The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1893-03-26

were thus taken with the corpus
that We had delivered the greater part OF
the cargo at its destination dnring the
night and 1t seemed our captain, Guido
Castelcozza. and his brig, SAINT Anna. had
been for a long time held In suspicion.
We were all locked up as prisoners In the
same Catholic monastery In which only
few weeks ago was cured of yellow fever.
where they lodged Us in damp, subter-
ranean room. with nothing but mats ior
sleeping accommodation.
The preliminary inquiry TOOK Tort
night Then We were summoned before a
tribunal composed of several military olh-
GERS, who. without much ado. and-so lar
as 1 could understand-with very lew
formalities condemned Us to 1iuerte" by
means of "arcabucear,r which simply
means to be shot A pleasant prospect, IN
deed!
In the sentence I. Martovitcb. of Pultavn,
appear under the name OF florencio Mar
tovallos OF unknown nationality. and the
title OF Senior is bestO N ed upon me.
Together with Bruno and the two Ameri-
cans we declare TO the tribunal that as for
eigners we cannot be subject to Spanish
Jurisdictions; that we had no knowledge OF
the criminal nature of the transactions on
our ship: that we do not understand word
of spanish. and finally we beg Tor mas
ericOrdia."
We are told that it is ell irrelevant. The
tribunal cannot enter into snch details.
The Spanish government had inserted In
all newepapers-those of Vera Cruz In
cluded-a declaration TO the effect that the
whole of the northern shore or Cuba was
in q state of blockade. Accordingly it was
resolved that we. all the thirteen should be
shot as q salutary example.
The Spaniards were very indignant with
Guido Castslcozza. They abused him to
his face calling him "a rebel" "a traitor"
"a smuggler." whom they should have par
ticuiar pleasure III shooting OF hanging
In his turn Guido abused his enemies
with q truly Spanish volubIlity, and gave
them tit for tat in the very hall OF the trlbu-
let diablo; now he shouts. 'Vivaindepen-
dencia.' The judges are very angry with
him. and will certainly show no mercy TO
any of the crew.
These exciting scenes took place during
the e;ttings of the court, to which we wero
taken chained hands and feet. The re-
mainder of the day Guido and the other
Spaniards condemned to death played at
cards and dice. drank wine with the SOL
diers. sang merry songs or laughed heartily
at the frivolous stories of the commander
of their guard, an old captain. q friend OF
Marshal Prim," with whom be had made
in his time several ''pronuncamentos."
The sentence of the tribunal was sent for
confirmation to the Governor, who hap
pened TO be on the opposite end of the ISL
and.
His condemned countrymen seemed to en-
JOY themselves fully In the meanwhile. but
more cool-tempered race. could not be 80
unconcerned about the terrible fate that
awaited Us. We were crushed completely.
For whole days we lay motionless on our
mats, in the Drostratlon OF utter despair. L
was firmly convinced that had only few
days to live.
Once thought of asking for diplomatic
Intervention. but how was / to do it'll
MADRID was far away; in Mexico there was
no Russian mission; the Russian embassa-
dr. nchI m N n.
terfere IN my affair. L learned. however,
that at Havana there was n German trades
man considered as something OF Russian
vice consul. therefore asked the tribunal.
by the advice of Bruno and of the Amer
leans to be allowed an interview with this
person. The supposed Woe consul was dis
covered and came to see me. he proved to
be q tobacco planter and exporter, with an
almost idiotic face not devoid, however,
of much self On hearing my
story, translated to him by Bruno, he was
exceedingly frightened. He examined me
with much curiosity. as probably the flrst
living sample OF the nation which he rep
resented among the Spaniards. Needless
TO mention that be did not understand one
Russian word. He explained TO me, through
Bruno. that he had nothing TO do with pol
itics, his only business being to send every
year parcels of genuine Havana tobacco
for the imperial court. There could be no
hope for diplomatic Intervention. My
spirits fell.
My friend and fellow-prisoner. Bruno.
tried for some time TO keep mp his courage:
he had great faith in the spell OF Biz
marck's fame. and hoped that the terror of
his name would protect German every
where; he even tried to raise my spirits by
promising an Intervention in my favor Of
the good natured German consul, whom
knew already.
But very soon Bruno had his illusions
dispelled. The German consul with whom
he obtained an interview did not conceal
from him that the prospects of an interven-
ton in his favor werc not at ali brilliant,
for as there was no German military ship
In those waters to support him in case OF
need. his Intervention would probably be
disregarded.
Whom Bruno uttered before, the tr;buna al
some threat that Bismarck would not leave
his death unavenged. the Spaniards told
him plainly enough that Bismarck might
DO very powerful man in Europe. but
that In the new world they aid not care .
iig about him.
After this disappointment Bruno for
three whole days lay on his mat In CON-
plete detection without uosering q word.
Our Our only %' &c; consolation alton in these
cellent. genuine Havanas-such as not
to be found, for certain. at the most
fashiopable tobacconist's on the Nevsky.
The cigars were regularly distributed
among Us every day by the Raolers.
In the meantime we noticed that our
fellow.prisoners, the two American sailora
after tho interview with their consul, had
suddenly become merry and buoyent.
| They laughed the Spanish authorities in
the face and drank heavily in tho even
ings As to myself / could hardly taste
food.
V.
On the fifteenth day after the reading of
our sentence Bruno had another interview
with the German consul The good man
| told him that he had been to see the Span
ish military authorities and had interceded
In favor of both Bruno and myself. but
without any success. The Spaniards re-
fused to listen to any thing. protesting that
they would not permit any interference in
their internal politics. They were resolved
to show an example Of severity and to spare
no one.
Bruno told me ut the same time that he
had conceived the idea of applying for
protection to the American consul, giving
himself out as q naturalized American. He
said that he had mentioned his plan to the
German consul. who fully approved of il.
because" he confessed. I'm these parts
only the word of the American and the
| English consuls carries weight" He even
kindly promised To speak to Mr.. Jesssy
| the American consul asking linn TO include
| us with the two American sailors In whose
| behalf he was streDuOusly eXerting himself.
| The other eight sailors and Guido Castei-
cozZa were born Spaniards or Cubans, so