The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1873-12-19
MASSACRE OF MAsoNs AT SANTIAGO
ATROCIOUs CRUELTY AND OUTRAQEs
TO THEIR FAMILIES.
From the New Orleans Times. !

From the New Orleans Times.l
We have noticed of late in a number
of our leading exchanges references to
q massacre last spring, by the Spanish
authorities at Santiago de Cuba, of the
members of the Masonic Grand Lodge,
and the murder of the late and other
wise atrociOus treatment of the families
of the unfortunate men. Not disposed
to accumulate more horrors upOn the
recent bloody scenes at Santiago, we re-
Trained from noticing this matter. How
eve the New York Herald, of the Sd,
publishes a letter from a Mason in San
tiago dc Cuba to a brother Mason in
New York, which leaves no doubt of the
atrocities mentioned as having been
committed.
The Herald says the letter was ad-
dressed to a we'll known broker of South
street, in New York, and q representa-
tive of the paper saw the original letter,
and verified the annexed translation:
SANTIAGO DE CUBA, Nov. Is, 1873.
Ny DEAR FRIEND AM BBOTHER-I
know you will pardon me for not an
which you desire "full information in
regard to the massacre of the Grand
Lodge of Santiago de Cuba and the pres
ent condition of their widows and or
phans." When your letter was received
it had the appearance Of having been
opened. This fact and the contents of
the letter convinced me that if the re-
ceptiOn OF the letter by me was known
by the Governor my life, in spite of my
high official position, would not be worth
Il moments purchase. / Immediately
burned the letter, and, beyond my usual
correspondence on business matters,
have not thought it advisable 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 wassearch-
| ed, and life here is held of no value
| whatever.
But the affairs OF the last few days,
and the savage acts OF the volunteers
have compelled many to leave here Sc
will all end, and by this mode | send you
this letter, though when it reach you
God only knows.
The Grand Lodge in 1859 met here, as
was their custom since their Organiza-
ton. They had been disturbed
by the government, although their time
and place of meeting was 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 bcany
resistance on the part OF the tyler to the
free entrance of the officers the troops
we're to fire into the building and burr
it, with all those within. I personally
informed the Grand Lodge of these in
~tentions, and the next morning learned
that they intended to hold their session
with open doors. They did so, and were
arrested, and that night confined in thu
jail. The next morning they were in
formed that they should be taken Il
Havana for trial, but three hours afte
sunrise they were all taken outside o
the city and shot. This act created con
siderable excitement at the time, but a
it was imprisonment to speak of it,
was soon hushed up.
The families of those men thus shO
were placed on trial for the acts of tn
, heads Of those families, and, as a result
their property was Ontiscated, they wer
} declared Daupers and, at the same time
the popuIace was forbidden, under pail
of imprisonment, to render any of then
\ any assistance. Thus, being deprive,
of home and shelter, food and the mean
y Of obtaining it, forbidden to leave tn
) Jurisdiction of Santiago dc Cuba, thes
J poor, helpless creatures sought shelte
d. in the woods near here and became on
common family.
But the inhumanities, cruelties an
barbarities which these women and chi
dren have been subjected topass the be
, lief of a civilized being. | could nc
describe what have see and been IN
Q able to prevent. All rObberies are lai
G to their door, and even supposed rObbel
- les were gotten up, so that the chase
the bloodhound might be witnessed b
. the rabble and the suffering of some on
of the poor beings added to their thirs
for morbid depravity. It was not tw
months after the executions that [ sa'
!, one of the women, who was about to bt
come a mother, placed between tv
i boards upon which sat a heavy, burl
savage, surrounded by a dozen soldier
and several officers, who were trying
compel this helpless being to confess
crime of robbery WHICH [ hadpreviOusl
investigated and could tindnothing til;
warranted the belief of a robbery ha'
: ing been committed. Her dead bod
was left there, and four daysafter, whe
the stencil compelled it's burial, it WI
\ found to have been partly devOured
u dogs. Since that time to the presel
these poor creatures have been suhjecte
is to outrages beyond description or con
prehension by the peOpleof a commun
= ty such as you live in.
70 There are now but few living, perhal
Ye 80 to 40 souls, though III 1859 they nun
20 bered in all over 800, Some died fro
starvation, others from exposure, viii
the majority of them were killed
e blqedhounds, for it is one of the spor
& of these hputes to hunt these poor Peep
ir as game. / have seen bodies of tho
thus killed whose sex c0ulI not be di
= tinguished by reason of mutilation, I
~ attempt to extermine them was made
g few days ago by the volunteers and son
of the crew of the Tornado.
When the Virginius was brought in
the harbori it was made the occasion
10 great festivities, and liquor flowed FIRE
lg ly. Toward midnight a party of thr
10 men, with hounds to hunt their victim
= started for the woods. No one dared
J" prevent what it was known would fl
Is low. The next morning they boast
ID in the streets of what had taken plaG
and related with pride and pleasure t
violence to which they had subject
these women and girls, some Of the Ia
!" ter being only ten years old
&c With On associate official we that
PIP ternoGn proceeded into the woods al
% ordered the burial Of nine, whom
ef found dead. Seven were suffering fro
W violence tiatI cannot describe one
T. black in theface, she having been chOk
% to death, while another had her emit
breast bitten off. / returned sick
heart, unable to render the slightest &
IN sistance, though / had been eompell
to look on with apparent indifference
by means OF negroes we render the
what assistance we ear. Clothing J
ss cannot send as this might be identifie
IS but food and medicines vi have so