The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1873-11-28
The Cuban Cause-A Retrospect.

/ 4u6 SuDdu CduSG-A hGEICSpGCG.
The summary execution of the pa-
triots recently captured on the Virgin
ius recalls the fate of others who havc
perished in the same cause. Do you
remember tho melancholy story OF
Gabriel Valdez, who was executed in
Havana in 1874 on the charge of plot
ting the Liberation of his country? He
was led from prison, with nineteen
others, to the fatal plaza. He passed
through the streets with the air of a
conquerOr, with a serene face and an
unfaItering step, chanting his prayer in
/ a low but calm voice. When they
reached the plaza he addressed his
companions the last words of farewell
and consolation. He was to suffer first;
and when the signal was given he step
/ ped into the square, and knelt, with
| perfect composure and unbandaged
| eyes, before the soldiers who were to
execute the sentence. When the smoke
of the first volley rolled away it was
/ seen that he had been wounded in the
| shoulder, and had fallen forward bleed
ing and agonized. An irrepressible
murmur of pity and indignation ran
through the multitude but the mar
tyr, still self-possed, recovered his posi-
ton, and standing erect, exclaimed:
q" Farewell, world, ever pitiIess to me
Fire here 20 placing his hands on his
breast. The last tones of his voice
were lost in the report of the muskets,
this time more mercifuI in their mis-
sion. The night before his execution
he penned the following lines to his
mother
The appointed lot has come upon me, mother,
The Inournful ending Of my years Of strife
This changing world leave, ana to another,
In blood and terror, goes my spirit life,
But thou, grief-snitten, cease thy mortal weeping.
And let thy soul its wonted peace regain;
fall for right, and thoughts of thee are sweeping
Across my Tyre to wake its dying strain.
strain of joy and gladness, free, unfalling,
All glorious and holy, pure, divine,
And innocent, unconscious as the wailing
Twittered at my birth; and I resign,
Even now, my life; even now, descending slowly,
Faiths mantle folds me to my slJLmbers holy;
Mother, farewell! God keep thee, and forevert
Sad but heroic thoughts of the young
and gifted victim Well has it been
said that such men die not in vain.
''The blood of the martyrs is the seed of
the church"
And thus, likewise, died the gallant
Lopez. When captured with only one
attendant, by the Galatians and their
bloodhOunds, he exclaimed, "Kill me,
but pardon my friends !" Desperately
wounded, exhausted by loss of blood
and by hunger, he could scarcely move,
yet, when they came to conduct him to
the place of execution, he stood up
| erect and marched with q manly step.
He begged to have a soldiers death,
but submitted with fortitude to the
refusal. In firm voice he declared
that had he taken up arms for liberty
that the imputation of PIunder and
piracy was a calumny that he medi-
tated only the happiness of his coun-
try, and was ready to perish for the
cause.
The tears of the spectators evinced
their sympathy when he was thrust into
the fatal embrace of the garroter.
"AdjO8, CUBA q,SesiRda," were the
last words he uttered. No thought Of
vengeance disturbed his dying hour.
The " holy faith of Valdez supported
him, and the lifetime affection of his
heart, the dream and inspiration of his
career, dwelt latest upon his memory.
" Farewell, mother 7" " Adieu, dear
Cuba ~ and the sublime martyrs slept
in their bloody graves
Shall we speak of the last moments
of our own dead-our kindred and
friends-our Crittenden, Ker, Stanford,
James, and others-who, soon after
ward, were executed on the ramparts of
Havana? ? Not while their bones mOIdcr
In foreign soil and their blood is still
unavenged. "Leb 10 man write their
/ epitaph" while the authors Of their cz--
ecution live and prosper They died rs
/ patriots die-their bitterest pang that
their country might have saved them.
! This, indeed, was the sting Of death
/ this it was to die
We have seen the last words OF one of
this noble band, addressed to his wife
scrawled on his commission with his own
blood One word from Washington
would have saved u.s." But that word
was never spoken, and branded as " rob
bers and banditti, " they died.
Death is the common friend or foe
As different men may hold.
And at its summons each must 90,
The timd and the bold.
But whether on the scafTOId high,
Or IN the battles van,
The fttest place where man can die
Is where he dies for man.
! -NegD Orleans I'ic0ytt7Ie.