The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-11-27
STANDS EXPOSED.
Secret of the Blowing Up of the
Maine Discovered.
Cleaning of Havana Harbor
Lets the Light In.
WORK OF GUN COTTON.
TOrpedoes Struck the Ships
Side and Wrecked Her.
Chain of Evidence Made Com
plete Against Spain.
reek of the Gallant Vessel a
Menace to NavigatiOn.Ss
WORK OF GUN COTTON.

b -t4OSN secret Ai4NESllEdLloLs I'D e A4SENN
cred the explosive used in blowing UP
the warship Maine, in Havana harbOr
on February 10 1898.
It was gun cotton.
Seven hundred pounds of gun cotton
were used.
The gun cotton was the property of
the Spanish government.
1t was sent from Barcelona, Spain,
to Admiral AIanterola, commanding the
port Of Havana, a month before the de-
struction of the Maine.
Six cases, each containing $50 pounds
of gun cotton We're received in Havana.
The contents of two boxes. 700 pounds.
were either stolen from the magazine
where they We're stored or We're taken
with the knowledge of the officials in
charge.
Admiral Manterola's records IN
doubtedly show the names of his sub
Ordinates who had direct control of the
explosives, and in that way the identity
of the authors and executiOners of the
plot to destroy the Maine may be dis
covered.
The Post-Dispatch has the highest
authority for these statements
The government at Washington has
been, or soon viii be, in possession Of
all the facts relating TO the new discOV-
cries and viii probably solicit the as
sistance of the Spanish government in
securing the punishment of the authors
of the crime.
Evidence that has come into the pos
session of the United States officials at
Havana is substantially conclusive.
The captain of the port of Havana
made the first discovery a month ago.
Commander Young is cleaning the har-
Dor, which was probably one of the
flthiest in the world when the United
States took control He says he is Civ
ing Havana "a new stomach
In exploring the buildings surround
the 6arDOT- formerly used DN the
Spanish naval forces. Young found six
cases used in shipping explosives Two
were empty. This discovery, with
other facts, which officers of the Tn
tied States secret service have learned,
confirms the declaration of Captain
Sigsbee of the Maine when she was
blown UP, and of Captain Stevens, of
the Ward Steamship company, that the
Maine was blown up from the outside.
The newly discovered evidence furth-
er shows that the destruction OF the
Maine was accomplished by the used
of tOrpedOes charged with gun cotton
and exploded by contact with the keel
of the Warship.
Two or three men were engaged in
the destruction of the Maine. A steam
launch of Spanish make which is now
used by the United States government
in Havana harbOr, conveyed the tOrpe-
does, according to the new evidence, to
a. point within a few feet of the berth of
the Maine and there anchored them.
The tOrpedOes were kept in their posi-
feet under water and ten feet above
anchors used TO prevent them being
swept away.
The Maine was drawing fourteen feet
of water at her anchorage The testi-
mOny showed that the explosion which
destroyed her, struck the starbOard bot
tom plate three feet above the bottom
line.
The conclusion reached by the officials
who have recently been Investigating
the cause of the destruction of the
Maine is that the men who planted the
tOrpedOeS containing gun cotton made
a careful study of the Names anchor
age and the changing condition of the
tide, planting the gun cotton 50 as to
Obviate the necessity for exploding the
torpedoes by an electric wire
1t was suggested before the board Of
inquiry that tOrpedOes charged with
SuncOtton might have been used in de-
strOying the WarShip, but in the pub
lished report of the evidence, no ref /
erenCe was made to it
Experts who explored the wreck of
the Maine, could find no trace of a /
marine mine or Of electric wires in the /
harbOr.
The new evidence shows that gun |
cotton tOrpedOes were anchored at ebb !
tide on the StarbOard side Of the Maine, !
and within a few feet of the ships
bottom plate. The Maine anchored with !
her nose pointing toward Havana The /
action of the tide swung her stern to- |
ward the southern end of the harbor /
and her bow toward the west and I
northwest in the direction OF the Moro.
Captain Sigsbee IN his official report 4
said:
If an expect had been charged with /
mining the Names mOOring berth. /
purely as a matter of haroOr defense /
and having only one mine available +
believe he would have placed it under
the position that the Maine occupied (
that night
That is precisely what the men who
placed the gun cotton tOrpedOes under
the Maine did, according to the cOnclu-
siOnS drawn by officials of the United
States from the new evidence discover
ed. Plates of the Maine coming in con
tact with the tOrpedOes which were on
the starboard quarter. or that section
would be designated northwest, were
exploded.
The torpedoes were placed at g. spot
where SlgSbee says a mine would have Z
been placed The Maine swinging with
the tide struck the caps attached to /
the floating buOys and exploded the
gun cotton IN the torpedOeS below.
The force of the explosion undoubt-
sdly destroyed the torpedOes and the
buOys. while the anchors
used to prevent the torpedOes and
)uOys from floating away were undis-
'OVerable in the mass of debris of the
Maine itself
The officials Of the secret service who
1ave conducted secret service work
10th here and in Spain. believe that
he tOrpedOes were shaped like big
buckets and made OF aluminium or other
light metal easily destroyed and leav-
ng no traces behind
Capt. Stevens of the Ward Steamship |
ompany, who Witnessed the explosion.
old me that the theory evolved by |
mcials of the United States. based on |
violence secret service officers have OBJ