Cincinnati twice at least has been obliged to flood her magazines to prevent their blowing up during tires of this kind, and the crui ser Boston has been in the same condi tion. In some of these cases shelving in the magazines which separate the powder charges have been charred by the intense heat caused by the burning coal in the adjacent bunkers. The theory advanced by the Spanish authorities, that the disaster might have been caused by the explosion of the boiler, is asserted at the navy de partment as within the bounds of cre dulity. The Maine's boiler was sepa rated from the powder magazine at the nearest point by a space of about four feet, usually filled with coal. At least one boiler undoubtedly was kept un der almost full steam in order to run the dynamos and move the ship incase of need. The explosion of such a boil er might easily drive through the bulk head and fire the magazine. Inasmuch as suspicion exists in some quarters that a torpedo was used against the Maine, it may be said that the majority of naval officers believe that the character of the explosion was hardly such as could be attributed to a torpedo. The latj.fr, charged with about 100 pounds of powder or gun cot ton, it is believed would have torn a large hole in the bottom or side of the Maine, but was scarcely likely to fire the magazine, which is not near tlio bottom. Helknap Thinks a Torpedo Caused 11. Boston, Feb. 17. —Rear Admiral George Belkuap, U. S. N.. retired, said yester day that he thought the Maine was blown up by a torpedo. "1 do not see," he said, "how an explosion of the for ward magazine could have occurred. The keys of the magazines are always kept in the custody of the captain. All the ammunition is carefully eased, mostly in the form of projectiles, and their explosion by themselves is next to impossible." lie said it was a very significant thing that the Maine should have blown up in that particular hav bor at this particular tiuus. ADMIRAL BEARDSLEE. Placed on the Itetlred I.l*l on Account of Awe l.lmlt. Rear Admiral Lester A. Beardslee, who was placed upon the retired list recently according to the law of the age limit, was the first of the eight rearud mirals who will go into retirement this year. CommodoreC.S. Norton was made rear admiral. Admiral Beardslee is now f>2 years old and one of the most interesting charac ters of Uncle Sum's sea-fighting depart ment. When he was on his own ship and when his ship was in action lie was a good disciplinarian, and was rather rough with the enemy. He was on the APMIRAI. BEARDSLEE. (Just Placed on the Retired List of the Navy.) Wachusett when she captured the rebel boat Florida, and he was the lieutenant commander who brought the prize to Hampton Roads. When the Wachusett came alongside the Florida Beardslee called out to one of the seamen on the rebel: "Tell your captain to surrender with out any fuss, or we'll send your il—d craft down among the sharks. Under stand?" Beardslee was in the attack of the ironclad licet on Charleston defenses. He served for a time on the frigate Mer rimac, and after the war was putin command of the Aroostook. Since 1809 he has filled many important posts. His last work upon the water was the command of the Pacific station, from which post he was transferred to Wash ington as president of the naval examin ing and relieving boards. The admiral was born in Little Falls, N. Y., and has been in the navy since 1850, when he was made acting midshipsman. He was made a rear admiral in March, 1895. SCIENCE OF GRAFTING. It Kuiihled l'nrmers to Itnlne Two t'ropa on One Vine. It has been discovered that tomatoes and potatoes may be grown from the same stem with very satisfactory re sults. A series of careful experiments lias recently been completed near Troyes, France, which shows that by simply grafting tomatoes to an or dinary potato plant the fruit grown will be larger and finer than if grown by the ordinary method. A picture of one of the new potato-tomato plants is presented herewith. The new plant, strange as it may ap pear, is not in any sense a freak. It is a result that is obtained by accident, and cannot, therefore, be reproduced at will. The theory of this grafting is, on the other hand, perfectly simple and natural. The potato and the tomato belong to the same general botanic family of plants. This general division which the botanists have made is called the "solanacoe" or, more commonly, the "night shades." Among the other mem bers of this family are the tobaecco, THE POTATO-TOMATO. (The Latest Triumph of the Science of Grafting.) pepper and the poisonous jimson weed. Any one of these plants may, therefore, be grafted on the stem of any other. The discovery promises to be of the greatest importance in the limited gar den space of Europe. In America, where land is not so thickly populated, there is little object in such economy, but in tlie truck gardens of the low countries and in France it will doubtless prove to be an extremely important economical discovery. The farmers of these sec tions may now raise crops both of to matoes and potatoes on the same land at the same time. Squirrel* Invnile il llonne. On several occasions recently the fam ily of Isaac Batz, living at Round Top Valley, Berks county. Pa., observed rather queer looking flying objects en tering through a broken window in the attic of thrir home. For a long time the garret of ihe house had been used only for storage purposes, and had not been entered by anyone in a number of months. Mr. I'atz entered the garret and was astonished to find the place in possession of a small army of flying squirrels. The animals became greatly disturbed by the intrusion, and were driven from the place, killed or captured alive. The prisoners cumbered 3.'!. The finding of such a large number of flying squirrels under the circumstances is considered most extraordinary here. New Vork'H llnhy Receipt*. There are 90,000 babies born in the city of New York every year. They number 250 a day, or one each six min utes. Take them out together for an airing, and the row of baby carriages would extend up the Hud*' 'i to Alba* y ISO miles. CAMERON COUNTY PRESS, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1898. A COURT OF INQUIRY. It Will Invea'igate the Tragedy Under Morro's Gunsi. NO More AIIUTII UII WarHliipn Will L>e Kent to Havana at l*re«ent—Many Sensa tional Humor* Denied by tlie Navy Department. Washington, Feb. IS. —The govern ment lias settled back into a waiting attitude in respect to the terrible ma rine disaster iu Havana harbor. The great shock caused by the news has given way to a calmer state of mind, realizing that the court of inquiry is the sole dependence in the search for the cause of the Maine's loss. Naval officials now await the results of that inquiry by a court named yesterday by the navy departmeift. All the news of the day came in the late afternoon in the shape of ('apt. Sigsbee's report of the authorization of the funeral of his dead sailors, and Consul General Lee's story of the terri ble struggle for life in the hull of the Maine. The officials at the navy department devoted the day to an effort to correct the list of living and dead; to audwer ing frantic telegraphic appeals from relatives of men on the battleship and in meeting the demands of the press representatives. The disposition of the survivors. Capt. Dickens, acting chief of the navi gation bureau, has arranged for. The wounded sailors in the Havana hos pitals and elsewhere, when not in con dition to be brought back to Key West, will be carefully looked after by Miss Clara Barton, who has been given carte blanche to buy everything necessary. The wounded able to get across to Key West will be taken care of in the ma rine hospital there. The sound sur vivors will be quartered in the spare army barracks there. As for tlie Maine herself, notwith standing discouraging reports from Lieut. Hood as to her condition, the navy department will make an effort to raise her. They say they are bound to remove the hull from the small har bor iu any case, and it may be as easy to raise her as it would be to destroy the hull and machinery by the use of divers and dynamite. It is believed that this work can best be done by private wrecking corporations and ne gotiations are already afoot for plac ing the contract at an estimated cost of 8200,000. At the navy department denial was given of a report from Madrid that a torpedo flotilla was about to leave Key West for Cuba. It was stated that only two torpedo boats, the Cusliing and Ericsson, are at Key West, and these will not be ordered to Cuba. It was strongly asserted that no present purpose existed of sending any war ship there. Senor Dubose, the Spanish charge, had received no instructions up to li p. m. as to going to New York and stopping the Spanish ship Vizcaya from entering the port, and reports tc this effect were discredited. Capt. Sigsbee suggested to the navy department that it would be well t<: detail some small craft to watch over the wreck of the Maine. As the uppet works are above water and much valu able property is thus exposed, the de partment has authorized one of the vessels now at Havana, the Mangrove probably, to be used for the purpose. It is said at the department that the naval court of inquiry which is to in vestigate the disaster can scarcely as semble for the work at Havana before next Monday. The navy department authorizes a denial of the statement attributed tc Capt. Sigsbee that lie recommended ti: the department before he sailed fot Havana that another ship than the Maine be sent to Havana, because th harbor was too dangerous, owing tc tlie number of torpedoes planted in the bottom. Asa matter of fact Sigsbee had not the slightest hint given him that his ship was to be selected for the visit 12 hours before his departure. As to the number of torpedoes plant ed in Havana harbor it is said at the navy department that nobody aside from tlie Spanish officers in Havana knows what has been done to protect the harbor in that manner. It is not usual to keep the torpedoes in their berths in the water in times of peace: they are placed in the position assigned to them only as a war measure. There are some exceptions to this rule, for in stance at Hong Kong, where the tor pedoes are at all times kept in position and it may be presumed that the same precaution has been taken at Havana. MAINE MARTYRS BURIED. Hugo Funeral I'roceHslon KxcortM the Ke iintinH of the Vlctlmn to Their ti raves. Havana, Feb. 18.—The interment of tlie Maine martyrs took place Thurs day afternoon. Showily before the hour all Havana was in movement. The flags on the public buildings were at half-mast and many houses were draped in mourning. All classes were represented in the throng that tilled tlie streets along which tlie huge funeral procession passed to the ceme tery. Funeral music was furnished by the bands of tlie Isabella la Catolica and Porto Rico battalions, which ac companied the bodies. The funeral cortege started from the principal en trance of the city hall. Crowns were received from tlie cap tain of the port, the mayor of Havana and officers of tlie port. These were in the Spanish national colors and were inscribed "to tlie victims of the Maine."' ••Touched" IHHOIIH for Hi:tO,IMM). Ruffalo, N. V., Feb. IS.—The Courier says that "clairvoyants," masquerad ing under the names of "Prof." Bald win and Mme. Worthington, have swin dled people out of more than $!>0,000 and disappeared. They advertised ex tensively and promised to do every thing—to gratify every hope and am bition; to unite the parted, to bring lover!) together, to avert calamities, to conquer enemies, to give important ad vice on marriage, divorce, business. They read palms, disclosed character by feeling any articie the victim might furnish, but their most successful oc cupation was "touching" poeketbooks. A LITTLE NONSENSE. —Apparently.—"l don't think the Cubans are anxious for autonomy." "No. The demand for autonomy does not seem to be equal to the supply." — Puck. —"When a man stahts out ter live on 'is wits," said Uncle Kben, "dat very purceedin' 'rouses suspicion dat he liab a mighty small capital."—Washington Star. —No Money in It. —Miss Van Rocks — "So you asked father, did youAnd did lie talk business?" Lord I.'e Liverus — "No; lie said all he could give was his consent."-—Puck. —Roth Had Their Merits. —"Uncle, which breed of chickens is the best?" "Well, sail, de white ones is de easiest found, an' de dahk ones is de easiest hid atter yo' gits 'em."—lndianapolis Journal. —Probably the Last—"ls this the last edition of the paper?" inquired the severe-looking old lady of the keen-eyed newsboy. "Yes'm," lie replied, "I guess it is. Tli' sheriff was just elosin* up th' office as I came out." —Cleveland l'lain Dealer. —lndignant Constituent—"The peo ple are getting roused, sir! Your day is coming! If you'll look, sir, you can see the handwriting on the wall!" Roodle Alderman—"l don't give a darn for no handwritin' on walls. De fellies dat's puilin' fur me don't read."—Chicago Tribune. —Mattie—"What has become of your antislang society that you took so much interest in a few months ago?" Helen —"Oh, it's in the consomme. The presi dent got nutty and imagined she was the only dent in the pan, so we gave her the willies and the dinkydink associa tion shot the shutes." —Chicago News. ANCIENT REMEDIES. Alchemy nnd Superstition—Some 111- Compoiiii. Feb. 18.—A special from Juneau, Alaska, confirms the news of the loss of the steamer Clara Nevada and says:"The cause of the disaster was doubtless the explosion of her boilers. Of the 50 people on board none are believed to have been saved. The Clara Nevada was a tramp steam er, and as she was plying between United States ports she did not file her passenger list with the customs house officers. Those whom she had aboard had been picked up at Skaguay. It is thought that she carried about 'M pas sengers. of whom two or three were women." SSOO Reward The abort R«wmrd will be paid fcr bta formation that will lead to the asreat mi conviction of the party er parties wha placed iroa and a'aba oa the track «112 At Emporium A Rich Valley R. R , assi, the east line of Franklin HooeUir's Am. aa the evening of NOT. 21st, 1851. HBKBT ADC 18, 88-tf. AuuUi. FINE LIQUOR Si ORE —n*— EMPORIUM, PA. THB undersigned has opened a class Liquor a tor*, and Indies Ik* trade of Hotels, Restaurants, Jte. We ah all carry none bat the beat laaa loan and Imported WHISKIES, BRANDIES. GINS AND WINES, BOTTLED ALE, CHASPABME, EM. CMnUaarf Bottled Goods. CIGARS AND TOBAGCOt WPoel oad aUHard Boo— U am CALL AID m « A. A. MoDONALD, pbopbiktob, ncromiUM. »a. aFTxT BLUMLE,? * EMPORIUM, rA. M Bottler ai mmt Baalar b U & WINES, J & WHISKIES, 3 M And Liquors of All Klada. j ■ « The beat of goods always J gg carried In stock and every- J| [ y thing warranted as represent fi ad. C ( «T Especial Attentlea Pal" «• I M nail Orders. « | § EMPORIUM, PA. $ 112 60 TO 3 Sj. A- ftinslef'U 1 Bread Street, Pm,, J 1 Where yeo cu get anything yea vaat la C C tha llaa of / s Groceries, l Provisions, 112 ? FLOUR, SALT HEATS, ) C SMOKED HEATS, \ J CANNED 60(138, ETC., ? ) ftu, Caffea, Fmlti, CaiffttUoßtry, ) S Mate* u< Cigara. C \ Goads Delivered Pre* mnw / J Place In Town. l 1 CIII all SEE IE ID CET rUCKLN ? IEIE r. A S. BEFIT ( RBPOKICB Bottling Works, IOHN McDONALD, Proprietor. lau P. a B. Depot, Baapoilum, Pa. Bottler and Shipper a# Rochester Lager Beer, BEST IUJDS OF ETFO&T. Tka Manufhcturar at But l ~>rtnke and Daalar la Oh ok* Wlnaa and Para Li qaor a We keep none bat the very beat Seer and are prepared to fill Orders ea ihort notice. Private families served dally If desired. JOHN MoDONALD. i aI v tndT i ■-■ Mirtt obta! n.d anJ - ■ Iv u jent buiiaeaa conducted for WoocntTt Puce. : Oua Ornci is OrpoaiT* U, B. PATiNTOrrtoi I tnti VTQ csn secure patent LB less tuuo tuAfl tnon ' 'remote from Washiarton. Send model, drawing or photo„ with <",eacrlp ' tion. V'o adrue, if patentable or uot, fraa of; 'charge. Our fee not duo till patent le enured. , ( » IIIHIHLIT." HOW to Obtain Palenta, WITH »oo»t <>? aaine in the U. B. aaC ioroiga oounuiee {•ant free. Addreee, O.A.SNOW&CO. J Opp. P*t*nt Omoi, waenifoTon. P. C . liAvVWVW%VWV%WVVWWWW* VoH F*LB*N CHICACO to- NEW YORK orricaa 112 L N. KEILCQQ HEWSPIOCB Ma 3