The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1912-04-13
4 NEW 4MAIsEy THEORY


Maine disaster have been advanced in
the past fourteen years to sink feet
Of battleships. but the latest one, says
the New York Sun, is considered
plausible, we are assured, and is the
result OF long investigation by the
one who brings 1t forward. Still, he
Is not sure enough to put his name
to the story. tho we learn that he was
q naval officer in the war with Spain.
and the naval officers who indorse it
a1so take refuge behind the veil of
anonymity, so that the great disaster
that plunged two nations into war Is
not yet stript Of its mystery. So
many links In the chain of evidence
are missing that the man who framed
this theory prefers to throw his
hypothesis into the form OF fiction. and
LAYS the scene of his narrative in
Spanish cafe in New York. where an
aged Spaniard grows confidential and
tells him after a few minutes ac-
quaintance what he had never before
breafhed In mortal ears. This aged
loyalist, who is supposed to have been
In the secret service of Governor
General Blanche at Havana, Is rep
resented as saying:
The REBELLION had been going on for
a long time. Things were rot happen
ing at all as we wanted them. The
rebels kept getting arms and ammuni-
ton from your country. and informa-
ton from inside the city about our
plans. The governor general was
afraid of spies. He even distrusted
the guard at the palace sometimes
Consul-General Lee and your agents
reported everything to your govern
ment And. worse than that. all your
vuh 10
home stories that made us appear
cruel, barbarousIy cruel We were
not We were set task to do by our
government, and were doing it, That
was all We were doing it as fast as
possible. But you made it hard for
us. You threatened to make It I'M
possible. When your newspapers came
to the palace and We got our dis
patches from our agents in your coun-
try, Governor-Genera1 Blanco would
be very angry I have often heard
him talk to his staff about it. And
the colonies who arrived from the
country would come in and he would
tell them the latest rumor. and they
would go out and cross the plaza.
swearing sometimes until they had
and even beyond.
that your government let us alone,
but your people did not. They were
all against US, all on account of our
sugar and tobacco, and we thought
your government ought to restrain
them: but 1t either did not or could
not. Every one, except the plotting
rebels, hated all of you; and Consul
General Lee and the rest of your peo-
pie who were in Havana did not have
a pleasant time, altho we were polite
to them. And then, that winter, at
last came the news that your Consul
General had sent for a war-vesse1 to
anchor in the harbor. Governor
General Blanco did not seem to be
angry. He was very grave. I was
there in the room when he read the
dispatch to the chief Of artillery. He
was very angry and talked a great
deal; but the governor-genera1 sat
very quiet and thought He seemed
to be thinking while he was busy in
his office that afternoon. and was
unusually quiet while he drest for
dinner and in the evening. altho there
were many officers at dinner, and mil
ftary men and civilians came and went
all the evening and far into the night
The next morning we had a larger
meeting Of officers than usual, and
after they had gone he took his stan
into an inner room and told them his
plan. I overheard ii. / know what
1 am talking about, and every word is
true. He said that an American ship
of war would be in the harbor in a
few days, that your nation and ours
were at peace, and that she must be
treated with every courtesy and every
one accorded the utmost politeness
ISt n he
or to any of your people under any
circumstances, that our government
did not want war, and that we could
not engage in one with you and handle
the rebels too. He said 1t very earnest
" over and over again, but he said he
knew well that when the ship had
been moored in the harbor, IL any
thing happened that angered your
people or offended her captain it would
go hard with the city. Your Captain
Sigsbee, he said, was a very grim man.
a man of great po1iteness, but afraid
OF nothing. He might at any moment
send one of his officers ashore with a
note saying: UNLESS you release
such a man, or refrain from execut-
ing such another because he is a citi-
zen of my country. or do not do this
or that within an hour. I will open
IRE on the palace and the forts. My
guns are loaded and ready"
THAT 1t what he will say said the
governor general THAT is why he is
sent down here. And their fleet is wait
ing just across at Key West. Our
palace will be destroyed, our forts
shot into from the rear. There will
be flames and disorder. The rebels
will Jump out of every house, and the
city will be untenable. And it is 1
who will be blamed, altho I can not
stop the ship from coming.
Many plans proposed by the staff
were turned down, and in the end
Bianeo suggested that they be ready
when the captain sent such note to
write him that his request was re-
fused. and that, at the fash of his
nrst gun-which would be declara-
ton of war, a mine under the war
ship would be touched Off If the
Names captain did not try to bully
the Spaniards, no blow would De
struck, and no harm could come from
planting the mine. One of the reasons
for planting the mine was the posi-
ton Of the Maine. 1t could shell the
city. but the guns Of the fortress
could not return the fire. because the
battleship was directly between the
harbor defenses and the principal
part of the town; so the mine would
be Havana's only defense. The prep
aration OF 1t is here described:
An old boiler Of a donkey-engine
was used 1t was prepared in the