# The World's Maine front page, a cause in the banner and doubt in the deck

The New York World of 17 February 1898, Joseph Pulitzer's paper, ran the banner "Maine explosion caused by bomb or torpedo" two days after the USS Maine blew up in Havana, over a deck that conceded Captain Sigsbee and Consul-General Lee "are in doubt."

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      New York World, front page, 17 February 1898 (Maine explosion 'caused by bomb or torpedo')

      The World's Maine front page, a cause in the banner and doubt in the deck
      Pulitzer's World of 17 February 1898 bannered "Maine explosion caused by bomb or torpedo" while its own deck said the officers were "in doubt."

## Techniques named on the archive record

Card stacking
      DateFebruary 17, 1898Made byThe World, New York (proprietor Joseph Pulitzer)MediumNewspaper pagesCountryUnited StatesRegimeMckinley AdministrationSourceIdentified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they areSourceWikimedia Commons , retrieved October 2, 2026SourcePublic domain (US newspaper, 17 Feb 1898; Commons PD-1923 tag) The World (New York), 17 February 1898, via Wikimedia Commons. Commons file page: Permission {{PD-1923}}, 'Public domain'.
      Object, image, and catalog record from the FRAME archive. Text on this page is CC BY 4.0. Image rights are as the archive records.

      Full record at propagandaarchive.org

  The New York World of 17 February 1898, Joseph Pulitzer's paper, ran the banner "Maine explosion caused by bomb or torpedo" two days after the USS Maine blew up in Havana, over a deck that conceded Captain Sigsbee and Consul-General Lee "are in doubt."

## The front page

The archive dates this page two days after the USS Maine exploded in Havana. Across the top, the World prints its circulation for the day before. Below that is the banner, a full-width drawing of the blast, a deck, and two sub-heads. The caption under the drawing and the column text are too small to read in the reproduction the archive used.

863,956 WORLD'S CIRCULATED YESTERDAY / The World. / 863,956 WORLD'S CIRCULATED YESTERDAY

[...]

MAINE EXPLOSION CAUSED BY BOMB OR TORPEDO[?]

Capt. Sigsbee and Consul-General Lee Are in Doubt---The World Has Sent a Special Tug, With Submarine Divers, to Havana to Find Out---Lee Asks for an Immediate Court of Inquiry---260 Men Dead.

IN A SUPPRESSED DESPATCH TO THE STATE DEPARTMENT, THE CAPTAIN SAYS THE ACCIDENT WAS MADE POSSIBLE BY AN ENEMY.

Dr. E. C. Pendleton, Just Arrived from Havana, Says He Overheard Talk There of a Plot to Blow Up the Ship---Capt. Zalinski, the Dynamite Expert, and Other Experts Report to The World that the Wreck Was Not Accidental---Washington Officials Ready for Vigorous Action if Spanish Responsibility Can Be Shown---Divers to Be Sent Down to Make Careful Examinations.

Transcription in the FRAME record, read from the image and not independently checked. The archive notes that the right edge is cut off after "TORPEDO," so any question mark there cannot be seen. Full record at propagandaarchive.org.

## The banner against the deck

Read from the top down, the page answers its own question before it asks it. The banner names two causes, and neither is an accident. The first line of the deck then says the two officials closest to the event "are in doubt," that the consul-general wants a court of inquiry, and that the paper is sending divers "to Find Out." If the officers did not know and the divers had not yet gone down, the banner could not know either.

The archive tags the page for card stacking, and the rest of the deck shows how. It leans on a "suppressed despatch," which the reader cannot see; on a doctor who "overheard talk" of a plot; and on experts reporting "to The World." Each item points the same way. The drawing shows an external blast, which the archive notes no witness had established at the time.

The deck is not all one-sided. It prints the officers' doubt, and it says Washington officials were ready to act "if Spanish Responsibility Can Be Shown." That conditional is the right standard. The page puts it near the end of the last sub-head, under a banner that has already dropped it.

## The other paper that morning

Hearst's New York Journal of the same date went further, calling the loss "the work of an enemy" and offering a reward. Nothing on either page was censored, and nothing should have been. The duty to wait for the facts fell on readers, and on the officials whose job was to find them. The yellow press case study follows the rivalry between the two papers; Judge's Remember the Maine shows where the slogan went next.

## Sources

- FRAME object record, New York World, front page, 17 February 1898 (Maine explosion 'caused by bomb or torpedo'). The World, New York (proprietor Joseph Pulitzer).

- Wikimedia Commons, File:World98.jpg, retrieved by the archive 2 October 2026. Rights as recorded: public domain (US newspaper, 17 February 1898; Commons PD-1923 tag).

Canonical: https://americanpropaganda.org/collection/ny-world-maine-bomb-or-torpedo-1898/