El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-04-02


ports aud went on many IN occ an mis-
sion of reckless daring until 1T was
CT ecked in its career by the strong
arm of the north. Then. after suffer
ing the puni7 hmant of bel g publicly
cond emned and sold at auction, IL re
f,rmed and entered upon u career o.
responsibility under the stars ana
stripes.
The crew of the Viraipius did not
sink ben, ath the waves with the Ill
ia ed craft. Such good fortune 1t
would have b zen, was der1ed them
Inst ad, Captain Fry end his brave
company OF Gfty-twO men, twelve or
whom were citizens of the tied
States, lie in unmarked graves att San
tiagc, in the island whose name has
become synonym for irj9stice AID
cruelty, no less victims than are the
men of the Maize, 20 the blood thirsty
treschery which seams TO be Spain's
heritage.
1t VS. in November 1873, tat The
crew of the Vrginius we're butcher d
by Spanish soldiers after drumhe lad
court-martial which even Spain did
not dignity with the nsme of trial.
Since thai incident another genera ion
has arts en-, and the compli" alton " hich
almost caused war be ween III two
countries is almost forg often But it
holds a conspicuous place in the di-
plomatic history of the United States,
and 10 the light OF the sacrifice of the
sailors of the Maine lakes on new in
terest al becomes pertinent again
- And out of the incident of the Vir-
giuius grewSsa warn ng L, the u ite d
States poverEmei IL tt e pre- sent cri-
sis. 1t shows " hat in twenty-five years
SDsfri h character ha- not changed.
The bar bal ity that exis ed IN exists
TO-DAY the abs lite disregard for human
life AID human rights which SIP in
ms infested in the killing of Capt. Fry
and his crew is now being REPEATED in
Cuba, but with far grea err sggrava-
ton. TIE anton of the United States
to enforce apology and indemnity for
the Insult to its flag and the criu es
perps ira ed upon its citizens ives Wig
orus only in the surf face. And in the
end Spain, by lodging the Issues and
tbrons b the practice of every pheso of
diplomatic cunning, succec ded in get
ting off with tre pay mert of tie psltry
sum OF $4,000 1t was crime reduced
to u each basis ~ small that divided
among the families of The fifty three
sailors, it almost -eased to be Jude mni-
ty. Spani-h GU that I'd fired upon
tho flag were rot forced to salute it in
respec'. ~ Spre ssiorsrof apology were
forwarded from NJ 4d id to Washius 10.
the story of the fate OF the V.rginius'
crew may be briefly told. During the
war OF the re belilon the ship urder
ownership DIS entirely different
than in 1873 hsd been used in block d
running and had been captured and !
sold in the port of Mobile n F,brp sry, |
1866. Shortly afterwarie 1t was again
acquired by the Uni-ed States for
some cause not stated in the records,
and in 1870 was resold, this time to
rOhn f. Patterson.
To- |
with some truth, that Patterson was
an agent of The Cuban ins urgen,s then
engaged in the Carlist reD -llion, and
that the purchase of tho Ell was
really for the sake of Gu ada and
Bambe ia, the Cuban pStri, Is. The lat
ter of whom was the first one shot
when the captured steamer was taken
into Santiago. But however that NAV
be, the Virginius had obtained an
American regis err from the port of
New Orleans and saiied in 1870 from
the port of New York With the right
as clear as the law could grant it to
sail under the United State flag.
When the vessel sailed il cleared
for a port in the Caribbean sea, to
never Gle area again from any port in
the United States. Attorney General
Williams has given subsequent Opln-
ion that the vessel had placed itself
liable to proceedings by the United
States to enforce IL TO forfeit its papers,
but this fact IN no way justified Spain
to assume the right to settle the que.-
tiou rs to whether or not the vessel
lawfully ssiied unde err the flag it carried
at its mastt Gao.
On the last trip of the doomed steam
er it was commanded by Captain Fry,
an American citizen, with a crew and
passengers numbering los people.
Viii ear Jamaics and, accov ding to
its papers, 90 voyage from Kingston
to Lemon Bay, it was fred upon by the
Spanish gunboat Tornado and taken as
b prize. Not shot was fired in de-
Tense, snd four days later it was taken
into Santiago as prize and informa-
ton was lodged against it as pirate.
One of the basic principles of iuterna-
tionsl law is that prize when captur-
ed must be taken to the ne Arrest port
in the quickest pos sible time, but four
days elapsed before Santiago was
reached, which disposed of the conteu-
tiOn bat he sbipwas taken in Sranish
waters, for the jurisd ction of coun-
try extends over space requiring four
days to traverse.
The Tornado reached port with its
victim Nov. 4, and the following day
the Spanish authorities in the ty be-
gan a series of drumht ad trials which
for lnnumhuiUy u ldck OF JUDICIAL
dig nj and regulation have never been
xceed in the history of ma ions. OF
the 165 prisoners many were Anne i au
cicizeps, W tn the r ght to travel t. e
high seas in any craft whatever, but
the judicial proceedings took little or
no cogni zacce of their testimony or
their Iigh's. The treaty o. 1895 be-
tween his C untry and Spain, which
covered the case, was likewise disre-
garS ed. and the unwritten law which
del vered pirates over to the regular
courts instead of mill airy tribunals
was ignored.
Meauw while the first Information re-
&C lived in the Unit States Of the out
rsge wa a c. bic message FRI m Henry
G. Hall, then scting cor sui general at
Havana. 10 Ha III on Fish, secretary Of .
state under President Grant L. sold |
briefly Of the capture and the charges
of piracy and wss immedi atelr corro-
b rated by ano ther cable from Gene al
Daniel Z. Sckles, the Z tied States
minister ct M drid The Dc par; ment
of state INN ed ately warned Spain .
that if it renspir ed that the prisoners !
were citizers of the Uri'ed States sail |