The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-07-06
THE STRUGGLE INCUBA.

THE STRUGGLE IN CUBA.
The Landing OF the Grapeshot-Cap-
ture and shooting OF Americans
Another determination OF the Mayari
y, Expeditionists. rr',.
The correspondent Of the New York Herald
writes from Santiago lie Cuba, under date o
June 19:
The landing from the schooner Grapeshot
took place in Ballequlri Bay on the 1st inst
The adventurers hd not number more than
forty. he Spanish official account says that
this small party has been completely e1termi-
mated and all it's arms, including two cannon
and ammunition, captured. The following
particulars, cleaned on the spot and ofa relia-
Bile character, have been furnished me. As
stated. the landing took place On the 1st and INC
81. Immediately 9 force Of 200 left BY land,
and another OF 100 BY water, with q view ol
surrounding the fiibusters. The land force, Il
seems, was surprised by them and sharp con-
test followed, in which the Spsuiards lost seve.
killed and wounded, among the former lieu
tenant. The others lost one mar, killed, nam
ed George Smith, OF London, England and
What fol'owed Is hard to get at. The adyen-
ture1s would seem to have been scattered, at
least portion Of them, as several have been
captured aud two or three killed. The Spani-
ards cay they must all sooner or later be CAP
tured or OF munger and THIRST, az they are
shut in . barren and desolate region, covered
with, cactus, where there ls but one spring
closely guarded. The Cuoans, however. insist
that the main body has made good it's escape
inland. having united with party which
landed near Bsraooa. and together march
ed to Join the insurgents. As the ad-
yenLurers are known to be guided by a
noted character named Policarpio. q native OF
Guantanamo, who has bean under the ban
Of the Spanish authorities and escaped thc1r
vigilance for years, and is thoroughly conver-
SAINT With all that section Of the country. they
have probably escaped. Among the folmer are
q Swiss named Jacob MeleI, and an Italian.
name not given, both nj eMaiized American
citizens. They we're brought here on the 9th.
simultaneously with prisoner captured at
Mayari. calling himself Juan de Dies Palma,
from New Dreams. The three were publicly
shot on thenmorping following their arrival.
ment who seemed delighted to lave num-
ber Of Americans to vary the executions OF late
30 frequent here. The shooting took place at
eight A. NJ, instead Of the usual hour OF six,
iu order to give all an opportunity to witness
the specLlcle, which had great advantage
over bull 6snt, ins much as three men were
certaIn to be killed Crowds Of Spanards re-
paired to the slaughter-pen. to see what they
humorously styled tue fresh meat" The
victims walked firmly to the place OF execu.
ton, and all died like heroes. Palma made
speech, expressing regret for his conduct ac-
cusipg the Cubans Of cowardice and euloLlzlhg
the Spanish soldiers for their bravery and hu-
manity. He also wrote letter. which n is
been pub. .ished. expressing the same ideas.
In consequence OF this the bandera EspanoIs
Government orRan) lauds him to the skies
81 d calls him talented, noble and generous
minded man, and expresses surprise that'such
q person sheuld be shot Like dog, without
trial. The Cubans say Palma was induced to
speak as he did by promises OF pardon. Fol-
LOVING the execution was q tr1umpbal parade
over the four cannons captured at Mayari. Two
are efsteel and the Others OF brass. The lat-
ter are exactly like those used BY the Span
iards here, which has gwen "disloyal" people
occasion for il-natured re marks. One OF the
steel guns has been placed in the Piszl de Ar
mas, IN the position heretofore occupied by
tie famous Monte Cristo cannon, brought
from the st. Domingo war. which venerHb'e
piece was turned of lts perch to make room foi
the new comer-al awful instance OF the IN.
stability Of popular favor. On Saturday, the
18th, another prisoner was brought from Guam
tanamo. He was young Cuban Of good tam
ilv in Havana. On Monday he followed the
others. dying with. the. same serenity.
On. Wednesday, the 10th. was brought
here an American, q native OF Indiana,
named Speckman. sailor. He stated that he
shipped on the Grapeshot tor voyage to
Jamaica. knowing nothing about the real ma
ture Of the venture until tugboat brought tie
fihbusters aboard. Against his protest he vas
Obliged to assist IN dlschargne the cargo on
the Cuban coast and was torcibly detained by
the eypedltionists. When he gave himself up
he had a. gun in his hand. Mr.. Phillips. the
Amercan Consul, obtained PERMISSION to visit
him, and afterwards, am told waited upon
the Governor. ;Nfor the purpose OF seeking
for mercy it was useless, as yesterday morning
Speckmsn was taken out and shot, gong
through the ordeal with great bravery. On
the 11th the steamer Mont ezuma arrived here,
having been detained to carry troops nom
Nueyitas to Pueroo Padre. She brought no
news of importance, but soon. AFTER twelve
O'Clock n. flags began to appear over the Gaia
Ian residences, bands to parade the streets, aud
in the morning the Plaza snd Palace were ilu-
minated. In explanation the indefat1gable
Bandera appeared in an extra announcing
that sit was reported" that Colonel Benegs 81
had defeated the Blk hundred Americans from
Mayar1, utterly extermlnating them and taking
from them all they had. This Is the third eI-
termination this unfortunate party has suffer-
ed. Subsequent arrivals tsiito confirm the rs.