The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1897-12-30

boost nm their tottering cause, they nave
succeeded in creating temporarily raise
apermit me to quote to you from the
military code of Spain, III wnlcn IL 10
nrov;ded that whatsoever shall attempt
r. induce any officer or soldier or any
hody of troops to joint the enemy or Ge-
sert his flag in time OF war; Snail ~
deemed guilty of treason, ana tne t a"it
provides that the offender snail De afsr
degraded in his office ana tnen Sune
death. The regulation Is piac.ica a;i;to ~ y
coDy of a similar clause III the lhiillai'
code of France. . ,,,.;o,s r.
an your own military regulations II
is provided that any officer or soldier
of the enemy who advises or endeaVors
TO persuade any officer or soldier OF the
limited States to desert the. service OF
tho limited States in time OF war snali
be deemed worthy of death.
"These are the rules that give COM
plete justification to Brig, ATang9en
for his act. Ruiz was not killed unuei
the Nag of truce, but as spy Warne nt
beforehand not to enter the lhsursen'
lines and fully aware OF the conse-
quences. IT,. ,;..,> ,vor
of 1872 | was in command at a pan
tat,un at Suaga. Gen. Betarte, Span
ish planter in Managua, non-comDat-
ant. came to me and said he desired 10
Introduce a friend, to which | offered
no objection, and he presented rev
DAVIS later Col. Aguiera, whom sup
nosed to be a Cuban, in sympathy with
the movement against Spanish oppress-
ion a.,
~ asked him why he did not
join us and was amazeu
when he informed me that he was
colonel in the Spanish army. l asked
him why he dared to come to my camp
without permission and he replied that
he came as a brother Mason. and made
known to me he was member OF that
OF sanitation. He said he wanted TO tax
on general topics. Meanwhile two OF his
&C .nrades were talking to one of my Of
fice-s, saying that Col. Aguiera had been
authorized by Gen. BlancO. the same
Blanco who is in Havana today, to )lfer
$4,000 in gold and free transportation
to any part of the world if / would quit
the Cuban cause. After twenty minutes
talk Col. Aguilera departed, giving me
his word of honor that / should not be
molested for twenty-four hours.
"My previous experience had taught me
to distrust Spanish promises, and instead
of remaining at the spot where L had met
ARulleTd l. DTOht anu
several miles. The next day a force of
1900 Spanish soldiers descended on the
abandoned camp to capture me. desplte
the assurance given by the Spanish sol
der as a gentleman and a Mason that
| should not be molested and | permit
ted him to depart unframed. Two days
later / saw in the Spanish organs ~ Hla-
vana that Aguiera had met me and that
| was read to treat with him. -.
"This was followed by. the sending IT
two Spanish spies disguised as CubhnS;
into my camp. One of them, Corporal
Rojas, was entrusted with the mission
of assassinating me. Capt Pena, now 2
colonel in the Cuban army, discovered
their intention. seized them and executed
them. r.,
after the war was over | met COL
Aguilera and accused him of having sent
the spies to me. He threw the blame
on Lieut.. Col. Escovado. but admitted
that the men had been sent ostenslbly
to treat as peace commissioners. That
is n sample of Spanish honor and Is
known to hundreds of Cubans.'