The Dallas weekly herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1885, 1873-12-06
TIE SPANISH BOOK OF BLOOD.


Look at this book of blood which
hold N my hand-"Martyrs of Liberty
In Cubam See the numbers Of those
executed from 1868 to 1871. There are
1928 whose names and residences are
given, and from the Spanish official re-
cord. Here are 1850 names whose
fate Is nnrccorded. Sixty-one dedicated
in death to the garrote! The rest Ol
the list are of the condemned and trans
ported. Bloody annals! How much
of terrible suffering do these victims
represent? God knows! Nearly 5000
persons not killed on the battlefield
1t curdles the blood to read or ponder
over these diabolical orders so internal
ly executed. The act of July y, 1865,
gives the President power to demand
the prisoners who are American citi-
zens, and if refused for an uureasona'
bic amount of time to use such means,
not amounting to actual war, as will
elfectuate the demand. oh for n fort
night of Gen. Jackson or Governor
Marcy! Our protests were written in
water - the defiance of them in blood.
Five thousand victims have suffered
since these public protests. In defiance
of the treaty of lI35, which provides
for fair trial of our citizens by Spain,
with advocates and fncts and all the
parnphernaiia Of justice, these deeds
were done, which make "earth sick and
heaven weary" But how can bring
these indcscribablc horrors home toyOu
unless / particulari2e? | mention three
or four Instances. N,r will these i'll
cludc those who were inculpated in III
surrpction. In Fcbuary, 1872, Mr..
Voorhees,, member of Congress from
Indiana, in his seat, after mentioning
many cases Of Americans mutilatcd
and shot, referred to the case of young
Sealima,l, Of Indiana, Il sailor bound
for jamaica, whose slip went ashore
in Cuba. Utterly innocent, hewas seized
ut nightfall and at sunrise shot. "He
cried out" said Mr.. Voorhees,, with
his dying breath, that he was all Amer
lean citizen. His appeal died out on
the air. The soil drank his blood"
This too was Mt Santiago! Albert
Wyeth, of Pennsylvania, fell at the
same time. No wonder Americans,
doing lawful business in Cuba, provide
British passports. Four young Aneri-
cans in Havana, innocent of the en-
blem or its meaning, wear blue neck
ties. They are set upon. One is done
to death by Vulnascdas butchers. Is
there any redress? DR.. Howard was re-
lieved utter long debate in Congress.
He had sold some medicines to those
WHO became patriots. He was an Amer
lean citizen In defiance of treaty and
deceucy he was imprisoned thirteen
months; then drumhcaded into an AZ
rican colony, and only rescued ut the
last moment 10y an action of Congress.
But for the eight scholars htchercd
in the winter of 1870 there was no re
lief no appeal. Do you recall their
fate? The facts are painfully authentic.
A Spaniard, Castanon, was killed by
Cubin ut Key Vest. His body WAS
removed to the Havana Cemetery, and
placed i'll one or the inches behind II
glass plate. Some students frolcking
in the graveyard marked the glass with
Il diamond. Says our consul "the glass
was nor broken, the wreath was not
touched; no insult was intended; no one
was injured" Thirty of these students
were condemned to the chai"-gang;
eight shot! At nightfall they were
arrested; at daylight they were in line,
and the fatal bullet sealed their life's
roseate morning in blood. The eldest
was not twenty, the youngest but four
teen, aud that bright harmless boy,
sobbing his heart away-even crying
in his agony for the mother who bore
him-was butchered to make volun-
teer Cuban holiday. Suffer little chill
dren to come unto me, said the Spanish
butcher, that may stranglc their pre-
cious young lives. God is now, l fear
me, wreaking His divine vengeance
upon that country, and that island,
where such things are possible, where
such arbarities are unredressed. The
recent butcheries at Santiago are the
fit, because horrible, sequence to these
deeds without name. Do you ask
me for the remedy? i answer. the in
tervention of civilized nations to stop
such atrocities. The great powers i'll
tcrvened to stop Ottoman in his bar
barrie war upon Greece. Is not this
case of similar aggravation.