American telegraph. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1851-1851, 1851-08-26

j.
Oh II may TO hore--but to thee ever II
Shall rise the incense my memory; -.
Her fondest ties cannot will net sever,
But wind them closely round my heart forever,
''-'A And yield them with my latest sigh to thee
WARRINGTON, Aug ~, Is5i-9s tadt ag a NEAL
a.af l ------s-------------- ,e II
From the Philadelphia North American
The FIFTY Victims.
The intense interest which attaches to every
thing connected with the captureand execution
at Havana of the fifty unfortunate Americans.
whose blood has been as a libation to the infer
nal gods, awakening the fercest, if not the
most vindictive feelings Of u whole people, will
be satisfied with nothing short Of a history en-
bracing the fullest circumstances and minutest
details. Perhaps, however, such q history may
never be written. Who can tell the story OF
their last twenty-four hours from the none AT
Of their talllng into the hands of Bustillos, the
1 General Commander OF the Navy" until, sur
rounded by square of troops they were pub
licly shot under the walls OF the castle of Alta
res? No trial-no investigations record Of
any of the proceedings against the,n--or none,
at Least, save such as may have been made by
their executlonerS--and no friend or country
man nigh, during the hours of their captivity
or at the moment of their death-we shnll ever
be obliged to imagine the characteristics of d
day which was assuredly one of humiliation,
suffering and despair. Nor shall we ever, per
haps, know the true history even Of their cap
ture, which, told in tie language Of Spanish
exaggeration and vain glory, will not be so
much an account of their misfortune as of the
heroism OF their captors We may be sure that
| the latter will never tell any thing TO the ad
| vantage OF the men they have so foully dealt
| wlth and we must sift such accounts as we
can get--their own mendacious and braggado-
clio bulletins, for ezample-for all the true in.
| sight into this dark and bloody transaction
| which we may be hereafter able to obtain
Meanwhile. however, enough has tr,lnspired
to establish the general character Of the cir
cumstances connected with the immediate cap
ture of the fifty victims, which has been here
| tofore in doubt. Two documents have made
| their appearance--one the report Of the Gen
eral Commander. Bustillos, giving his history
| Of the exploit; the other account, clearly an
official one, of the same transaction in the DID
no de Ia Marina 1t seems impossible for any
Cuban editor or Spanish soldier to write ac.
cording to the principles of common sense, OF
to tell plain tale in plain way; the nara
| tive being a mere thread on which each strives
to string as much schoolboy rhetoric and trashy
eulogy OF Spanish bravery and loyalty, not to
| speak of silly abuse and depreciation of Ameri
cans, as possible. The two documents in aues-
tion come under the category, and arc so truly
Spanish that they quite omit to tell the most
| essential features OF the affair, while circum
stantial enough about minor details. Never
/ theless Ill studying with care, as we have done,
| the two accounts, which perfectly correspond
with each other, we obtain the evidence Of two
important facts which the narrators themselves
do not specially note, namely, that the Ameri-
cans surrendered without making any resist
ance, and, what would seem equally extraordi-
nary, without making any attempt to fly. From
Il these facts We may adduce others, having direct
II and affecting bearing on the circumstances ol
4 the subsequent execution. E"''.-'.' "4 -.
From the account of Scuor Bustillos, it ap
pears that he first heard of the four boats at ,
place called Morillo Ia little west Of Bahi
Honda) at o'clock on the morning Of the 18th
the story being that at 10 o'clock the previou
night party of Americans finding them OF
the shore, had embarked in them "in order Il
10 to New Orleans by taking" says the report
:" the first vessel they could find +" This estnb
fishes the fact that the poor fellows were, as
was originally supposed, fugitives from a lost
field of battle, doubtless the second and most
sanguinary struggle on the l4th, when we have
80 much reason for believing the puny force o
Lopez was overwhelmed and utterly routed by
! the vastly superior forces of Gen. Emma The,
had pushed to sea, hoping to be picked up by
vessel of some civilized nation coming rounC
; Cape San Acknowledging an American YES
sel-perhaps even the expected mail-ship Fal
con, which, arriving from Chagres and passing
almost or quite in sight of tho rocks where the,
sought refuge, reached Havana three hours af
ter their execution. A day earlier, and they
might have been saved.
At ten O'clock the General Commander found
the boats among the rocks at Cayo Lavish
which is about twenty five miles west Of Bahis
Honda. Three Of them were - on the rocks,
whether aground or drawn ashore does no
exactly appear, but most probably the latter
Bustillos, having captured the floating barg
himself, manned his bouts, and took the re
naming three, after the otlIer-vcr
grandly and gloriousy, no doubt; but as Ia,
does not mention the firing of q single gun, ol
the raising of single sword or cutlass, OF
either side, we may infer that it was quite
bloodless and unheroic achievement, the poor
fugitives quietly submitting to be taken--wty
will, we think, presently appear. " Two only
of the g" pirates" are referred to by BuStllios as
having made their escape; and from the whole
teuor Of the account it is obvious that none OF
the others made any attempt to escape ut aii.
Fifty men would never seem to have rendered
themselves prisoners more passively than these
men; and when we consider that they were
Americans, and that their captors were Span.
iard- according to some of the accounts not
more than three hundred and fifty Ia number
only seven to one--not forgetting That they
were certain to be treated with savage rigor
l(they never coud have supposed they would az
be butchered in cold bloud) we may weii ASK
how it was they came to yield themselves 50
tnIne,y-whv they did not rather prefer to dis
fighting, or die nj all events retreatingE
: h Can any person in the world--any American