The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-03-30
DISASTER work OF A DIVER.
The Famous Anonymous Letter In
the Maine Cnse.

Washington, March 29-An interesting
feature of the published report of the
Maine testimony. issued from the govern
ment printing Office to-day, was the fam
Gus anonymous letter mentioned in the
evidence of Henry Drain, the clerk of the
American consulate at Havana. The let
ter was received by Gen. Lee a few days
after the Maine disaster. II is dated Feb.
is. 1898, and signed, AN Admlrer." 1t Is
in Spanish, written apparently by fairly
we'll educated person. The certified trans
lation is as follows:
ut should be remembered that at dawn
of the day of the terrible catastrophe an
individual was killed In a small boat. to-
gether with another who was found
wounded and a prisoner. They were going
about the cruisers Maine and Alphonso
XII, and as the said individuals are of the
worst antecedents as harbor thieves, !
have interested myself in investlgatina
what connection this occurrence could
have had with the explosion of the Maine,
and have discovered that those two
men, together with another,
who is called Pepe Taco, had
bought In a hardware store In Mercaderes
street. called La Barina. hose such as is
used by divers, and that the three left
Regla In a small boat which they placed
under the wharvest of Santa Catalina, and
they were lettering about more than an
hour and a half, while Pepe Taco, who is
a corker and a diver, probably the best in
these parts, did the work to bring about
the explosion of the Maine.
with the data ! went to Regla and dis
covered that the family of the dead man
who lived In the utmost misery In house
In Rodriguez Batlsta 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 $6,0O0-$20OO in advance, and the other
| 81 goo after seeing the result. But as they
did not come out Of the adventure very
| we'll 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 wounded, the third one has not
presented himself to collect the rest of the
! money. lt cOuld pfODhDiy De afTdHBeus II
secretly done. that by paying him the rest
that the others will not now pay him, he
would declare the truth of all this. The
one whom / called the third is the diver,
Pepe Taco, who is unwounded, and who Is
no doubt afraid to present himself to col
lect the rest. In Muralla street they tell
me, was the place where the business was
arrangd with Messrs. Garcia, Corujedo,
Villasuso, Maribona, and others, whom
do not remember. The man who Is ar
rested is being administered morphine con-
stantly TO see If he will die and not give
evidence, so as not, as they express 1t, to
spoil the affair after 1t has come Off 50
much TO their taste"
II certify that the above Is true copy
"A. Mark,
'Iieutenant Commander u. $. N. and
Judge Advocate"
Drain, the consular clerk. stated I'm his
evidence that an effort was made to ascer-
tain the authenticity of this letter, al.
though the consulate was handicapped
having no secret funds.
Witness discovered, however, that Tho
name, Pepe Taco, must have been mis-.
take as the man mentioned had died 2
few days before the explosion took place
Witness thought the name should have
been Pepe Barquln, who had died eou
pie of days after the explosion