Jasper County Democrat, Volume 13, Number 54, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 October 1910 — TAFT DECIDES TO RAISE THE MAINE [ARTICLE]

TAFT DECIDES TO RAISE THE MAINE

Battleship Sunk in Havana Harbor Is to Be Raised.

WILL SETTLE VITAL QUESTION Cause of Explosion That Kilted Many and Brought About War With Spain Is to Be Determined Definitely by Action/

Beverly, Mass., Oct. Taft intends to settle at once, if possible, the question as to the cause of the destruction of the battleship Maine in Havana harbor twelve years ago. This is to be accomplished by the raising of the Maine by the coffee dam method. The plan as adopted by of army engineers anpointed to consider the removal of the wreck were submitted to the president by Maj. Gen. William H. Bixby, chief of engineers, U. S. A., and was endorsed by Mr. Taft. Gen. Bixby expects to have the wreck uncovered and free for inspection by Feb. 15 next, the thirteenth anniversary of the destruction of the vessel.

The impartial spirit in which th© work of determining the character of the explosion is to be undertaken is shown by the fact that Spain has been asked, at the direction of the president, to have a representative present during the entire progress of the work. The same Courtesy has been extended to Cuba, and it is practically certain that both governments will accept. The president obviously intends that this government shall once and for all free itself of the charge that it has feared to have the Maine raised because of the possible adverse effect on the findings of the old court of inquiry. This court, appointed soon, after the destruction of the battleship, gave it as their opinion, after examining the wreckage, that it had gone down as the result of an external explosion. Spain also had the wreck examined, and its representatives declared emphatically that the Maine had met its end through an internal explosion.

The coffee dam method consists in building the huge box of steel piles about the wreck and then pumping the water out. This water tight box will be 415 feet long and 275 feet wide at the widest place. It will leave fifty feet clear on all sides of the wreck. The army officers are not hopeful of finding more than a few bones of the sailors who went down with the Maine. Gen. Bixby is inclined to believe that the total cost of raising the Maine will be within $500,000. Work will be begun at once.