The record-union., 1898-08-21
SPANISH BRUTALITY.
MURDER OF INNOCENT STU
DENTS AT HAVANA.
One Of the Crimes for Which Spain
Has at Last Been Pun
ished.
(By DR. j. Sutherland Mackay, kirk
caldy.)

AS L pen this tale Oh Spanish iiiioi 0A~
in Cuba there lies before me group OF
photographs, and / see eight young
faces full of life and hope whose lives,
save for the regime under when they
lived, bade to be as fair as the CLOUD
less sky which domed their stately city.
The brilliant beams of the cuban sun
streamed through the windows or the
dingy anatomy classroom or the Ohi-
versity of Havana, filling 1t with hsht
| and warmth on the afternoon Oh the
I'D of November, 1871; and there, JEST
ing and chatting and smoking the lneV-
| liable cigarette, a band OF youths SAT
waiting the arrival OF their professor,
| when the janitor entered and INFORMED
| them that the lecture was PUT OF LOT
| an hour, as the lecturer was detalheu
| at an examination he was conducting.
| The class dispersed into the street, some
| of them to while away the time stroll
| ing along the walks of the nelghDorlng
| cemetery, which only boundary wall
! separated from the lecture hall. one
| of them a boy named Alfonso Alvarez
| de la Campo, carelessly pIucked rose
! which he pinned on his coat, and the
| lecture hour approaching, they left the
| cemetery. In the street they noticed
| little cart which was used to convey
| bodies to the anatomy rooms; this they
| took hold of, at least two or three did,
and raced it up and down the road till
| the priest in charge of the graveyard
approached and sternly rebuked them
for their levity. Seeing the rose, he
! asked De la Campo where he got it.
| The lad frankly replied, Il took it from
the cemetery, father. I am so sorry,
but will run back and replace it, which
he did All of them then begged the
| priest to forgive them, said they were
heartily sorry for their boyish folly,
and dismissing the incident from their
| memories, were, a few minutes later,
taking notes of the lecture.
1t is the custom in Spain and its
colonies to lay the collins with the dead
in inches in the deep walls of the ceme-
| teries where they remain for about fVe
years, after which the remains are
taken out and inferred. On the 1st of
November, All Souls Day, the relatives
of the dead hang lighted lamps round
| the inches, so that the place, in the
calm November night looks aglow with
fire flies; and dozens of people noted on
that All Souls Day Of 1871 that the
glass covering the niche which con-
tanned the body of Gonsalo Castanon
had been fractured in three places.
| Castanon had come out from Spain as
| a reporter, and rapidly rose to be edl-
tor of the Government organ, La Voz
| de Cuba" His hatred for the Cubans
| amounted to mOnomania, his pohcy,
| or political creed, was their extermina-
tion and the repeopling the island with
| colonists from Spain. His leading ar
| ticles were headed "Sangre Fuego'-
Blood and Fire; and when at last he
| fell in a duel with a Cuban gentleman
| the Government gave out that he had
fallen before an assassin's bullet; that
he had died a martyr for Spain, and his
unfortunate antagonist and his second
We're there and then incontinently shot.
The next two days, the 23d and 24th.
| passed uneventfully, save that the po-
litical Governor of Havana, Senior Don
| Dionisio Lopez Roberts, who had been
| recalled to Madrid, was greatly exer-
cised by the thought that he would not
be remembered as a strong Governor,
| when one of his ubiquitous spies
brought him the story of the incident
that took place on the 22d at the ceme-
terry gate And now the curtain rises
on the second act of a tragedy, which
then Mortified the civilized world
On the afternoon of the 10Th, when
the professor of anatomy was lecturing
to the students. none of them recking
that, like the day of their cline, the
lives of eight Of them were to have nc
twilight, the door was rudely thrown
open and Lopez Roberts. accompanied
by Don Jose TRAY, editor of the "Voz
de Cuba" some Spanish officers and
an Inspector of Police. entered the
room and the corridor was seen to be
crowded with soldiers. Roberts left his
companions, and summarily taking pos
session of the professors chair, asked
brusquely, Which of you were the au-
thors of the crime committed in the
| cemetery on the afternoon of the 23d p
and as his astounded listeners made nc
reply, not having the vaguest idea OF
what he was driving at, he went or
excitedly to say, "On the afternoon OF
the day / have named, between the
hours of two and three, you outraged
the corpse of Don Gonsalo Castanon-
the whole lot of you know what hap
pened there, and you must give the
| names of your ringleaders.
The accusation was not left unan
| swered Aracleto BermudeZ and sew
eral others after him, hotly denied thai
. they had been in the cemetery that day
and told him that they knew nothing
of the matter. Then Lopez said, Il
you We're not there, you will know who
) were and if their names are not al
: once given me, l will arrest you all,
, | adding Your insolence even went the
| length of stoning the priest, and the
, | reason YOUR conduct was not at once
reported to the authorities is that yol
threatened him with death If he told.
You have the power to arrest US" an
swered the lads, but you have not tht
power to make US stain our lips with
a lie We know nothing of what yol
, are speaking"
, Then Lopez Roberts ordered their ar
{ rest, the professor making no protest
| on the contrary cringing before him
was "muy conforme" with his decision
when Roberts noticing a Spaniare
, named Godoy, who was attached to th'
: Army Sanitary Corps, said, You, o
course. can go free, as you could no
possibly be mixed up with this" Dor
Jose TRAY. editor of the "Voz," ther
walked up to the boy Alfonso Aware:
de la Campo, the student who hat
| plucked the rose and said to him
; Neither your fathers money, nor you
: uncle's political influence will save
I you." Out into the street between file
of volunteer soldiers were marched
1 forty-five of the sons of the best fami
! lies in Havana, and amidst the gather
ing crowd, who leveled at them tn
: foulest insults, they walked until the,
S reached the prison, the clang of who's
4