The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-03-28
DISASTER CAUSED
BY ROSSEAU BOMB
Dynamiter Who Sent the Umbria
Internal Machine Makes a
Confession"
SAYS CUBANS BLEW UP
THE SHIP BY MISTAKE
Convict Declares Island Revolu-
tionists Intended to Destroy
Spanish Vessel.

New DIRK, March 2o.-Ihat the bat
tleship Maine thru an error was de-
stroyed by a bomb of his manufacture
was the statement made by Gessler
Rosseau in the Tombs prison today.
Rousseau was convicted yesterday Of
having sent explosives to the liner Um-
bria at the Cunard line pier, this city,
in May, 1903. He made the following )
statement today:
For several years, while the Cuban
Ter, [ watched the contest with deep In ].
terest and sympathy. [ decided to go
to Jacksonville and do what [ could to
assist the revolutionists. started
from st. Louis, where / had been living
during the early part Of 1897.
"Before taking a train for the south
I got together the material for the con-
struction Of two exploding machines
thew could be- Wound Wound up up and left in
selected place, with the certainty that
they would go off with terrible de-
struction within few hours.
- His Deal with Cubans.
cat New Orleans I rented a room
and put the boxes together, after which
[ went on to Jacksonville. There 1 be
Cuban leaders, who were planning
filibustering expedition. They had en-
gagged the Destroyer, a small vessel, to
! take with them to Cuba along with.
number of American and European
| adventures who were anxious to strike
blow for Cuban freedom.
! HSeveral of the leaders Of the party
are now men well known and will not
mention their names, altho | nave
among my papers list Of them all.
81 suggested to them that they use
/ nv machines to destroy Spanish war
ships in the harbor of Havana and IN.
other ports on the coast OF the island,
i They readily seized upon. the idea and
when the Destroyer sailed with the fill.
with them.
Made Other Machines.
cit was my intention to go along
with the party so as to direct the work
of sinking the Spanish ships, but they
dissuaded me, urging that l could De
of far greater use in Jacksonville pre-
proved successful.
cit was planned to have some mem
bers of the revolutionary party Join
the Spanish navy so as to get the ma
chimes aboard. If that failed, 1t was
decided to fasten one of the boxes to
the hull of ship under the water line,
for I had constructed my machines SO
they could be exploded under the water.
| TThat was late in the fall of 1897.
The next spring the Maine was de-
stroyed.
"Only one of the men in the secret of
the machines ever returned to America.
! T saw him some time after the war
with Spain had begun.
Mistake Blew Up the Maine.
"He told mehe had nothing to do with
the boxes after reaching Cuba, but had
been told mistake had been made. !,
"The men who had been entrusted
with the task of destroying Spanish
! vessel attempted to fasten a box dur
ing the night to one Of Alfonso g war
ships and blundered into blowing up
the Maine. -
1T was told that the man, immedi-
ately after learning Of the. error he had
made, committed suicide. -
Rosseau said he had attempted to
blow the statue of Frederick the Great
in Washington because he did not wish
to see the statue of a king in America.
lie added that he was not an anarch-
list or nihilist and that he had made
no effort to, supply exploding machines
Ito the Russians.