U.S.S+Maine

= = =**"Remember the //Maine////,// and To Hell with Spain!"**=

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Throughout this period of time, the yellow journalism of competing newspapers inflamed the public with more and more stories. Artists created renditions showing how Spanish saboteurs had fastened an underwater mine to the hull of the Maine, and then detonated it from shore. The creator of the San Francisco Examiner, William Randolph Hearst, offered a $50,000 reward for "Conviction of the Criminals" and announced that "Naval Officers were Unanimous That the Ship Was Destroyed on Purpose". Major journalists, such as Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer of the //World,// rigorously competed for the reader's attention. They were determined to reach a daily spread of a million people, and they didn't mind fabricating stories in order to reach their goal. Both the //World// and //Journal// often printed the same comics, but under different titles. One of these involved the adventures of "The Yellow Kid," who was a little boy who always wore a yellow gown. Many people said that "they colored the funnies," "but they colored the news as well." For weeks after the //Maine// disaster, the //Journal// devoted more than eight pages a day to the story.

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