The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-03-30
THREE MYSTERIOUS MEN
A CONNECTED NARRATIVE OF
HOW THEY WORKED.
WERE PAID BY MERCHANTS OF HAVANA
This Letter Was Inclosed in The Report as a
Part Of the Evidence Of Henry Drain
The Facts Are Not Verified
by General Lee.
by General Lee.

Washington, d. c., March 29.->An in
teresting feature of the published report
of the Maine testimony, issued from the
government printing office to-day, was
the famous anonymous letter mentioned
in the evidence of Henry Drain, the
clerk of the American Consulate at Ha-
Vana. The letter was received by Gen
eral Lee a few days after the Maine dis
aster. 1t is dated February 18th, 1898,
and signed AN Admirer."
7 1t is in Spanish. written apparently
by fairly well educated person. The
certified translation is as follows:
1T should be remembered that at
dawn of the day of the terrible catas-
trophe an individual was killed in a
small boat, together with another who
was found wounded and prisoner.
They were going about the cruisers
Maine and AlphonsO XI., and as the
said individuals are of the worst antecc-
dents as harbOr thieves, / have interest
ed myself in investigating what cOnnec-
tiOn this occurrence could have had with
the explosion of the Maine and l have
discovered that those two men, together
with another, who is called Pepe Taco
4ibt iyOuShI III Il lIsilhh StOIC III 4AACl-
caderes street, called La Marina. hose
such as is used by divers, and that the
three left Regla i'm a small boat, which
they placed under the wharves Of Santa
Catalina. and they were lettering about
more than an hour and a half, while
Pepe Taco who is a c0rker and a di-
yer, probably the best i'm these parts.
did the work to bring about the explo-
sion of the Maine. With. the data /
went to Regla and discovered that the
family of the dead man who lived in
the utmost misery in a house in Rodrl
guez Batista street, had moved to a well
furnished one ON Gelabert street. There
learned that they had agreed with
some merchants of Muralla street, for
the work of blowing up the ship for the
sum Of S6,000-S2.000 in advance and
the other $4,000 after seeing the result.
But as they did not come out of the adj
venture very well, having been attacked
when they were retiring, the result of
which was the death of one, who left
his teeth in the boat and another one
wounded. the third one has not presented
himself to collect the rest of the money,
and it could be probably secretly done
that, by paying him the rest that the
others will not now pay him, he would
declare truth of all this. The one whom
| called the third is the diver Pepe To-
co. who is wounded, who is no doubt
afraid to present himself to collect the
rest. In Muralla street, they tell me
was the place where the business was
arranged with MesSrs Garcia Corunie-
do. VillasusO, MaribOna and others
whom l do not remember. The man
who is arrested is being adj
ministered morphine constantly to see
if he will die and not give evidence, so
as not. they express it, to spoil the af-
fair after it has come off so much to
their taste.
Il certify that the above is true
copy.
(Signed) CA. MARIX.
Lieutenant Commander United States
Navy, and Judge Advocate"
Drain. the consular clerk, stated in his
evidence that an effort was made to as
certain the authenticity of this letter,
although the Consulate was handicapp-
ed, having no secret fund. Witness dis
covered, however, that the name Penn
Taco. must have been mistake as the
man mentioned had died a few days be-
for the explosion took place Witness
thought the name should have been Pepe
Barquin, who had died a couple days af-
ter the explosion.