THE CUBA R E \' 1 E \V 



13 



THE BURIAL OF THE "MAINE" 



How the sinking of the "Maine" at sea 

 on March 16th impressed one of Uncle 

 Sam's sailors, is told in the columns of the 

 Indianapolis (Ind.) Nezvs in a letter writ- 

 ten by J. L. Eahy, chief yeoman, to a 

 comrade. 



Fahy, after describing the funeral serv- 

 ices at Havana, and other ceremonies, 

 writes : 



"Shortly after 1 o'clock the United 

 States navy tug 'Osceola' made tast to 

 the 'Maine,' and with the assistance of 

 two other tugs started to tow the remains 

 of that ill-fated vessel to her final resting 

 place. As they approached the entrance 

 of the harbor, the 'North Carolina' got un- 

 der way, followed by this vessel ( 'Birming- 

 ham'), and that was the start of the 

 strangest funeral procession ever wit- 

 nessed, for every vessel in the harbor, no 

 matter of what description, got into line. 

 As the 'Maine' passed Morro, a salute of 

 twenty-one guns was fired, and during all 

 this time they had a band playing a 'dead 

 march.' Slowly she was towed to sea and 

 at about 5 o'clock the three blasts from 

 the whistle of the 'North Carolina' in- 

 formed us that the proner position outside 

 the three-mile limit had been reached. It 

 was then the men became eager and all 

 eyes were centered on the decks of the 

 'Maine,' and we could see the men on 

 board, about a half dozen of them, moving 

 about. Then they commenced to open up 

 the sluices and sea cocks and after this 

 was done, and they had gone over the 

 side into a boat and then to a tug and the 

 lines from the tugs had been cast off, it 

 was piteous to watch her drift and stagger 

 about as the sea and current directed, 

 unable to help herself, she who had once 

 been the pride of our navy, now a poor 

 helpless wreck. Lfke a poor doomed 

 wretch about to be executed, and who 



had lost his sight, she drifted about, rolling 

 a little, and it seemed for a long time that 

 she was not filling up at all, but after a 

 time it became perceptible ; and she then 

 seemed to go down little by little until she 

 commenced to take the seas over her deck 

 and then she filled rapidly and finally went 

 out of sight in one last long plunge. Be- 

 lieve me, I never want to see anything 

 like it again." 



The last act in the long chapter of the 

 "Maine'' was the funeral of the 64 victims 

 who could not be identified in any way, 

 at Arlington National Cemetery, across 

 the Potomac from Washington, on March 

 2.3d, amid the highest honors. Congress 

 adjourned so the members could attend 

 in a body and thus pay the last tribute 

 to the martyrs, and the leading men of 

 the nation were there. The coffins, each 

 carried on a caisson, were drawn by six 

 horses each, having been brought from 

 Havana by the cruiser "Birmingham." 

 The Cuban minister took a prominent 

 place beside President Taft. The president 

 spoke at the graves' side with bared head, 

 ignoring the rain and sleet falling at the 

 time. He paid a beautiful tribute to the 

 dead. Said he, in part : 



"We meet to pay appropriate honor to 

 the memory of the first of the CDuntry's 

 sons who gave up their lives in our war 

 with Spain. That war every American 

 can feel proud of, because it was fought 

 without a single selfish instinct, and was 

 prompted by the most altruistic motives. 

 These, our honored dead, were hurled 

 into eternity without the inspiration of 

 anticipated battle or hoped-for victory. 

 It is well that we should halt the wheels 

 of government and stay the hum of in- 

 dustry to take time to note by appropriate 

 ceremony the debt we owe to those who 

 gave up their lives for the nation." (See 

 frontispiece illustration.) 



Books, Pamphlets and Periodicals Received 



La Instruccion Primaria. Enero y Febrero, 1912. 

 Revista menriial. publicada por la Secretaria de 

 Instruccion Publica y Bellas Artes. 



Boletin del Archivo Nacional. Enero-Febrero, 

 1912. 



Anales de la Academia de Ciencias Medicos, 

 Fisicas v Naturales de la Habana, Tomo XLVIII, 

 Enero de 19)2. 



Starting Currents of Transformers, with Special 

 Reference to Transformers with Silicon Steel 

 Cores, by Trygye D. Yensen, has just been issued 

 as Bulletin No. 55 of the Engineering Experiment 

 Station of the University of Illinois. 



The transformer has come to be regarded as 

 one of the most reliable and simple pieces of 

 electrical apparatus. .\s new material, however, 

 is utilized to increase its efficiency, new prob- 

 lems arise. One of these problems is the mo- 

 mentary rush of current that occurs upon closing 



the primary circuit of a transformer. In Bulletin 

 No. 55. it is shown that while this starting current 

 for old type transformers may rise as high as 

 four times' full load current, it may rise to more 

 than seven times full load current for the new 

 type wtih silicon steel cores. The phenomenon 

 is fully explained and illustrated by means of 

 oscillograms. 



Copies of Bulletin No. 55 may be obtained upon 

 application to W. F. M. Goss, Director of the 

 Engineering Experiment Station, University of 

 Illinois, Urbana, Illinois. 



West India Committee Circular. Official organ 

 of the West India Committee. London, March 

 26, 1912. 



Tropical Life. London, March. 1912. 



Sanidad y Bencficiencia. Boletin oficial de la 

 Secretaria. Enero de 1912. 



Bohemia of Havana. Handsomely illustrated. 



