Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1873-12-27
The EAeenllon-by an Eye Wit moss

Captain Richard Prior,o of the brig
AHelea belonging at st. John, New
Foundland, saw the execution of Captain
Fry and his men-in all thirty-seven--
at Santiago de Cuba, on the afternoon
of the 9TH of November. His account
of the dreaful occurrence is as follows.
The brig Azelea arrived at Santiago.
de Cuba on the afternoon of the 4th of
Nov. the day of the execution of Bam-
beta and his companions Captain Prior
was at the landing on the morning of
the 7th, and saw the thirty-seven men
under sentence Of death brought ashore
from the Tornado, where they had been
subjected to a kind of trial and where
they were confined until the day of ex-
ecution. Captain Fry was in the last
sign to Captain Prior, which the latter
although nota Mason, thinks was the
Masonic sign of distress. B." a- 4
AS the prisoners were landed, about
fifty men-of-war's men. surrounded them
and marched them to the prison, distant
from the landing about one eighth of a
mile. All of the prisoners but two-of
whom Captain Fry was one--were smok-
ing. ..ll1
Soon after they were taken from the
prison and marched to the place of exc
cution, distant from the prison about
three quarters of mile. They all
bore themselves bravely. The place of
execution was level place outside the
cemetery The wall of the cemetery is
six or seven feet high, and next to
this the thirty men were placed,
about six feet apart They were made
to kneel down and were faced towards
the wall, at such distance from it that
when they fell they would just clear it,
The firing party, which consisted of the
Tornado's crew, were placedtsix yards
back of the prisoners. There was no
trench between them. ls
Back of the man of wars mon stood
the militia, and still back of them the
volunteers. The space back of the mil
itary was filled by citizens and chance
spectators, III u
Captain Prior thinks that each four
or five of the firing party took man,
AT the first fire all fell but one man, q
negro from Jamaica He turned his
head around towards the sailors, when
two balls struck him IN the face, blow.
ing his chin clean off. Captain Fry new
or moved after the first fire. Others
did, and then they were dispatched by
q second fire from the rear rank of
sailors. NJ
During the execution the crowd was
quiet and orderly, Some of the volun-
teers joked and laughed, but the pre-.
vailing sentiment among the people was
one of fear for the consequences.
After the execution five. box-carts,
drawn by mules, were brought up and
the dead bodies, mangied and bleeding
as they were, We're pitched into them
like bags OF grain. Five bodies We're
thus thrown on top of that of Captain
Fry. In one cart five heads hung
out over the tailboard, some of which
were SO torn by the bullets that
the different parts waved two and
fro by wotion of the cart, all dripping
with blood Captain Prior did not see
thebo buried, but he was told that
all of them were pitched helter skelter
into single hole, and that the bodies,
still warm, were then covered with
dirt.
Captain Prior says that the men on
the 4th of November, refused to kneel
down or to turn their backs to the firing
party. They We're shot by the soldiers.
The third lot shot consisted of lads
of from seventeen to eighteen years old.
They We're shot by the crew of the Tor
nado. They died MS the rest, some of
them singing on the way to execution.
sd, ~ Y, Post,