Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1886-07-29
JUMPING OVERHEARD.
New York Tribune.


was given to the sugar cultivation in
Cuba. Sugar was bringing good price
and the value of plantations and slaves
doomed with it. The treaty between
Spain and Great Britain, by which Spain
agreed to relinquish the African slave
trade, became dead letter. Everybody
was financially interested in the landing
of African slaves In Cuba. Alla man had
to do was to pay in his money SO the
house that was sending a vessel to the
African coast, and if the vessel was land
ed on the island the investor would real
ize eight to ten times the amount of his
investment.
The best known and most successful
among the slave trading captains was a
Spaniard from Barcelona named EugeniO
Pinas. He was thirty-eight or forty years
old, very shrewd, and perfectly fearless.
He had made the middle passage many
times, and seemed to have phenomenal
luck i'll avoiding capture by the British
cruisers on the African coast or in Cuban
waters. He had accumulated consider
able wealth, and had said that the trip to
which this article relates, would be his
last.
The expedition was gotten up by a syn
dictate of the weaIthiest plantation and
slave owners of Havana. Only six or
eight men were interested.
When everything was ready for his de-
partUre Pinas went to the custom house
in Havana to clear his vessel "fOr Sierra
Leone anc a market" He was accom-
panied by clerk in the employ of a
large firm that had a big interest in
Pinas' enterprise.
Pinas had once rendered the clerk an
Quested a private interview, and they
went to an American ship chambers,
where, in back room, they were safe
from intrusion. The clerk then said to
Pinas:
1t behOoves you and your mate, when
you are nearing the coast of Cuba on your
return, to be careful what you cat. You
and he are interested to the the extent of
Is per cent of the prices for which the
slaves are Sold. Your interest if you
bring thousand slaves will amount to
S150,O00, and if you and your mate should
happen to die about the time you get
back here this amount would be saved by
my employers. [ see you understand me.
You must protect yourself. All that I ask
in return is that you do not betray me-"
From this Information Pinas was con-
WINGED that he was in danger of being
poisoned when nearing the coast of Cuba
on his return. He had no fear of mutiny
because he knew his crew was devoted to
him. He was satisfied that he and his
mate were to be poisoned for money by
some one on the ship. He had with him
as cabin boy young man named JacintO;
on whose fidelity he knew he could rely
The captain wished first to verify the in
formation given him, and, second to OBJ
tain, if pOssible; proof of the criminality
of his employers in the conspiracy. The
better to effect these objects he took ia
.cinto into his confidence. One day, while
on the way to Africa, he gave Jacinto a
makebelieve threshing in his cabin. The
young man yelled and begged for mercy,
and pretended before the crew, as soon as
he was released that he was sore all over
from unjust and cruel treatment He
sought sympathy especially from the cook
in the galley. The boys object was to
convince the cook that he was anxious to
have revenge on the captain, and to take
mis- life.
The cook at first apparently suspected
IL trap and declined to assist the boy.
But Jocinto gradually worked his way
into the cooks confidence, and by play
ing the cook with liquor Jacinto at last
induced him to confess that he intended
to poison the captain and first mate. He
said he would be well paid for doing it
and that Jacinti could be useful to him in
carrying out his plan. As their friend
ship increased the cook finally produced
a document which said that in case Cap
tain Pinas and his mate should bring a
cargo of slaves close to Cuban shores,
and should they accidentally die before
landing, and should the slaves be safely
landed, the cook would, in consideration
of any services he might render In bring
ing the vessle into port, be paid the sum
of $4,000 on presenting himself at the
office of the firm in Havana. Jacinto
who assistek Captain Pinas in taking
care of his papers and accounts, recogniz-
ed in the document the handwriting of
the clerk who had revealed the pot to the
firm. The cook told Jocinto that he
thought it would be best to put the cap
tain out of the way as soon as they sight
ed Cuba, but that the mate had better be
spared until the cargo was landed. "a
cup of coffee" he said, will dispatch
him."
Pinas' eyes sparkled when he received
this information. The cooks fate was
sealed. There were on board two assist
ant cooks whose business it was to pre-
pare the rice, beans and jerked beef for
the slaves. Of these one was in the plot
with the chief cook, but they feared to
trust the other. Pinas finally convinced
himself of the criminality of the one and
of the innocence of the other. The vessel
was loaded on the African coast with all
the slaves she could hold. She had good
lucs on her way home. One morning she
ran along the south side of San Domingo
about two hundred miles from Cuba.
The cook told Jocinto that it was time to
get rid of the captain, and that he had
fixed the soup so that whenever ate it
could never take another meal. As soon
Captain Pinas had partaken of the soup
Jacinto was instructed accidentally to
break the tureen, so as to prevent the
mate from getting any when he went into
the cabin to his dinner.
When Jacinto took the soup into the
cabin from the midday meal, Pinas and
his mate, with cooked revolvers, took the
chief cook and his accomplish out of the
galley. Pinas found the damning docu-
ment in the cooks pocketbook and read