True American. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1835-18??, 1839-10-10
HAVANA, 9th Sept. 1889.

Dedr Mr.
In reply 10 your letter Of this mornir g's date.
respecting the steps taken by me 10 procure the Liberia
ton and otherwise assist the men of the "Wm Engcs."
l comply with your request, though unwilling to have
to speak Of any trihing Efforts Of mine in their behalf.
In the month of February last, l heard Of 8 or . men,
speaking our language, and, consequently, either Eng
fish or Americans, being in the Cabanas, worked
in chains with the other ftlons in that place. ! went
the following day TO ascertain the truth of this account,
accompanied by MIR. Norman. l found the men alluded
to breaking stones in the broilins sunhbout monday
l think this party consisted of nine men: six Of these
told me they were Englisha1en, one a Swede, and two
were Americans. They all said. however, they had
come here in American vessels as sailors. They were
all remarkably well behaved, decent looking men.-
They were in rags, and, with one or two exceptions,
without shoes, the want of which they complained Of
greatly they all looked sickly and sorrowiul enough;
and the hardships they were undergoing, and the de-
SPAR of ever getting out Of the Cabanas, were sufficient
to make them 80. then gave them what assistance I
could afford. and promised not to lose sight of them.-
They taid they had nothing to expect from any other
quarter; they Ind received some time before 3 or 4 pair
of shoes from tho American Consul, but they had been
worn out long ago. They had been in the Cabanas 6
months, and were condemned to different terms of i'm.
l'Hohhh1"'s "Hu haiui lDuT ii - D years. IL was
quite evident to me, us u medical man. from their looks
and evident exhaustion, not one Of the party would
reach the end of the ? ,, 4 and 6 years lator, under the
burning sun of Cuba some Of them, indeed, arouu not
lire the SIMMER out. l determined to do ell in my pow
er to get them out, whether they were Englishnen or
Americans: they were strangers, and they were in
trouble, and as far as could learn, there was no one to
get them out oft; and this was quite claim enough for
~ r nf np,,,nn E,a1;,r .l, :,lt Lo,. ,a..
them in the situation | did. At that time there were two
British vessels of the line here. l Immediately waited
upon Capt. Henderson, of the Edinburg, the senior cap
tain, and begged Of him to apply for their liberation.-
He promised lie (after stating some d;ficuIties) to do so.
However, in a couple of days., found Capt. Henderson
had been making enquiries respecting these men of the
William Engs, and had got a very bad account of them.
I know not from whom. Moreover, he was informed
they ~e,e By no means in so bad a state as l had rep.
resented-hhat they had received clothing from the
american Consul. 1t vexed me a good deal to find
what trouble had been taken to progresses Captain
Henderson against these poo, men. However, l did
not leave him, till I prevailed on him to present a memo.
rial to the Captain General in their behalf, that is to say
of those who were Englishmen, for ,hare would have
been an improperly in applying for the other, formally.
However, in his letter to the Captain General, | begged
of him to state to the Captain General, that two men
who were not English-tl,e Swedc and the American,
Isaac Clark, though not named in the memorial, were of
the same purity of the William Engs, and that it would
be a hardship if the Others were liberated and they were
left. | then made out n memorial for them and sent it
to Capt. Henderson,. The only apprehension he now
had was on account of the bad character he got of these
men. In fact, | feared his disinclination to taking them
on board on this account, would prevent the memorial
being sent. l therefore wrote In him on the 5th March
in these terms =" If you think the service will not
" allow you to take these men on board your vessel,
" should they be liberated, | will unde, take to send them
to America and, to remove any apprehension of The
" Captain General, as to their being n, large before an
opportunity oiler to rer owe them, | will answer for
" their being closely kept till n vessel is found to send
" them Away. Still, however, | great, hope there may
" be no imprdi cnt 20 their briu. allowed to enter The
" service on their Liberation. ! am quite Ger, in that an
" application from you t. the Captain General, would
be considered as Il matter that lis t.xcrIlnncv would
be pcasCd to ohlise you in ncce,ing to. These
!" p or people legged me- hard to PLEAD far them will,
" you, and how canl plead for them better than hv nut
ling their memorial into your hand, 2"-The mcno-
rial Was kindly sent, witt, Il very ,rons letter, Ivy Cant.
henderson !" the Captain General and the result WIS
the Infringement Of the term of runinrlnen,-orc third
the time they were sentenced to was taken off. Til
h"t doing a great dealt as something, however,
and | resolved ii Il >hort time t. make another sim lar
application. The Thing that seemed to me now to be
hone was, ny enabling these men to procure sou c bet
Ter diet than the prison allowance, and ulsu better cluth~
'ng 10 Sustain life, and give them II better cInncc, at all
events, OF surviving through the sumner. What my
means allowed me tn do, | did fom time to time,
clothing for all, so far US shirts, shoes, ,rowscrs,
&C., aud when | found the expense press IL liule too
much on M, | raised n small subscription of about an
'nnrc (SlO u month, for witt tever term thoy might re-
main in confinement. | paid them the first month. :
'ut,sc,i ?iion, and before tho next came due they were
elcascd by the excrtons, ] believe, chiefly of YOURSELF
assistance they got from me, beg distinctly
o tell you, whether in clothes or money, nv nv written
was shared amongst all, English aud Ameri.
ans alike, as you will find by the two document, | send
namely-the receip I for the cloths signed bv
and by n copy of my note to him. semi
h"s' because | heard from you that Clark had s,uted
'roadfoot had not shared the things by NV d;rec,i,ps
md turtle in proof, sucI, not being the case, | send Won
letter to me respecting the money and
l"'hing in question, and that which Capt. Rabbit rais,d
'r them. Think il would have been dctestab!e to hive
'ade any difference in such a case. What did i, maj.
to me where these men were born =? | knew where
'ey wo1ld have died, as | thought, il | had not inter.
for them.
Yours, very truly,
70 Ferdinand ch,rk, Esq.
Lacana.