The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1898-04-15
GENERAL LEE
ON maine
DISASTER.
No Doubt Was Due to
Spanish Treachery.
An Officer Acquainted With
Explosives Did the Work.
Believes WeyIer Knew That Havana
HdrbOr Was Mined.
Testimony of Our ConSuI-General TO Cuba
Taken Before the Senate Com
mittee on Foreign
Relations.


| timony taken before the Senate Com-
mittee on Foreign Relations in connec-.
| ton with the investigation into the re-.
| lations between the United States and
! Cuba was made public to-day. 1t con-"
stitutes book of about $50 pages, and
since the disaster to the Maine, but
also much that was taken before, and
running back for year or more.
The statement which contained the
greatest current interest is that made
by Consul-General Lee on the 18th
inst. In this statement General Lea
said that he was informed on very
| good authority that the Spaniards had
placed two rows of tOrpedoes just at the
mouth of the Havana harbor by Moro
| Castle within the past two months, or
subsequent to the Maine disaster, and
that the switch board is in a room in
the castle. He said, however, that he
! had no information of the placing of
| any torpedoes before the Maine was de-
| stroyed, and none in regard to the pur-
chase abroad by Spanish authorities.
Had you any reason to suppose that
/ the harbor was mined at all before the
blowing up of the Maine?" asked Sem
ator Frye.
mo, sir; L had no reason to suspect
anything of that sort up to that time"
He then went on to say that General
Weyler's letter to Santos Guzman had
led him to believe that mines might
have been placed there previous to the
Maine incident, and he said that this
supposition was strengthened by a
telegram from General Weyler, of
! which he had been made cOgniZant.
Upon the whole he thought the Wey-
Ter letter (the Laine letter. was a corr
rect copy of the genuine letter.
The telegram to which he referred
was addressed to Eva Canela, a noted
Spanish woman, and an admirer OF
General Weyler, and to Senior Guzman,
and it read as follows: Grave circun-
stances cause me to ask you to destroy
the last letter of February 18th"
General Lee said that this telegram
had never before been published, and
he found in it strong confrmatory evil
dence of the genuineness of the Wey-
Ter letter
With reference to the responsibility
for the destruction of the Maine, Gen.
eral Lee said: II am satisfied the ex-
plosion was from the outside 1 ca
he farx S1o
after the board assembled that it was
almost certain that the explosion was
from the exterior. 1 have always had
an idea about the Maine, of course,
that it was not blown up by any pri-
vate individual or by any private citi-
zen, but it was blown up by some of
the officers who had charge of the
mines and electrical wires and torpe-
does in the arsenal there, who thor
oughly understood their business, for
it was done remarkably well.
Il don't think General Blanco, the
present Captain General, had anything
to do with it. L don't think he had
any knowledge of it. 1 saw him short
~ after the occurrence. l was sitting
in my room at the hotel. 1 heard the
explosion, and from the balcony of the
hotel saw Il great column of fire go up
in the air. A few moments after as
pertaining that it was the Maine, L
went right down to the palace and
asked for General Blanco. He came in
directly by himself He had just heard
it, and was crying. Tears were com
ing out of his eyes. He seemed to re-
greet it as much as anybody l saw in
Havana think it came from some OF
the subaltern officers who had been
there under Weyler, and who were
probably anti-Blanco, anyhow, and
who had full knowledge of the bust
ness"
General Lee said that he had seen
q copy of a telegram from Admiral
Manterola, dated Havana, prior to the
| Maine explosion, to the Spanish Com
mission in London, asking the commits
sion to hurry up the electrical ca
| bles"
Whether that referred to wire for
submarine mines or torpedoes 1 don't
know" he continued Il tried to as
certain if any of the wire or cleo
trical cables had arrived there. but they
! came on Spanish ships, and could not
/ find OUT
/ General Lee said that this testimony
| in regard to Manterola and all of that
with reference to the Weyler tele-
CONTINUED on Seventh Pagel