Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-11-02
KNOWS HOW
THE MAINE
WAS SUNK?
Former u. S. Officer Tells
Story Secuted at
Washington.
SAYS A CUBAN DID 1T
Object Was to Bring on War
and Cause Freeing of Is
land from Spain.
SAYS A CUBAN DID 1T

Kansas City. Mo. Nov. 2.-Lectur-
Ing at st. Georges church here last
night, Colonel Brady, one of the four
officers sent by the government to
Investigate the destruction of the
battleship Maine in Havana harbor,
declared the mine which destroyed
the battleship was placed by Cubans
In order to bring war with Spain
and the deliverance of Cuba.
Brady said the Maine was anchor
ed over the mine prepared by Gu
bans, and that it was fired from
Moro Castle by Jose Zavaldo, an
electrician, who was later executed
by order of General BIanco. He
been sent the president and secre-
tary of war.
Were Three Theories.
when 1 went to investigate the
disaster with three other officers"
Brady said, there were three the
ories concerning the origin of the
disaster-that the explosion was
caused from outside by agents of
Spain, that it was caused from in
side, and that the Maine was anchor
ed over mine. prepared by Cubans.
We were able to inform the president
and secretary of war that the last
theory was most consistent with the
facts. This leads TO the conclusion
that the Maine was blown up by Gu
bans il order to bring on a war with
Spain and the deIiverance of Cuba"
Gives Mans Name.
Continuing he said. Now I will
tell you for the first time the name
of the man who blew up the Maine
He is, or was Jose Zavaldo. He was
an electrician at Moro Castle. 1t
was he who threw the switch which
set off the powerful mine that de-
stroyed that ship and sent 2O7 lives
into eternity in a flash Zavaldo was
afterwards shot by order of General
Blanco. We even got a piece of the
cable that led from the mine to the
room in Moro Castle. That piece of
cable is now in the navy department
at Washington"
Concrete Bottom Blown Out.
The former officer in his talk de-
scribed the condition of the Maine
after the explosion and gave the rea-
sons for his statement that the ship
was blown up by a mine. Accord
ing to his statement the concrete
false bottom of the vessel was blown
to pieces and the particles fell on
the deck of ship anchored near by.
Merely Telegraph Operator.
Washington, Nov. General AL
len, chief of the signal corps, said
Brady was once telegraph operat-
or attached TO the signal cOrDS Ha
did not know, however, he had been
on any board charged with the in
vestigation of the destruction of the
Maine.
DIscredits the Theory.
Read Admiral Wainwright, execu-
tive officer of the Maine at the time
it was blown up, said today no mill
tary board was appointed to investi-
gate the disaster. The story told by
Brady was one of the theories ad-
vanced at the time the naval board
of inquiry of which Wainwright
was a member, investigated the mat
ter. It was discredited than and
Wainwright places no stock in it
how
Piece Of Gable Myth.
He branded as untrue Brady's
statement that the piece OF cable
that led from the mine to the room
in Moro Castle now was in the navy
department. If there had been any
such cable he declared, it would
have been discovered by the divers
who examined the hull after the ex-
plosion.