Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1898-06-30
HISTORY OF FOUL CRIME
Such Is the Story of the Harbor
of Santiago de Cuba.
SOME HORRORS OF ITS PAST.

rise abruptly from the Caribbean sea.
The sea, of brilliant green waters and
changing colors, casts its beautiful
shells to the shore for toll and slips an
arm in between the great rocks that
draw apart for it reluctantly and stand
sentinels of the harbor of Santiago de
Cuba.
From the brown rock on the right the
antique yellow walls, the Moorish tow
ers and turrets Of Moro Castle have
looked across the sea for over two CEN
turtles and half. The MOSES have
grown over the crumbling battlementa
and the ivy crept over the queer little
turrets and about the grated windows;
little gray lizards have basked in the
sun on the great flight of stairs stretch
ing down to the water edge; nesting
birds gathered above the huge battle
door and plumed themselves upon the
heavy guns Of La Batteria de la Estrel-
la, pointing out to sea. Not for half a
century has the drawbridge over the
deep moat been 1ifted-not since the
pirates swarmed along the coast and
met in their chosen and sheltered port
of Guantanamo.
In 1888 a unique battle was waged in
Santiago bay between the fiery Spaniard
Diego Perez and French corsair. The
two vessels met and fought till sunset
of the first day. Then a truce was
agreed upon, and the captains Eek
changed civilities and sent each other
presents Of fruit and wine" Further
more, they decided to fight only by day.
They agreed that artillery was an in
vention of towards, and they would
fight in the only manner worthy of gen
tlemen-with lance and sword. Thus
they would prove their valor, and he
who won should have his opponent s
ship. So fought these doughty pirates
the second day till sunset. Then again,
in spite of many slain and wounded on
each side, they exchanged the compli-
ments of the day, refreshing themselves
with each others fruit and wine. But
the Spanish captain sent to the people
Of the city asking them in return for
his services in case he was defeated to
compensate him for the loss of his ship,
that being his only property. The au-
thorities refused to pledge themselves
in any way. So, unaided, the valorous
Perez fought his adversary the third
day and the fourth. On the evening of
the fourth, during the courteous inter
lude, the Frenchman promised to fight
again on the morrow. But, thinking it
over in the dim watches Of the night,
the persistence Of Diego Perez seemed
so ominous the Frenchman slipped his
cable in the darkness and quietly sailed
away, leaving Perez to mourn his alb
sence.
At nightfall in years past dark, low
hulled brigantines slipped cautiously in
from sea and were moored quickly as
near the shore as possible. Over the
hastily laid gangways long lines of dark
forms were hurried from the slaveships,
shackled two by two at the wrist. Now
and again lifeless form and some with
breath still in their bodies would be
passed up from below and dropped into
the sea that told no tales-those the
more fortunate ones. The others were
hurried inland, staggering as they went,
naked, with cralnped and swollen limbs,
mothers with newborn infants in their
arlns--all these had known the fearful
horrors Of the middle passage.
The waves that ever besiege the cas-
&e rock have tunneled a great cave be-
meath the Moro, high, broad, deep and
unexplored. Strange legends are told of
the things it hides and those who used
it III years gone by, and the veriest
fguajiro knows well that he who at
tempts to penetrate its secrets will new
er return. Only the waves, murmuring
as they go, creep into the black, lofty
portal open to the sea. Above the cave,
out upon the ramparts Of Morro many
condemned patriots have been led, their
forms silhouetted against the clear sea
sky for a few seconds, a last cry of
"Cuba ibre" then rattle of mus
kerry, and the swift falling bodies go
down into the sea.
Santiago is the see of an archbishop,
the head of the Catholic church in
Cuba, and from all the cities in the is
land people come to the great ceremo-
MES, and the narrow streets are brilliant
with the professionals. The bells of the
cathedral chime the hours as they have
chimed for two centuries and more and
call to mass and vespers.
Nearly 25 years ago, one November
afternoon, past the American consulate
marched the officers and crew of the
Virginius, condemned men. They
marched i'll fours, saluting the Amer
lean consulate its Flagstaff significantly
bare, and before the gray walls of the
city abattoir-iit place for such deed!
--53 members Of the expedition, many
of them Americans, knelt with their
backs to the firing squadron and fell
wounded before the clumsy firing of the
Spanish soldiers, who finally discharged
their rifles in the mouths of the victims
to dispatch them.
In the waters of the harbor the hun
cry, man eating sharks swim restlessly
to and fro, and woe to the seaman who
loses his footing and falls overheard
he will not even rise again. And down
there where the dark fins show is a
wonderful cid relic Of the days Of Philip
II of Spain-the naked ribs Of the old
st. Paul, doubtless the last remnant of
the great Spanish armada of 1506-the
wreck Of Spanish hopes nearly three
centuries ago. Always the history Of
Santiago de Cuba has been full of crime
and oppression. Here have been some
CT the most barbarous acts of barbarous
Spain. But vengeance never came Life
in the old town dragged on, the rip
ping bay keeping its own secrets, and
old Moro Castle guarding hers The
world was far away, and the cry of the
oppressed was feeble.
But the day of reckoning came at
last. Strange, fearful shapes doomed up
on the green waves of the Caribbean
sea, and Santiago de Cuba was at last
face to face with the vengeance of the
civilized world. The great ships spoke,
and the yellow, vine clasped walls of
Aorro crumbled. Now at night the
weird searrhlights from a dozen ships
sweep across the dark waters, and even
I,o sAcro-1 oaxo 6o1o-1,