Daily new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1897-1906, 1897-11-19

HAVANA, Nov. 19.-In pursuance of
cabled ihstru ctions from Spain Captain
General Blanco has released from
Cabanas fortress Alfredo Laborde.
Charles Barnett, Ona Melton and Will
lam Gildea, members of the crew of
the American schooner Competitor,
captured IN April, 1896, by the Spanish
gunboat Mesagra on a charge OF fill
clustering.
They were delivered to the American
and British consuls and have taken
passage on the steamer Saratoga of the
Ward line for New ork.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 19.-It is not
doubted here that the prisoners are liber-
ated ON conditionsimpos in the case of
former prisoners, that is, that they will
not return to Cuba. After their bitter
experience in the Cuban jails, it is not
believed here that the men will be dis
posed to violate any understanding of
this kind TO which they may be parties.
There were four prisoners, namely
Alfredo BaUorde, the captain of the
Competitor, "a native of New Orleans.
William Gildea, the mate, natural
lied citizen. Ona Melton, who claims
Kansas as his native state, and who
went on the Competitor in the capacity
of newspaper correspondent, Charles
Barnett. of British birth, but who
claimed the protection of the United
States government by virtue of his
sailing on an American vessel.
The conditions under which the Com
petitor was captured April %, 1896, off
the Cuban coast, while engaged in
landing arms for the insurgents. have
been often described. The defense of
the men was that,they were forced into
the expedition against their will by the
insurgent party aboard the boat.
They were tried by naval court.
martial, before which they could make
only poor showing. principally be-
cause of their ignorance of the Spanish
langua5e, in which the proceedings
were conducted, SO that their convic-
ton and the imposition of the death
senteuce was not a matter of surprise.
At that point, however, the case as
sumed diplomatic Importance. Our gov
eminent, through its consul general at
Havana, then Ramon Williams, and
also through Minister Hannis Taylor at
Madrid, interposed an energetic protest
against the execution of the sentence,
claiming that the men were improperly
tried, without the guarantees held out
in the famous Gushing protocol. This
pTObco1 CdllS0u bl16 16uuOVhl u Gue Case
to the higher judicial authorities at
Madrid, by whom a new trial was or
dered. The Spanish government, how
ever, did not, and has not yet, con-
coded that the Gushing protocol ap-
piled to such cases. To admit it would,
in the opinion of Spanish authorities,
greatly stimulate the fitting out of fill
clustering parties in the United States.
The new trial had been ordered by
the Madrid supreme court on the
ground of irregularities in the original
trial, not because of any concession of
the soundness of the objections inter-
posed by the United States officers. 1t
was to have begun last Monday and it
is thought would have resulted in the
imposition of the death sentence again.
This would have provoked an explosion
in this country. according to the antici-
pations of the department officials, that
would have been hardly less violent
than the feeling caused by the famous
Virginius episode, so it is to them a
matter of satisfaction that the Spanish
queen has cut the diplomatic tangle by
the pardon of the men before the
second trial
Senior Dupuy de LONE, the Spanish
minister, has had a long conference
with Assistant Secretary Day and it is
believed that the Spanish government
is voluntarily about to remove another
troublesome factor from the field of
negotiations in revoking the decree
made by Weyler prohibiting the ex-
portation of tobacco from Cuba.
n RI A ~