The evening times., 1897-11-23
Capture, Imprisonment and Re-
lease Of Competitor Men.
HORRORS OF THE DUNGEONS
He Finds II Impossible to Deserib-
the Grewsome and Disgusting
the Tragedy That All But Cost
the Five Men Their Lives.

account of the voyage, capture, long i'm
prisonment sand final release. He says;
The schooner Competitor sailed from
Key West at IL p. m, April 20, 1895
| bound ostenSiDly Tor Lemon City, tla
| Col. Monson and Capt. ,nrists, VINO com
| mandeu the Competitor expedition, and
| a few utner fIlibusters were aboard.
Tne Competitor ancnored oil Cape sable
| fort y-eisnt hours Ia ter, having eiuded the
| revenue cutter Winona by running through
| a sEaiiow and dangerous channel tnat II
| was not supposed the schooner could pass
| AT Cape sable men, rifles, machetes
| dynamite ana $4,000 rounds of ammuni
| ton were taken aboard. The number
| of IiIiIusters was now increased To 1ifty
| three.
Aiiredo Laborde was captain OF the
| schooner: William Gidea, mate, villa IL
| Leavitt and benjamin Gurk, sailors, anu
| Charles Larnet, Cook. All the other men
| were enrolled OH The list or eNpedlt1onaries
| except TeUuoro MaZa.
TINS man, IL seeius, had not only been
guilty. OF Gouble but of triple treason TO
| Doln Cubans ana Spaniards- He was what
| lne CuDans called ''piateadO," and what
iii tine civil war was called bush
| whacker." Finally, having got hlii-
| self into such a position that II he had
| been captuIed by either the Cubans or the
/
escaped 10 the United states, where, by
! insis,ent lying, he succeeded i'll gaining
| tile confluence of the CUBAN agents, and
| was sent out from Key West with an
expedition that failed signally, on ac-
| count of his cowaruice ana Daseness.
He was immediately dismissed from the
| Cuban revolutionary party by the junta,
but there Were still CreaulOus persons who
Were ready 10 believe his ingenious stories,
| VINO by much importuning succeeded III
| getting ali agreement made by which MaZa
| was 10 go TO Cuba and return i'll the Com
| petiior, 10 show that he was really brave
| and patriotic; and then his frienus hoped
| TO get he Junta TO rescind their acton and
| take himinIo their employ again.
| Inc Competitor saIleu iI,In Care Sable
at sunrise on April %, ana was steered
| for kebecca Light, in the Gull. From
| there the schooner was headed southwark
toward Cuba, and at 1 p. H., april %,
ancnur was cast behind Tar between
one and TWO miles from BerraCos, small
| place on the north coast OF he prov ince OF
Pinar del Rio.
A little aIter O'Clock all of the arms
| and ammunition mad been landed, two Of
the small boats Were Just starting to
| return IRON the land, and the hiru boat,
TILED with eXpeditionaries and sinking
10 the gunwales, was just ready to leave
the Competitor for the land, when the
htlSdJtid Nds NV AAAoi
tnan two miles away, and coming around
| a small key ttat hid us from view.
In less tran fiNe minutes aTter the gun
boat came III signt the Spanlards opened
| fire on IL was not possible for us who
were left aboard 10 escape TO the land, as
the small boats were gone; OF to weigh
aucnor, make sail and try 10 Iun out to
sea as three oI the sailors were in the
small boats.
uere were six of us left ahoard-Capt.
| Alfredo Laborde, William Gildea, Dr.
Elias Vetia ,Teodoro Maza, an extfditionary
named Quesada ana myself. IL was long
distance TO snore, but Gildea- Laborde
and Qucsada decided TO try 10 swim 1t.
QUesada was seiZ.d by an immense man.
eating shark before lie had swan 100
yards. He threw up enc hand, uttered
sudden cry ana disappeared. Tine shark
mad first pa ssed very close to La aborde, who
was ahead, giving him great scare:
tnen il passed him by, and seized poor
QueSa da WHO was only a lew yards away.
The Guuboat ran alongside the schooner
and a suI all boat was hastily lowered nd
filled with marines, who folio wed the two
remaining swimmers Laborde was over
hauled about half way to the land, but
Gildeu, who was an expert swimmer, had
reached the shallow water before the
Spaniards overlook him.
Benjamin Gurk, one Of the sailors who
lut ldst DOdt Iudls Ntht VIII
the expedition into the interior. William
Leavitt and Charles Barnet returned to
the land when the gunboat opened fire,
but the expedition had already left Tor the
interior and they could not overtake it
and Were captur that night.
The Spaniards captured few boxes of
cartridges that Col. Monson was compelled
to leave behind, but the ammunition that
was saved enabled Gen, Maceo to gain
the famous battle Of CacaraJicara.
The five of us who Were captured by the
Mensajera were taken to Port Esperanza,
commonly called San Cayetano, where We
Were kept three days. THE local Command
ers expected to receive orders to execute
us, and they had prepared everything
ready for the execution, but orders came
to send us To Havana
On April 20 we arrived at Havana and
were tax ell to Moro Castle by the direct
orders of Gen. Weyler and thrown into a
dungeon. 1t would beimpo ssible to describe
the filth Of this place. 1t was underneath
a hall In which ninety-two prisoners were
crowded together. The floor overhead
was old and Worn and contained innumera-
BILE cracks and crevices through which dirt
and filth constantly dropped On our heads.
The floor of our dungeon was covered
with this filth to depth OF several inches.
and next to the door was staSnant pool
OF mush-ike filth about six inches deep
tldU through many uUntuS ndu OTlppeu
from above, where the prisoners batned
themselves. The stencil was simply poi
sonous. At night We were compelled to
sleep with cloth over our faces to keep
the dirt from falling in our eyes. Scores
of huge rats invaded the dungeon.
Here we were told that We were to
be kept, and here 1t was the intention Of
Gen. Weyler that we should be kept until
we were taken out to be shot.
But a dispute arose between the military
authorities and the naval authorities, or,
rather, between Gen. Weyler and Admiral
Navarro. Gen. Weylcr intended to have Us
tried by military cOurt-martial, but Ad-
miral Navarro insisted that We should be
tried by a naval couTt-martial; and Weyler
was compelled to turn us over again to the
naval authorities, only reserving to him
self the right of approving or rejecting our
sentences.
We Were then taken to the arsenal prison
and kept incomunicado for six days. On
May 8, 1896, and against the protest Of
the United States consul, Ramon o. Will
Jams. we were tried by a summary court
martial on charges OF piracy and rebellion
and sentenced to death.
Teodoro MaZa turned states evidence
and tried to save his own life by lying
away the lives Of the other Competitor pris-
oners. The story of this drumhead court
martial is well known. Gen. weyler i'm
mediately signed the death warrant order
ing that We should be shot on MayIOat7
O'Clock a. m.
HaSty preparI tions were made; a squad
of twenty soldiers were selected to shoot
us; the chapel, where we were to be guarded
and receive the spiritual ministra tions of