Translation

The ‘Maine’ Catastrophe

The dispatches that we collected from the London Press a few days ago have made known the official opinion regarding the blowing up of the North American ship in the Bay of Havana.

The North American newspapers have already begun to give an account of the result of the official investigations.

The New York Times of January 9 publishes the following dispatch from Washington:

Washington, DC, January 8. — The Post will publish the following tomorrow:

The United States battleship Maine, destroyed in the Bay of Havana in February 1898, with the loss of many lives, was blown up by an internal explosion, and when the ship is lifted from the bottom of the bay it will be seen that the Spaniards in Cuba had absolutely nothing to do with the destruction of the ship. This is the opinion of the officers of the War Department, based on the reports supplied to them by officers of the Army, who are engaged in the extraction of the moldy hull.

People recently arrived from Washington and who have full knowledge of the lifting works of the battleship, as it is known, agree that the destruction of the “Maine” was due to the explosion of one of the hermetically closed compartments used to store ammunition. This theory is born of the facts already developed. A large amount of coal has been found in the mud surrounding the hull of the Maine. Human bones have also been found outside the hull. This is believed to be proof that no outside force could be used to blow up the ship. ”