Evening star., 1898-04-08
BLOWN UP BY OFFICIALs.
Statement by J. p. Gibbons Regardin
the Maine Disaater

Statement by J. p. Gibbons REGARDING
the Maine Disaster.
The following signed statement appeared
In the New York World of this morning,
under date Of London, April Z: Joseph
PANEL Gibbons. the submarine mine ex-
pert and inventor Of submarine mines SUD-
piled to Spain in 's6 and '98 has furnished
the hrss signed statement giving his rea-
sons for believing the Maine was DESTROYED
by cne of his mines. and explaining the.im-
possibility of exploding a mine otherwise
than through the direct cgency of the
Spanish officer in charge OF the Havana
mine field.
Tho only submarine mines supplied to
the Spanish government since 'SG-S7 were
manufactured under my patents. / sup
pAeo tnem with nfty-six ground mines,
~ enty-hve buoyant mines, each with a
cnarge OF 500 pounds of gun cotton, and
nfteen electro contact mines (exploded
either ON contact or by observation from
shore), each containing q charge of 100
pounds OF gun cotton.
Shipped Mines to Havana.
I'm direct contradiction to the assertions
OF Senior Jose. secretary of the Spanish le-
CATION in Washington, and General Weyler
that no submarine mines were in Havana
harbor. I absolutely affirm shipped the
above mines for Havana and Ferrol on a
spanish snip. the property OF the Spanish
government and officered by Spanish naval
oMcers. otiI9 Inc mines sent to Havana would
stlll retain full effectiveness. They will
last under the water for an indefinite per-
iod
'In 'se-s7 the Spanish government or
oered q fresh supply of my patent mines.
whether they went to Havana or not is
immaterial. One of the mines supplied in
~ was still fully capable Of causing the
destruction of the Maine In fact, l am
convinced from all surrounding circum-
stances that no other agency could have
caused it.
MY mines are in electrical connection
with the shore, and 1t is quite impossible
they could be exploded except by design.
The explosion of the mine which destroyed
the Maine was the work Of one of two men,
Tor these reasons:
Means of Explosion.
"First-The vessel swinging, either an
chored or moorcd, upon striking the cir
cutt-closer cause, would merely drop a
shutter on the keyboard on shore, warning
the officer in charge she was in contact
with the mine.
''Second-Before the officer is in a posi-
tion to fire the mine he must obtain one Of
two keys, one generally kept by the COM
mandant. the other by the officer in charge
OF the firing station. He must then unlock
q glass door. over which the shutter has
insulated switch.
Third-He must insert the plug in the
switch Of the firing battery earthplate
Fourth-The firing key is arranged with
licking armature of ebonite which must
be unlocked before the danger point is ar
rived at
'F1fth-The firing key hammer must be
pressed to complete the circuit that ex-
plodes the detonator, by which the mine,
In turn. is exploded.
Fiendish and Deliberate Act,
Il have not the slightest hesitation in
saying the Maine was deliberately de-
stroyed with 5OO-pound ground mine as
invented and supplied by me. The con-
sensus Of opinion is that the first expl.-
sion was external, which is established on
the following grounds. The forward maga-
zine contained $500 pounds of gunpowder,
which might blow up the decks, but it is
rroblematical whether 1t was capable of
igniting $500 pounds of powder in the mid
die magazine, and. even IL it did, the ex-
of decorating $500 pounds of wet guncot-
ton In the aft magazine.
And had that que nifty of guncotton been
Cetonated not q vestige Of the Maine would
rem ain.
The only practical way of discovering
the mine that sunk the Maine is by under
rrLning the cable from shore to the juno
tion box, and from thence underrun each
individual cable to the mine until one is
found without a mine attached. / am
satisfied the explosion was caused by a
ground, not a buoyant mine, for Havana
harbor is too shallow to admit the use CT
the latter.
II am prepared to satisfy by demonstra-
tion any jury of reasonable men that this
Is the true explanation Of the destruction
of the Maine
(Siened) .JOSEPH PANEII, GJRRONS"