The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-03-29
STORIES OF EYEwITNEssEs.
Passengers and Officers of the Steam
er City of Washington.

Louis Wertheimer, a tobacco dealer of
New York. who was a passenger on the
steamer City of Washington in Havana
harbOr the night of the blowing up of the
Maine, the moment of the explosion was in
the stern of the Washington and was look
ing directly at the battle ship when the
explosion occurred. Il heard report" said
Mr.. Wertheimer, land at an interval of
anywhere from five to fifteen seconds fol-
lowing the first report came great explo-
sion. In the burst of flame which followed
/ clearly and plainly saw the vessel rise in
the water, apparently three yards out, then
settle down before the light of the explosion
want out. The whole thing was over so
quickly that l could not hazard a guess
at the length of time"
Sigmond Rothschild, one of the passen-
gers on the City of Washington, was an
eyewitness to the explosion. In company
with his friend, Louis Wertheimer, he was
aboard the City of Washington on the night
of Feb. Is, she sailed into Havana har-
Dor. He was or the stern of the City OF
Washington, which was astern and on the
port side of the Maine. The vessels were
about one hundred yards apart Rothschild
said he was naturally interested in the
Maine and had taken position where they
could get a good look at her. Just as he
had taken his eyes off her 10 move his
chair there was sound like cannon shot
in the darkness. He Immediately looked
toward the Maine. He saw the forward end
of the vessel rise, he thought, couple of
feet out of the water. An instant later came
a second distinct explosion. This seemed
to burst from the interior of the vessel Tor
ward in a dull flame, and the air was in
stantly filled with flying debris. The vessel
lurched back in the water after the force
of the first defamation that had lifted her
bow and quickly began to sink forward. In
less than a minute her bow had disap-
peared. The wreck took fire and burned for
two hours. There were single reports that
kept up through all that time as the fixed
ammunition was reached by the flames
but these were not to be confused with the
two big explosions which had destroyed the
Maine. There was no doubt about the sepa-
ration of these two first explosions, an IN
terval of two seconds at least separating
them. The much-discussed section OF ce@
ment that fell on the deck Of the Washlng-
ton was two inches thick and weighed thir-
ty pounds. The engineer of the washington 81,
some of the Washington's boats ana de-
layed the work of rescue. Other wreckage
was hurled clear over the Washington: Inc
boats of the Spanish war ship Alfonso Alll
he said. were prompt to go, to the rescue
and were aided by searchlights
Capt. Frank Stevens. OF the CITY OF
Washington, testified he was standing
towards the Maine when she was blown up:
He heard dull. muffled explosion and
commotion as though it was under the wa
ter followed instantly by terrific explo-
sion. lighting up the sky with a dull red
glare and filing the air with hylng missiles,
which fell all around him. He felt tremb-
ling of his ship at the last OF the expio-
sions on the Maine. There was a decided in
terval between the first and second noise
Of the explosions. He was not standing
where he could see the Maine lift.