The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-03-29
|ROSSEAU HAS A SENSATIoI Cause of Maine'S Eli He Declares HIS BOMB DID THE WonI
  Explosion Result Of MistaI
 in Plans. K Man lrntrustsA wstA Csnsunlnata1n - ' the seAsns lGaAs . Tatal nau.<n aaA Aftsrwaras Csnnatte1
 sussiAs.
HIS BOMB DID THE Won

New York. March 2o.-That the Nat< tleship Maine. through an error, III destroyed by . bomb of his mauufock@ ure. was the statement made by e. sler Rosseau in the Tombs prison to~ day. Rosseau was convicted ye1t1v< day of having sent explosives to kho cunard line pier. this city. n 7G13s 1903. He made the following statemeut today: #
 For several years. while. the cuhon patriots were struggling axafnst W0Y~ Ter. watched the contest with dooD interest and sympathy. decido1 te go to Jacksonville and do what ! coo11 to assist the revolutionists. I staxto6 from St. Louis. where l had been 114< 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 o< tremendous power so that they could be wound up and left in . selected place with the certainty that they would go on with terrible destruotion within few hours.
 At New Orleans rented room and put the boxes together after which wont on to Jacksonville. There | sbs- came acquainted with q party of Cuban leaders who were planning | dlibuster- Ing expedition. They had enEaxe6 the Destroyer, q small vessel to taI<a them to Cuba along with number of American and European adventurera who were anxious to strike a blow fox Cuban freedom.
 Several of the leaders of the party are men now well known and will not mention their names. although ! have among my papers list of them all.
 Took Resseau's MachIne.
 T suggested to them they uso my machnies to destroy Spanish warahipx 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 nIIbus<~ |ers they took my two machines with
 a1t was fny fssteution to no a1onr with the party 90 as to direct flIe work of sinking the Spanish shipa. but they dissuaded me- urging that could be of greater service In Jack sonville preparing other machines if the first proved successful. Tt was planned to have some member of the revolutionary party join the Spanish navy so as to get the machines aboard. If that failed 1t was decided to fasten one of the boxes to the hull of a ship under the water line. for I had constructed the machines so they could be exp1od- ed under the water.
 That was late in the fall of 1897. The next spring the Maine was de- stroyed.
 "Only. one of tine men in the secret of the machines ever returned to America. I met 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 men who had been entrusted with the task of destroying a span ish vessel attempted to fasten a box during the night to one of the Alfonso warships and blundered into blowing up the Maine.
 T was told the man Immediately after learning the error he made com mitted suicide"
 Rosseau said he had attempted to blow up the statue of Frederick the Great in Washington, because he dfa not wish to see the statue of a King in America. He added he was not an anarchist nor nihiiist. and that he had made no effort to supply exc ploding machines to the Russians