The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1897-02-06
When Some Unfortunate Rebel is Put
to Death at Cabanas Fortress.
An Execution, Semi-PubIic Show,
When All Who Wish Are Permitted
to Witness the Proceedings, Which
Are Accompanied by Bands Play
ing Lively Airs i'm the Enclosure.

NEW YORK. Feb. "a special to
the World from Havana, via Key
West, says: The sharp ring of ritleshots
from the gray walls of the Cuban for
tress is heard daily at I a. m. with I'M
failing regularity 1t is the hour OF ex-
ecution. The mornings programme
was varied on Monday by double ex-
ecutiOn. with an added chapter of
cruelty and horror
The condemned were Enrique He'll
ders Osma. a lad of 10. and Antonio
Perdoma Guzman. They were charged
with rebellion and incendiarism. Osma.
a virile. handsome youth, carried the
true PATRIOTS heart. In an engage
ment the horse of his chief. Perez, was
shot Osma, quick as thought, but
barely in time. gave his horse TO Pc
rez. and the chief escaped. The had, by
desperate chance, also escaped.
A few weeks afterward he and Guz-
man were captured. An execution is a
semi-public show. and people who
cross the bay to witness it are permit
ted to gather on the outer walls of the
fortress. On Monday they saw again
the usual careless and even jaunty pre-
linrinaries of death.
Bands playing a lively air marched
cheerfuHy into the Enclosure. Several
hundred troops followed, and Within
the inner walls formed a hollow square.
Eight soldiers separated from the ranks
and took a stand on the mound, form
ing a slight elevation in the square.
They had drawn the short straws the
night before and were to be the execu-
TONERS.
Six priests then appeared in double
line
Between them We're Osma and his fell
low-prisoner, with hands tied behind
their backs. They stumbled and would
have fallen but for assistance. They
knelt to the ground with their faces TO
the wall and their backs to their exc
ecutioners. The band stopped play
ing A priest stepped forward and,
gently stroking the boys cheek,
wlsapefad a few words OF hope and re-
tired to the lines. The executioners
moved ten feet forward. The rifles
were raised and the command was
given. Six shots rang out and two
bodies fell forward to the ground.
But the boy was not dead. His left
arm twitched and vibrated. Even the
soldiers. Injured TO the scenes of exc
cution. turned their heads and groan
of horror went up from the spectators
hudded along the edge of the great
wall above.
1t was a grewsome. blood-chilling
sight. but it was only for a moment
Another command was given, and two
of the firing party, who were to give
mercy shots" stepped forward.
One placed his rifle almost at the
boys back and fired. 1t was over at
last.
The spectators returned to the city.
barely in time TO see crowd about
crying, hysterical young woman.
Mingled with the strains of music were
walls of despair from Guzman's wife.
The shots were still ringing i'm her
ears when she read the name of her
husband in the awful daily bulletin
which means so much. 1t is published
in the evening papers, and is list OF
those who are to be executed the next
morning.
This grief-stricken woman had not
seen the list until the sound of the shots
told her that another order OF death
had been carried out. Two little chill
dren, ignorant of the cause of grle1'
were at their mothers side when the
crowd moved about and asked the
meaning of her wild, incOherent cries.
4 few minutes later priest was de-
ivering a letter to an aged, Wh1te-
haired, old woman.
1t was dated the night before and be-
gan: Dearest Mother: Tomorrow
die a patriot for the freedom of Cuba
The old woman, the lads mother,
tainted without reading further. for 10
was her first information that her son
ura. 70 he MT To death.