The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-10-12
GEN. WEYLER'S CAREER
HIS BLOODY DEEDS COMPARED WIFE
THOSE OF THE DUKE OF ALvA.
SPANS Present Captain General q
derer of the sixteenth Century.
Chicago Times-TIerald.

Chicago imes-Herald.
The methods of warfare employed by
General Weyler, commander of the Span
ish forces, have been of such ex-
treme and unusual barbarity that
the world has looked on in horror
stricken amazement. Doubts have been ex-
pressed if his equal in cold-blooded ferocity
ever lived. search into history. though,
finds such a man in the past of the nation
that sent Weyler to Cuba.
Fernando Alvarez de Toledo Duke of AL
va, was born in 1903 and died in 1882. In
barbarous cruelty he was Weyler's equal.
His family prided itself on its descent from
the Byzantine Emperors. One of the dukes
ancestors conquered Toledo and took its
name to his family. He reared in arms,
and at the age of sixteen fought at the
battle of Fontarabia. He was taught to
despise a nonbehever in the Church of
Rome and his hatred was the cause of a
thirst for blood that distinguished his life.
He exemplihed the spirit of middle-age
chivalry. and at one time rode his horse ar
top speed from Hungary to Spain for no
other cause than a hurried visit to his
young bride. To patience and cunning he
united a ferocity and thirst for blood
scarcely human. No such words pity
or mercy had any place in his vocabulary.
In manner he was cold and naughty and
more unapproachable than the imperial
master Philip.
The Dutch iconoclasts having aroused the
ire of Philip III, this bloody duke was sent
to the Netherlands in 1867 with ten thou
sand trained troops. His name became
terror in the land, and cruelties and bar
barous fortunes marked his occupation OF
the country. Women and children were not
exempt from the reign of blood and terror,
and the indgnites to which they were sub
jected were too horrible to relate. He es-
tablished the Council of Blood" which had
for its object the investigation into all cases
of suspected heresy, and thousands of
people were put to torture and finally death
without trial.
To defend the country against this bloody
despotism William of Orange organized an
army and sought Alva in open conflict but
the latter, knowing that by battle he had
nothing to gain and much to loose, avoided
a meeting by a series of strategic move
ments. William, losing the support of his
people and being unable to pay his troops,
was forced to retire from the country.
While Alva defeated the Dutch patriots in
war. he failed to subdue or pacify them,
and, disguised with this failure and with
cured his recall to Spain in 1873. During
the six years of his occupancy of the Meth
erlands he boosted that he had put to death
more than eighteen thousand persons, aside
from those killed in battle and dying from
cruelties inflicted upon them At the sack
of HARLEM three hundred men were tied
by twos and back to back and thrown into
the lake. At Zutphen five hundred more
perished in like manner.
In appearance this inhuman duke was
tall, very slender. with cavernous cheeks,
dark sparkling eyes, with a thin flowing
beard of silver AS a wretch who would
win victory at any price, whose heart n 3aa
no feeling of humanity and to whom the
sufferings of his victims appealed not In the
least he stands unparalleled. unmourned,
hated and despised more than three CEN
turtles after the grave closed over him.
Before leaving Holland Ava assured the
people that every city would be burned,
ly garrisoned. His list of murders is beyond
computation. After a single defeat or MS
troops he seized and beheaded eighteen no
bles in revenge; yet did be continually COM
plain of the peoples ingratitude for his
clemency and this after his beheading or
the Counts Egmont and Horn in the public
square in Brussels after mockery OIL a
trial in which no defense was permitted
Those are sample acts of the bloodthirsty
soldier of Spain In the sixteenth cemtnFby sre II
were not a revival of those bloody scenes
being enacted now in Cuba; We're innocent
men not the victims daily or a remorselesS
autocrat; were babes not torn from their
mothers breasts to have their pra1hs
dashed out with the butt OF musket or
split in twain with q machete were the
mothers not coldly murdered or cast INTO
Shiny Spanish dungeons. The Duke OF AVA
was the prince of hends or ms time anu
generation. Has he not worthy successor
now in Cuba? . 20
Valeriano Weyler is worthy exponent OK
the teachings Of his once predecessor. A
hriaP outline nf his career will tell his story
of fiendish butchery He was born IN 1869
of Prussian father and Spanish motner.
From 1869 to 1872 he was captain IN the
Spanish army in Cuba Then his name nrst
became hated and despised and then ne
for wrongs done to wives and sweeethearts.
The most cruel general OF ancient home
was mild infant in comparison with THIS
modern butcher. His orders In CUBA nave
gone beyond human endurance; no one may
leave his own home under pain or torture
and death, and IN expression Oh sy ~, a,' any
verse expression regarding him or MS
army means death without trial. NO sta
tistics can be secured in order 10 compare
the actual number of innocent people who
have died at his hand or by ms order WIN
the 1900 murdered by the Duke OF Al Nl'
but during the two years OF the war IN ~ ,u
ba II is not unlikely that he has given the
earlier butcher close race for bloody pre-
cedent .u...,
Ava # is certain that for fiendish barbar-
ism this -Spaniard stands without a
peer. Fancy, IL you Seh, q -
father tied to trees and compelled to wit
ness the hacking to pieces Of their two
sons while afterward their two daughters
were stripped. forced to dance before their
cantors and finally. by WeylerS orders, be
rayished until they died, while the lnnuinan
looked on Weyler is charged with list or
barbaric crimes that defy comparison. lie
takes few prisoners, and 1t is his dehgnt
to come upon a camp OF wounded OF SICK
Ctuhans and put them to the machete Ihey
dig no graves. and in a few days the puz-
He wages his war upon women ana chlldren
and rarely chooses a conflict where one can
he avoided. Alva lived in an age When
darkness covered the world, When Dafpar-
ism in war was expected, but Weyler IS
of the nineteenth century, an age OF en-
Iigbtenment He is small in stature and
equally small in intellect. Ills primal char--
terisfic is ambition, and no FACTOR OF
humanity Justice or mercy plays any part
when the satisfaction OF THIS purpose IS at
stake. 4so.,o -
drown them. No not Weyler? He chooses
for them q worse fate; he chains them to-
syether bv the neck, faces them against a
FLANK wall and has them shot in the back.
II Is known that upon one occasion ne went
into insensibility some twenty prisoners
who half starved. were unable to defend
themselves. All of them died from the
treatment Loathsome dungeons, in which
the tide enters, and where the atmosphere
soon sickens and kills. are one of his favor
TO adding diet of salt fish and no water,
until the poor victim dies q raving maniac
A comparison of these tWo-Alva and
Weyler-leaves one with the impression
that Spain has produced the two worst ex-
amples of inhuman thirst for blood.