The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1897-09-29
BELLE OF GIENFQEGOS
Tortured by spaniards and Driven
From Her Home.
a 8 PTTIABLE 00NDI4IoN.
Her Fortune Is An gone and she Now
Lies In P1liIadeI plsise at the Point
Of Death As . Result Of
Bafl Treatment.

New York. Sept 27-Three years
ago Miss Eloise 6runet was the belle
Of Cienfuegos, Cuba. She was healthy
and rich Now She lies upon cot In
10x10 room in small house on the
outside OF Philadelphia, her body
burning with fever, her mind racked
by terror of the spaniards. her mem-
DRY full of the horrors of an experi-
ence Astounding in starvation, suffer-
ing and peril.
In her delirium she cries pitifully
for protection against the Spaniards.
who, she thinks. are seeking to murder
her. In a similar condition. aggra-
waited by wounds. is DIR. Andrew Bru-
net, who served as a major in the
Cuban army
The father of these refugees was an
American who owned large estate at
Cienfuegos. He died IN 1893 and his
son, DR.. Brunei, went to Cuba to set
tie up the estate. The Spanish admin
istration of such AFFAIRS made this a
long and dificult task.
In September, 1895, General Rego
raised the Cuban standard in the
Cienfuegos district and the young
Cuban-American was one of the first
to join him. 1t was impossible for his
sister to remain on their plantation
and she therefore went into the Cuban
service as nurse. For 20 months
she shared the hardships of the pa
triots, with scarcely ever sufficient
food and with never a roof over her
head or a bed to lie upon.
They both contracted malarial fever
and were so ill they had to leave the
insurgent party and seek shelter and
food. They found neither and We're
compelled to take refuge in a cave,
where they lived for three weeks with
no food but some green pumpkins,
half-grown sweet potatoes and water
from stagnant pool. Once they
were two days without morsel of
food, when an old man discovered
them and brought them few roots.
Both suffered terribly from fever and
were often delirious.
Finally the brother managed to
climb the hill and attract the atten-
ton of Spanish planter, who took
them to Sierra, whence they were
taken by boat to Cienfuegos. When
they landed at the wharf Miss Brunei
had no shoes and her dress, which
she had worn for three months, was
in shreds. Their feet, hands and faces
were swollen and they were pitiable
looking objects.
Though almost unable to walk, they
were dragged along by the Spanish
soldiers. who cursed and struck them.
The Spanish commander examined
them separately to find cause to put
them to death, but falling in that he
permitted them to go to their sisters
who lived nearly a mile away, on
condition that they reported in person
every three or four days. This. in
their condition, entailed the most in
tense suffering, but the order was pitt
1essly enforced.
DR.. Brunei appealed to the Ameri-
can consul. Owen McGarr, for aid, but
it was refused him. There followed a
long correspondence with the state
department at Washington. and in the
end the consul was ordered to help
them. They received their passports
Aug. 80 and sailed on Sept. z. Their
passage was paid all the way to New
York instead of to Florida. DR.. Bru-
net and his sister have filed claim
at Washington against the Spanish
government for the destruction of
their property at Cienfuegos.