The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-06-29
LOVE-, CRIME and VAR
MingIe in an Escaped Spanish
MurderePs Story.
WHILE SHOVELING SAND
He Learned Much as to
BIanco's Situation.
WHILE SHOVELlNG SAND

Copyright, 1898, by the Associated Press)
On Board ttle Associated Press Dispatch
Boat Cynthia II, of Havana June q,
p m. via Key West Fla, June Is, $40 a
m.-There is Cuban passenger on one
Of che ships of the blockad1ng squadron
to whom the phrase Cuba Libre'' has
raken a new meaning. He Is an escaped
murderer, and he tells q strange tale of
love, crime and war.
Between { and o clock on Sunday after
noon one OF the auxiliary sunboats wa
cruising slowly about a mile off Point Ba-
curano, east of Havana, when two figures
were observed on the beach, signalling
with handberchfefS fastened 20 the ends
Of sticks, A small boat was sent OF to
them. but as it approached the shore one
OF the figures darted suddenly OF into the
bushes and was seen no moro
The othet man held his ground and was
taken off to the ship and there told mis-
story with no show OF reluctance. He is
Pablo Santana Benites, 30 years old, a
native OF Consolation Del Sur. province
Of Pinar Del Rio
Seven years ago he killed a man He
lO4A Oh IIl6 6AdAI III lAA0 ArOSt AAA%SOA Va
fact way Imaginable
1T was a little dispute. No, we had
not been drinking
"A love affair, perhaps7"
The words were ma gical, the merest
hnge OF color crept over his cheeks, gaunt
and haggard from seven years confne-
ment in Spanish prison, and a slimmer
of light came into his dull eyes.
Perhaps" was the response. There
were words, and l." he made the gesture
like the plungs Of knife.
Twenty-four years was the sentence
For seven of these BeDites lay in the Car
eel De La Pauta, the Havana prison
A month and half ago he was put in a
chain gang and set 10 work on the forth
ficattons. His duty was wheeling sand at
sand battery No. /, east of MORO. They
gave him nothing to eat but few beans.
he said, and he was almost starved One
day last week. while working at the bat
terry, he saw among group of spectators
one who had known him in past years.
There was a glance OF recognition, and
then a meaning look at the prisoner 5
manacleS.
A day or two later the friend reappeared.
cealed in his sleeve small file. The rest
was easy 1t was not long before the
bars were cut through. The file was then
passed to a convict and he, too, accom-
plished the Same task. Their chance of
escape came at noon on Thursday last
while the guard was at lunch They shook
their shaekles from them, ran into the
woods and were soon safely away.
For three days they made their way
Spanish soldiers, until the reached the
water front on Sunday. But at the last
moment the other man became panic
stricken and ran back to the woods
Benites knew little of the war but when
asked if he was patriot, he replied: "Tn
fight for America"
There are between 300 and 400 men work
ing on the sand battery from which he
escaped, he said, and big forces are at
vana.
Some information had reached him as to
the conditions prevailing in the Cuban
capital.
The poor are starving IN the Streets"
he asserted THE Spanish soldiers are
on half rations. Bread brings sixty cents
per pound, beef costs forty cents and pork
is sold for fifty cents a pound.
Benites has brother at Palma, Island
of Matorica. The prisoner will be turned
over to Commodore Watson.
The German warship Geir has not yet
come out Of Havana harbor.