The Holly chieftain., 1905-03-31
R0SSEAU'S BOMB YARN
MAINE DESTROYED sv MISTAKE
Man Who Tried to Blow Up cunsrd
Steamer Says One Of His Ma
chimes Blew Up the
Maine.

New York, March 29.-Tnat the bat
tleship Maine, through an error. was
destroyed by q bomb o. his manufac-
ture, was the statement made by Ges-
sler Rosseau In the Tombs prison yes
terday. ROsseau was convicted yes
terday of having sent explosives to the
Cunard line pier, this city. in May.
1903. He made, the following state
ment:
For several years. while the Cuban
patriots were struggling against Wey-
Ter. l watched the contest with deep
interest and sympathy. ! decided to
GO to Jacksonville and do what could
to assist the revolutionists. l started
from st. Louis, where l had been liv-
ing during the early part Of 1897.
Before taking train for the South,
/ got together the material for the con-
struction of two exploding machines of
tremendous power, SO arranged that
they could be wound up and left in
selected place with the certainty that
they would go off with terrible destruc-
tion within a few hours.
AT New Orleans l rented a room
and put the boxes together. after which
l went on to Jacksonville. There
ban leaders who were planning a fill
clustering expedition. They had en-
gagged the Destroyer, small vessel. to
take them to Cuba. along with num-
Der OF American and European adven-
turers, who were anxious to strike a
blow for Cuban freedom.
Several Of the leaders of the party
are men now well known and l will
mt Al,1f-
have among my papers list of them
all.
Il suggested to them that they use
my machines to destroy Spanish war
ships In the harbor Of Havana and in
other ports on the coast of the island.
They readily seized upon the idea, and
when the Destroyer sailed with the fill
busters they took my two machines
with them.
1T 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 could be
OF greater use In Jacksonville prepar-
ing other machines II the first proved
successful.
ut 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
a ship under the water line, for had
constructed the machines SO they could
be exploded under the water
That was in the fall OF 1897. The
next spring the.Maine was destroyed
Only one of the men In the secret
Of the machines ever returned to
America. ] saw him some time after
the war with Spain had begun.
He told me he had nothing to do
with the boxes after reaching Cuba,
but had been told mistake had been
made.
THE man who had been intrusted
with the task of destroying a Spanish
vessel attempted to fasten a box dur
ing the night to one of Alfonso's war
ships and blundered into blowing up
the Maine.
Il was told that the man, immedi.
ately after learning OF the error he had
made, committed suicide"
Rosseau said he had attempted to
blow up the statue of Frederick the
Great in Washington because he did
not wish to see the statue of king in
America. He added that he was not
an anarchist or nihilist and that he
had made no effort to supply exploding
machines to the Russians.