The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-02-22
BRUTAL SPANISH.
How They Regard the Tragedy
of the BattIeship Maine.
THEIR REGRETS INSINCERE.
Statements Of Americans Just Ar
rived From Havana.
CUBANs' ATTITUDE CONTRASTED.


The Latter Showed Evidence OF Gem
ulne Grief Over the Terrible Disns-
ter-The Naval Court Martial at
Work Investigating - Proceedings
Will De Kept secret-sending Divers
The Spanish Bnttleship Vizcaya to
Sail For Havana ut Once.
New York, Feb. 22-The Ward line
steamer Seguranca arrived at Quaran-
tine yesterday from Tampico and Ha-
vana. The Seguranca arrived at Ha-
vana at 10'o'clock on the morning after
the disaster to the Maine and passed
close by the wreck. The Seguranca's
passengers said that great excitement
prevailed at Havana, and at the time
Of sailing the foreign population were
generally of the opinion that the Maine
was destroyed by design. They cited
among other things in support Of this
theory the fact that the Spanish man.
of-war. Alfonso XII. which was an
chored near the Maine. changed her
moorings just previous to the disaster.
One of the passengers, William l.. Car
bin. went so far as to say that he saw
a boat near the Maine short time
previous to the explosion. He said he
would go to Washington to make
statement before the proper authors
ties.
C. P. Holcomb, of New Castle. Del,
general manager of a street railroad in
Philadelphia one of the passengers on
board the Seguranca, was outspoken
I'm his belief that the investigation at
Havana would reveal some startling
circumstances. II went to Havana"
said Mr. Holcomb mot at all in sym
pathy with the insurgents. but on
Wednesday, when we got to Havana,
1 believe any of the Americans OH
board was in a mood to commit mur-
der. The flags of the Spanish warship
were not at half mast. The vessels Of
all other nationalities had paid this
slight tribute to the dead. ! had tel
egram 10 bring back the remains Of
Apprentice Gazier, who is the son Of
my bookkeeper. | found that he was
among the saved.
1.-THE contrast between the bearing of
the Spaniards andsCubans is strong,
At the funeral of the Names seamen
the Cuban women in the streets were
almost all dressed In mourning, while
the Spanish women wore colors. The
only American flags l saw in the whole
procession were two small ones about
three by six inches. | went aboard the
Alfonso XII and was received politely.
The only expression of regret l heard
there was from an officer, who COM
planned that the force of the Maine
explosion had broken his toilet bot
iles. There can be no mistaking the
Indifference of the spanards in Ha-
vana over the loss Of the warship and
those on board. On Thursday while
driving to the cemetery with two
American friends, was assaied with
3"er., and some one threw large
stone at our Carriage"
= -E. W., Bobbett, of this city who was
with Mr. Holcomb in the carriage,
added:
That's perfectly true. In fact, one
or two children yelled after us that
they had blown up the Americana
and that they were glad of it. / did
not hear single expression of regret
for the terrible loss of life from any
Spaniard during the time was In Ha-
vana."
Frank Weinhcimer, of this city, an
eye witness Of the explosion and fel-
low passenger of Mr.. Holcomb, told
the following story:
"On Tuesday evening l stroled down
to the water front for a breath Of fresh
air. number of persons were walk
ing about the pier near the custom
house. Out in the harbor / could see
the dim outlines of the G4aine, and
close by the Spanish warslip. I was
about 300 yards from the Maine. The
first intimation l had of an explosion
was a crunching sound. Then there
came a terrible roar. Immense pieces
Of debris flew skyward from the Maine.
Some of them must have been thrown
at least 300 feet 1t looked as though
the whole inside Of the ship had been
blown out. Many persons on the pier
were nearly thrown from their feet by
the force of the explosion. The air be-
came sitting with smoke and the
crowl on the pier rushed back toward
the city"
Mr.. Weinheimer said he heard an
excited Spaniard declare shortly after
the explosion that if the "Anericanos"
sent another warship it also would be |
blown up.
nj. j. Naghton. an insurance man of |
Chicago. who was staying with his |
wife at the Grand Hotel Pasaje, de-
scribed the panic which existed in Ha-
Vana shortly after the explosion, and
said further: The Spanish officials
were quick to express sympathy, and
acted very well as a whole, but think
their expressions Of regret lacked the
spontaneity and warmth which would
have been characteristic Of an Amer
lean city had such disaster occurred
under similar circumstances"