The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1896-03-04
The aalieita Daily Eae1e adednesaav aornns

in years and was accompanied by two
small girls from to years old. whose
mother she was. When the shades of
night began to fall the soldiers took an
especial delight in telling these women
what their fate would be just for the
satisfaction of seeing them weep and
hearing them pray for mercy"
The lady to whom l have referred
above belonged to the wealthy family
of Los Penos. She thought TO soften
the hearts of the soldiers by presenting
to them her two little daughters, who
were besides rather sickly, and praying
that they should not be condemned to
an act which would without doubt
cause their immediate death. But all
her supplicationS were in vain. The
soldiers were finally given authority to
do with the women as they pleased.
Next morning they were all dead.
| Il once witnessed the arrival of a
column at small Cuban settlement
with thirteen families. The women
were separated from the men, and were
then compelled to gather the wood with
which their relatives were to be re-
duced to ashes after being butchered.
The women were, of course. according
to the usual custom, ravished little
later.
| I'VE have witnessed ourselves. with
our own eyes, what wehave described"
Weyler. however. did not confine his
barbarities to women. With men he
was brutal almost beyond the power OF
words to describe. A Cuban gentle
man of this city recalls the following
| instance:
"In one of the tails there were more
than twenty political prisoners almost
all lawyers. physicians, and representa-
tive men of the district He went In
one day with an enormous club and
beat them numerically, and then and
there ordered that next morning they
be shot; and they We're shot"
An even more horrible story is told,
as follows: "Weyler was coming out
of a Jail one day when he met a gen.
tleman of wealth and position ia the
town who complained to him that the
troops had taken all his cattle. Wey-
Ter at once ordered him to be tied by
the neck to the iron bars of the Jail In
such a way that strangulation should
not be immediate but gradual, and he
was left there. The next morning he
was dead, and his eyeballs had dropped
out of their sockets"
Nest incredible of all Is this deed of
''The Butcher" That it happened once
is beyond question; how many more
times 1t is impossible to say. This
happened In a small village on the
outskirts of his district. 1.-The Butcher"
with a goodly sized force of troops, was
travelling over the country, continuing
in his reign Of terror. when he came by |
chance upon a little family he had |
somehow in q previous visit overlook |
ed. There was a middle-aged father |
and mother, two daughters, and two |
sons. With fiendish sort Of delight, |
Weyler took them into captivity. He |
marched them along, closely guarded, |
until he came to the spot he wanted. !
Then, calling upon his men TO halt. he |
made his plans with his usual wonder
full rapidity of thought and scheme, for /
an outrage that could hardly be ex-
celled.
He bound the father and mother
firmly to trees near each other, trees
that were. facing little bit of green
sward- Then, having the daughters
held tightly by the guards, he proceed
ed to order several of his soldiers TO
hack the young boys to pieces with
machetes. The screams of the victims
and the walls of their agonized rela-
tiyes would have stopped any other
man short in his dreadful course. But
Weyler only smiled
The boys now lying dead, ''The
Butcher" signalled 10 his soldiers to
bring forward the girls. They were
pretty, dainty seuoritas. in the first
flush and blush of womanhood. and
Weyler'S smile grew more Sardonic as
they were marched before him. Then
and there, in full sight Of the father
and mother, he had his soldiers strip
the young women of every article OF
their clothing, and for half an hour
force them to dance upon the green turf
with all the troops looking on With
the agony of seeing their sons slain. the
parents were nearly insane. Yet Wey-
Ter was not through yet 1t sounds alb
solutely impossible to say that any man
could be possessed of such cruelty, but
facts are facts, and 1t is the sober truth,
vouched for by several -Cubans in this
rity. that Immediately following the
dancing. with the distracted father and
mother still looking on. The Butcher
gave instructions to have the girls
violated there before their eyes
1t proved the death of both Of them, |
and left the father and mother-whoSe
ives Weyler spared-hopelessly insane.
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TRAFFIC CHANNELS CHANGING.
The most serious question that is now
confronting the shipping interests Of
Chicago and the Atlantic cities. says