Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1896-02-24
THE FIELD OF ADVENTURE.
THRILLING INCIDENTS AND OAR
ING DEEDS ON LAND AND SEA.
Remarkable Story of an Americans
Captivity in Cuba - Bear Hunt
ers Outwitted the Wolves.

~ this county, says the Pontiac
y mich. Post, is about to bring
suit against the Spanish Gov
ernment for 5000, 900 to secure claim
for false incarceration. The story of
Ensign's Imprisonment and remarka-
BILE career is told rs follows:
Mr.. Ensign was born in Pontiac,
where he resided until eighteen years
of age. when in 1849 he joined the vast
multitude of treasure seekers among
the gold fields of the far West. He
made the journey overland in prai-
rie schooner. The young adventurer
was fast working his way to financial
success, when he tired of his occupa-
tion and returned to the scene of his
birth.
In earlier youth the boy Ensign had
acquired knowledge of the locomo-
tive and its manipulation. and subse-
quent to his return from California he
was chosen from among ia applicants
by the Philadelphia locomotive con-
structors, John Rogers & Sons, and
detached to the Island of Cuba for the
purpose of running an engine on the
Havana & Matanzas Railroad, then in
progress of construction. At this post
Ensign remained for period of one
and half years, when he recrossed
the sea to his fatherland. Having now
reached the age when even the ad-
venturere entertains thoughts of
domestication, Mr.. Ensign welded
Mexican widow. The harmony
of the union did not prove as ideal as
was desired, but Mr.. Ensign, inspired
with true'.manly determination, set out
to establish home for himself and
wife. In vain did he search for the
necessary requirements, and still i'm
bued with this determination he de-
cidod to again try his fortunes in the
Island of Cuba. He informed his wife
of his desires and intention to depart
from this country, but did not inform
her CT his intended destination. Ac-
cordingly he, with two companions,
Joe Wormsly and Will Hutchens, set
sail on an Ohio River steamboat at
Cincinnati for New Orleans, thence on
a Gulf boat for Cuba. Having safely
reached their destination, the rowing
trio found employment on an interior
sugar plantation near Matanzas.
Ensign was employed as stationary
engineer. While here employed the
American brig Virginius, fitted out in
New York and commanded by Captain
Ryan, was captured, together with her
crew of 150 men, off the coast of Ha-
vana, on the charge of being engaged
in tilibustering expedition; fifty. one
of the crew were hanged at the yard
arm. The remainder of the
crew were seized by Span
ish authorities and placed
in Moro castle. Ostensibly believing
that Ensign and his two companions
wero spies, they were arrested by
Spanish officers and thrown into the
Moro dungeon without any opportu-
nifty to vindicate themselves. The to-
tai belongings of Mr.. Ensign, en-
brocing 5000 on his person and $4,000
stored in his trunk on the plantation,
were confscated. From this time on,
for period of thirteen years, the
life of Ensign might better have been
blank.
Here in this solitary room he
watched the fight of the sea guls and
the huge white caps as they rolled
upon the rough pillows of the Gulf.
Here, too, in the loneliness of his pris.
on room, tho hero of this sketch re-
corded tho duration of his incarcera-
tion by novel methods. Suspended
from the ceiling of his cell were ar
ranged three strings, representative
of the weeks, months and years of his
dismal confinement. BY the tying of q
knot IN the proper string the captive
for years maintained knowledge of
the flight of time. Again, by the
agency of tho annual north winds,
which were perceptible in his lonely
abode. Mr.. Ensign could record the
slowly passing years. One remark
able feature of his romantic career is
the fact that through it all he has
maintained control of his reason, and
though both his companions lost their
minds while undergoing this frightful
incarceration, Mr.. Ensign, by strong
determination, came out victorious
1t was his policy to strive to defect
his mind from trendlng with his daily
sutferings, and to this practice is un-
| doubtedly due the great credit for his
present possession of the reasoning
faculties. After having suffered con-
finement in this to-day famous castle,
the victim of this gross injustice was
taken overland on foot distance OF
sixty miles to the Plazade Arms of St.
Vincent's barracks, located at the
homo of the Captain General of the
island. At this place he was compelled
to labor in the chain gang, which was
every morning driven forth to clean
up the lawns. AT this place the un-
fortunate alien labored in servitude
for five long years, when he was again
removed, this time to the southern
part of the island to the famous st.
Mary's Convent, monastery to the
prelates.
At this place his role of slavery was
that of servant. One morning he