The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1896-10-08
BURN LITTLE CHILDREN.
Atrocities Perpetrated In Cuba That
ARP Almost Beyond Belief


Well authenticated stories Of barbar-
Gus acts by tse Spanish troops continue
to reach Key West, Fla Recently the
Havana papers published an account OF
an alleged battle near Bhucho de Arper,
inwhich, after An hour'sdesperatef fight
ing, the Span ards drove the rebels OF.
killing 10 and taking many prisoners.
The papers suggested that the govern
ment should reward Col. Aguilera, the
Spanish commander. for his bravery.
Tho facts in regard to the battle.
are as follows:
On September Is ten rebels went to
attack a guerrilla baud that had started
from Vegas to the field. When the
rebels, in ambush, we're ready to at
tack. they noticed strong body Of eol-
diers coming toward item. Hidden in
high grass, the rebels let the soldiers
come closer, and then fred a volley,
killing two officers and pounding three
soldiers. The troops fired back vol
ley in the grass, hitting nobody, as the
enemy could not be seen Lieut.. Col.
Aguilera, who commanded the troops,
and came from his headquarters, Nueva
Paz, went after this action towards q
colony named Pablo Diaz. There he
found a family, composed of25 persons
men, women and children; he asked
If they had seen any rebelsin the neigh
borhood. On receiving a negative re-
ply he ordered general slaughter of
everybody, including chldrenfrom one
to ten years of age.
The little children were frs pierced
with the end Of bayonet, then finished
with the machete. OF the Is human
beings present in that colony, II were
butchered, and six made their escape,
hiding themselves in the cane, vhere
they remained until late at night, When
they could come out safely. BeSdes
truthful witnesses, the men of the
guerrilla boasted of what they had c,m-
mitted when they went back to Vegas,
about two miles from the colony. IN
the 18th of September, three days after
the slaughter, a traveller passed by tie
spot of the murder, and was Mortified 1t
the number of carrion crows devouring
the bodies. None had been buried.
On September 10 Col. Aguilera start
ed with his troops and guerrilla from
Nueva Paz towards the sugar estate,
Cuervo. Near q place called Cuzco, he
saw house, went to 1t and found only
three children in it. He asked where
the parents were; they answered they
had gone after some fuel to prepare
their breakfast and would soon return.
The colonel ordered the three children,
10 to IA years old, to be locked up in the
house, and after this was done, he or
dered the guerrilla to set fire to the
house. The guerrilla, horrifed, dis
obeyed at first, but under the threats
of Aguilera they acted, and the house
was burned down with the children
in it.
On their return to Nueva Paz, the
guerrilla, Mortified, told the people what
had been done. This information Is
from a Spanish source.
After that house was burned Aguilera
went on and met on his way man, 70
years old, carrying vegetables, who was
accompanied by two negroes. He was
asked where be was going. He an
swered he was taking the vegetables
home to Eueva Paz. The colonel or
dered him to be klledwith the machete.
and the negroes also. The body OF the
old man was thrown into q well near
by, where he was found two days att
erward, traced by his hat. that waa
found near the well. The bodies of the
two negroes were chopped to pieces and
thrown into a cave, where they were
found. All this was related by ser
peaut and some of the soldiers