Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-11-08

trial. and that he did not say or do any,
thing in behalf Of the prisoners, except to
ask for mercy.
After this mockefy of a trial the pre-
Laborde in Spanish what he had to say in
his defense. Laborde understood that Ian
guage. He said few words. So it went
On until the last mar was reached, William
G1ldea. and the presiding officer spoke to
him in Spanish. He did not understand
and then the interpreter said. do you
wish to say anythiRg?" and Gildea then
arose and said, "AlfrI have to say is, do
not understand me%word which has been
said today, either for me or against me.
and, at any rate. appeal to both the Brit
ism and American consuls." Melton said,
truly, that he came aboard the schooner
as the correspondent of the Jacksonville
I1mes-U Union. The trial terminated i'm
mediately after these statements were
made. The prosecutor moved for SEN
lence OF death, and it was straightway
pronounced.
Execution Stayed.
The Department of State requested, or
demanded. that Spain should not execute
the sentence until copy of the charges
and evidence could be furnished to this
government and an opportunity given to
investigate the case. The execution of the
sentence seems to have been stayed, pend
ing an appeal to the superior tribunals of
spain at Madrid. and the result was that
after long delay the judgment of the court
mar was annulled about September 8.
1885, and new trial ordered before the
ordinary tribunals.
1T Will be observed that this Judgment
OF reversal proceeds upon the theory that
,l capuyes are justiciable in the Span
lsn courts Tor crimes alleged to have been
committed by them against Spanish laws.
ana II decided nothing more than that the
naval court-martial was not proper or
competent tribunal for their trial. The APP
nlNy hold hat
mistaken her own FORUM
Rights of the Prisoners.
The report then cites the treaty and
protocol, and says:
Under the facts and circumstances of
this case, 1t is not competent for Spain to
try these prisoners by any military tribunal
Whatever. Two of the men. Gildea and La
porde, We're officers of an American vessel
arlven under duress into Cuban waters;
Melton, passenger, was an American ma
tl{e CITIZEN before he took passage-a
friendly neutral, a non-combatant. NOT
armed In any way. and his character was
not changed by the forcible diversion of
.ne Fessei from its voyage to Lemon City
Ihey are not amenable to the jurisdc-
tion OF any Spanish courts for piracy, for
the reason that it plainly appears that they
mad never committed or could have intend
ed 10 90 any act of robbery depreciation
upon the high seas, which acts are the es-
sentials of piracy, and it is clear that no
such acts were ever intended by either of
these prisoners.
Nor are these prisoners amenable to any
Spanish court for the crime of rebellion
by reason of any acts committed by them,
even II such acts are subjected to the most
slrlct and adverse construction. Allegiance
either as subject as an alien amenable
Dy residence or presence to the laws of a
foreign state is an indispensable element
10 constitute he crime of treason or re-
&c Nf.,sN
that these men never became amenable to
the laws of Spain to that intent.
irrespective of any of the foregoing con-
slderations, the conduct of Spain, as here
lhpeIore detailed, constitutes such delay
and denial of justice and such an actual in
fiction of injustice upon these men as to
make 1t the duty of this government to
demand reparation therefor irrespective
OF any act which these prisoners may have
committed up to the date of their capture.
among the acts of reparation which ought
to be demanded should be the release of
these caDtives.
The rights thus defined have been vio-
lated in the persons of these prisoners.
Ihey have teen tried and sentenced to
DEAN by summary naval couTt-martial
In proceeding which has been annulled
by the appellate courts of Spain at Mad
rid, upon the ground that such court
marital had no jurisdiction whatever over
them. Ten months have elapsed since this
death sentence was annulled, and they
the meantime they have been subjected to
protracted preliminary examinations pre-
paratory to their trial by another court
martial. which differs from the first one
only iE the fact that 1t is less summary
and more formal in its character than the
first.
"At the first trial they were not allowed
to be defended by counsel of their own
selection; opportunity or time to produce
witnesses was denied to them by the celeri-
ty with which that trial was instituted and
conducted. They were only defended by
Spanish naval officer, assigned to that duty
by the court, who could not or did not
speak English, who never spoke to them
during the trial, who did not introduce or
attempt to introduce any evidence in their
behalf, who asked for no delay of the trial,
and whose only exertion in their defense
was a plea for mercy, which admitted
their guilt Although an Interpreter was
present, neither the evidence for the prose-
cution nor the summing up of the prose-
crtor was translated to them.
His presence was not disclosed until
after the prosecution had closed its testi-
mony and argument. The only translation
made to them was just before the close of
these sanguinary proceedings. when they
were asked if they had anything to say.
Necessarily they had or could have little
to say, although one of them, Gildea pro-
tested that he had not understood a word
of the proceedings against him by which
his life was to be adjudged forfeited. With
these protests the trial ended, and the de-
PENDANTS were Immediately sentenced to
DEATH"
Should BE Freed.
The report closes with the statement that
Sin our opinion these acts of delay and
denial of justice, and of the inf1iction of
injustice, vitiate and make void any right
which Spain had at the beginning Of this
transaction to proceed criminally against
any of these men. This government should
demand that they be set at liberty and
that the Competitor be restored to her
owner, as there is no evidence that the
owner knew anything about the diver
gence of the vessel from it's regular voyage
to Lemon City, Fla
The Short Story Club.
A well-attended and thoroughly enjoyable
meeting of the Short Story Club was held
in the Lehman building parlors Tuesday
The musical numbers were furnished by
Prof. VIM. Waldecker as pianist and Mr.