The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1873-12-12

Unheard-of Barbarities OF the spanish
Volunteers Revolving Picture of
Brutalism-Lettcr from Spanish OBJ
snI

A letter, of which the following is a
accurate translation, has just been re
ceived in this city by gentleman,
we'll known broker of South street, fror
an acquaintance in Santiago de Cuba
1t gives one of the most revolving pic
lures of brutalism ever presented to an
civilized community, and will lead L
but one conclusion.
The names of the writer and recipien
of the letter are both withheld, as i
would imperil the writer life if it SHOULD
be traced to him by the Spanish author
tiles. The writer is a magistrate of jus
tice in that blood-loving city, and is
Free Mason also, as is the gentleman
who received it. A Herald reporter hai
seen the original letter and verified the
annexed translation:
SANTIAGO DE CUBA, Nov. Is, 1873.
My DEAR FRIEND AND BROTHER
know you will pardon me for not an
swering your letter of last April, IL
which you desire "full information il
Lodge of Santiago de Cuba, and the
present condition of their widows anG
orphans" When your letter was re.
ceived, it had the appearance of having
been opened. This fact and the con
tents of the letter convinced me that il
the reception of the letter by me was
known by the Governor, my life, il
spite of my high official position, would
not be worth moments purchase.
Immediately burned the letter, and, be-
yond my usual correspondence on bust
ness matters, have not thought 1T adj
visable to touch on matters and things
of our unhappy island, much as L should
have desired you to have the horrible
facts to present them to the Grand
Lodge of New York at their last sitting.
But this you know was impossible, as
every mail was searched, and life here
is held of no value whatever. But the
affairs of the last few days and the saw
age acts of the volunteers have COM
PEELED many to leave here secretly, as
there is no knowing where this Will all
end, and by this mode L send you this
letter, though when it will reach you
God only knows.
The Grand Lodge in 1869 met here,
as was their custom since their organ
ization They had never been disturbed
by the Government, although their time
and place of meeting were well known to
all of us. The night before the meet
ing | was informed that the arrest was
to be made, and that should there be
any resistance on the part OF the Tyler
to the free entrance of the officers, the
troops were to fire into the building and
burn it, with all those within. / per-
sonally informed the Grand Lodge Of
these intentions, and the next morning
learned that they intended TO hold their
session with open doors. They did so
and were arrested, and that night con-
fined in the jail The next morning
they were informed that they should be
taken to Havana for trial, but three
hours after sunrise they were all taken
outside of the city and shot This act
created considerable excitement at the
time, but as it was Imprisonment to
speak of it, it was soon hushed up.
The families of those men thus shot
were placed on trial for the acts of the
heads of those families, and, as q re-
suit, their property was contiscated,
they were declared paupers, and, at the
same time, the populacc was forbidden,
under pain of Imprisonment, to render
any of them any assistance. Thus, be-
ing deprived of home and shelter, food,
and the means of obtaining it, forbidden
to leave the jurisdiction of Santiago de
Cuba, these poor, helpless creatures
sought shelter III the woods near here
and became one common family.
But the inhumanities, cruelties, and
barbarities which these women and chill
dren have been subjected to passed the
belief of n civilized being. L could not
describe what / have seen and been un-
able to prevent. All robberies are laid
to their door, and even supposed rob-
berries were gotten up, SO that the chase
of the bloodhound might be witnessed
by the rabble, and the suffering of some
one of the poor beings added to their
thirst for morbid depravity. 1t was not
two months after the executions that |
saw one of the women, who was about to
become a mother, placed between two
boards upon which sat heavy, burly
savage, surrounded by dozen soldiers
and several officers, who were trying to
compel this helpless being to confess
crime of robbery which 1 had previously
and could find nothing
that warranted the belief of a robbery
having been committed. Her dead body
was left there, and four days after, when
the stencil compelled its burial, it was
found to have been partly devoured by
dogs. Since that time to the present
these poor creatures have been subjected |
to outrages beyond description or COM
prehension by the people of commune
Ly such as you live in.
There are now but few living, perhaps |
thirty or forty souls, though in 1869 |
hey numbered in all over 800. Some
lied from starvation, others from expos
ire, while the majority of them were
killed by bloodhounds, for it is one of
he sports of these brutes to hunt these
poor people as game. L have seen bodies
Of those killed whose sex could not be
by reason of mutilation
An attempt to exterminate them was
made few days ago by the volunteers
md some of the crew of the Tornado.
When the Virginius was brought into
he harbor it was made the occasion of
yreat festivities, and liquor flowed free
y. Toward midnight party of three
men, with hounds to hunt their victims,
tarted for the woods. No one dared to
prevent what it was known would follow.
The next morning they boosted in the
treets of what had taken place, and re-
n. 1 IL |