The herald., 1898-02-22
NO ACCIDENT
But the Fiendish Crime
of a Foe
TOURISTS FROM CUBA
TELL THE STORY OF THE MAINE
DISASTER
THEY ALL HOLD ONE OPINION
The Warship Was Destroyed by De
sign and the Spaniards Do
Not Regret It
Associated Press Special Wire

NEW YORK. Feb. 21.-The Ward line
steamer Seguranca arrived at quarantine
today from Tampico and Havana. The Sc
guranca arrived at Havana at 10 o'clock on
the morning of the disaster to the Maine
and passed close to the wreck. The Sc
guranca's passengers said that great ex-
citement 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 the
ory the fact that the Spanish man-of-war
Alfonso XIII. which was anchored near
the Maine. changed her moorings just
previous to the disaster. One of the pas
sengers, VIM. l.. Carbin, went so far as to
say that he saw boat go near the Maine
a short time previous to the explosion.
He said he would go to Washington to
make the statement before the proper au-
thorities. C. p. Holcomb of New Castle,
Del, general manager of a street railway
In Philadelphia, one of the passengers on
board the Seguranca, was outspoken in his
belief that the investigation at Havana
would reveal some startling circumstances.
81 went to Havana" said Mr.. Holcomb,
mot at all In sympathy with the insur-
gents. but on Wednesday, when we got to
Havana, I believe any of the Americans
on board was In a mood to commit murder.
The flags of the Spanish warship were not
half masted. The vessels of all other ma
tionalities had paid this slight tribute to
the dead.
ION Thursday, while driving to the cem-
etery with two American friends I was
assaulted with jeers and some one threw a
large stone at our carriage"
F. W. Bobbett of this city. who was with
Mr.. Holcomb in the carriage. added: THAT
is perfectly true. In fact, one or two chill
dren yelled after us that they had blown
up the Americana and that they were
glad of It. / did not hear a single express
sion of regret for the terrible loss of life
from any Spaniard during the time was
in Havana"
Frank Weinheimer of this city. an eye
witness Of the explosion. said he heard an
excited Spaniard declare shortly after the
explosion that If the "Amerieanos' sent
another warship 1t also would be blown up.
M. j. Naughton, an insurance man of
Chicago, who was staying with his wife at
the Grand hotel, said he was seated In
front of the hotel when the explosion oc-
CURED. 1t was followed, he said, by an
other and much louder one.
I'VE thought the whole city had been
blown to pieces" said Mr.. Naughton.
"Some one said the Insurgents were enter
ing Havana. Others cried out that Moro
castle was blown up
Continuing his description of the panic
which existed in Havana shortly after the
explosion, Mr.. Naughton said: ION the
Prado Is a large cab stand. The minute af-
ter the explosion was heard the cabmeu
cracked their whips and went rattling over
the cobbles like crazy men. The fire de-
partment turned out and bodies of cavalry
and infantry rushed through the streets
There was no sleep in Havana that night.
The Spanish officials were quick to express
their sympathy and acted very we'll as a
whole, but think their expressions of re-
gret lacked the warmth which would have
been characteristic of an American city
had such a disaster occurred under SINH
lar circumstances.'
VIM. l.. Carbin, the passenger who pro.
fessed to have important information
about the explosion refuses to make any
further statements than he made at quar-.
antine. The other passengers on the Sc
guranca did not take Mr.. Carbin as seri-
ously as he took himself.