The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-02-26
Believed to Have Been the
Agency by Which
The Maine Was Destroyed by
Spanish COnspiratOrs.
AND CHARTS ARE
Carefully Examined at the
Navy Department
To Show How the Explosion
Was Brought About.

st. Louis, Feb. 26.-The GIobe-Demo-
crat has the following from its special
Washington correspondents:
When it is said officially that nothing
more is known of the cause of the
Maine disaster than in the beginning,
the meaning is that nothing more is
known officially. The truth is that u
great deal more is known, and that it is
accepted as foreshadOwing the official
information which will come with the
finding of the naval court of inquiry
Maps and charts of Havana harbor
were examined today with great inter-
est at the department. in the light of
the latest unofficial information. The
Maine was located at a numbered buoy.
That~buoy is placed on the chart. On
the night that the explosion occurred,
the Maine, under the influence of the
prevailing wind and tide, pointed south
east, in the direction of the navy yard,
three-q quarters of a mile away. She
lay with her length parallel to the Ha-
vana wharf, about opposite the ferry
slips. Moro castle and the entrance to
the harbor were directly astern and a
mile or more away. The Havana wharf
was on the starbOard and between a
quarter and a half of mile distant. On
the port side, at a somewhat FL eater
distance, was a collection of sugar
warehouses on the tongue of la u and
wharf which juts out dividing the arms
of the head of the harbOr. Across the
bows Of the Maine, at not a great dis
tance, lay the route of the ferryboats
and sailboats which are constantly ply
ing between Havana and Regla, the
terminus of two railroad lines.
The agency which destroyed the
Maine has been spoken of as torpedo
The name will do very well for the
landSman who understands a torpedo
to be something loaded to blow up a
ship. But, if the term is limited to the
costly tube, with its delicate mechanism
for automatic operation, probably 1t
should not be applied to what was used
to blow up the Maine. float mine
would convey to the navy expert a
more accurate description. The coun-
try has heard a good deal of submarine
mines. The new method of protecting
harbors with mines and torpedOes does
not contemplate tunneIing or excava-
tion or submarine construction. The
explosive material is loaded in boxes
of various sizes and forms. These boxes
float, but are weighted so that they do
not appear above the Surface of the
water. They are not put into position
until they are needed. 1t is a matter
of little time and skill to tow a float
mine to the point where it is to be To-
Gated, and to anchor it to the bottom,
leaving a Wire connected so that the
firing can be done from the shore with
an electric current. A torpedo, as 1t
| would be called commonly, or, more
properly, a mine float, was tOWed under
| the water at the end of a long rope
| trailing from. the stern of a small boat
| to its destination under the port bow or
! the Maine and exploded. That is the
| information which has come into the
possession of this gOVernment-infOr-
| nation of such detail and on such auth
| Ority that credence is given to it by cer-
tain high officials.