The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-06-15
The horrors Of
Moro Castle

Anderson. Ind. Corr. Of the Chicago
Chronicle.
Capt. J.. J. Allies. ex-commissioner of
Du Bots county n one of the best
il probably taking a keener Interest in
the present Spanish American affair
than any other man In the country. He
has had a sample Of Spanish ~barbarity
in it's most terrible and horrible form
and Witnessed an affair in MORO castle
that was even more horrible h the
Spanish cruelties in the days of the
justly famous inquisition. He Is
of the very few men in the nation
whose life Is really stranger than ne
lion He is the sole survivor of 400
Americans who went on a flibustering
expedition to Cuba in 1850. He wit
messed $50 of his comrades shot down
like dogs n was forced to see the
%garroting process in all Of its horrors.
He saw so men have their lives blown
out by discharge of Spanish guns in
their mouths. The story of his escape
is n that parallels in incident the
great plot which Alexander Dumas
worked put 30 dramatically in Monte
Cristo."
Captain Allies comes by his military
title honestly. He is a veteran of the
civil war. having been a captain in the
18th Indiana volunteers. At present
he is living in Celestine, a small hamlet
III 1o " III ~ IN
one of the solid men of his county and
his honesty is never questioned. The
great tragedy of his life. however, oc-
Cured in the year 1850. He says:
In November. 1850, l went to New
Orleans with a raft of timber from the
Yazoo swamps. On my arrival i found
they were organizing an expedition to
assist the Cubans to their freedom. Be-
ing young and anxious for adventure.
i Joined them. as did also my partner.
Robert Weathers of Tennessee. Cen
eral Narcisso Lopez was in command.
We were paid SIS each in Spanish gold,
and IL We succeeded in freeing the ISL
and, we were to ave a farm apiece.
There were 400 of us and we went into
camp between the United States bar
racks n the jackson battle ground.
Lopez placed US under regular military
discipline. and we were not permitted to
go into the city without a pass.
After we had camped there for three
weeks President Fillomre issued a
proclamation stating that the United
States was not at war with Spain. and
those who went to Cuba would not be
protected by the government of the
United States. He issued special or
ders, 1 afterward learned, for us to
disband. We were not allowed to
know this. The same night the procla-
nation was ISSUED an old ship was
moored for us. 1 believe her name was
Pcmperio. We were hurried aboard
and the next morning We were 80 miles
below New Orleans and anchored in
the gulf of Mexico. We stayed there 10
hours then sailed for the awful
erd that awaited us. 1t seemed that
our officers were afraid our government
woul sen vessels after US.
LAS 1 learned a~fterward, the govern
ment had absolutely nothing to do with
the expedition. 1t was simply a fill
clustering trip started by spectators
from New York, Philadelphia n other
centers, who were in a land-grabbing
scheme with the few insurgents who
were then rebellious. They had prom
Used Lopez to organize other companies.
and we anchored on the south of the
gulf to await them, but they did not
show up promptly. The officers were
afraid of the government overtaking
them, so, as before stated. we lifted
anchor and sailed. We went o
the south of the gulf n were about
to land on Cuban soil n fine morn
in- when a Spanish cruiser came along,
gobbled us up bodily and towed us into
Havana as prisoners. We were put
into historic old MORO castle.
IF learned later that other companies.
hearing of our misfortune. put back to
SET and d~isbanded. Our officers were
all Spaniards-rebels. My captains
name was Rodriguez. They told us
when we enlisted that when We got to
Cuba all would be our friends except a
few aristocrats. / am sorry to say
hat in later events we found the Gu
bans our worst enemies. The descrip-
tons which We a had SO graphically
in the press deal lightly with MORO
castle. The reporters have evidently
never explored the man-consuming
bowels of the great monster. Men can
n It find in the English language words
thai can picture the horrors or the I'M
foreground construction as 1t was in
1850. and / suppose 1t is worse to-day.
The first thing the Americans should
do when they take Havana Is to tear
down the old castle.
THE descriptions of the terrible Span
ish prisons at Ceuta, on the North Az
rican coast, give faint ideas Of the cata-
combs of the MORO. Tear down the
walls and there. lying in dark, damp.
yer nir-flled caves Americans will fird
people who have not beheld the glories
of the sun for years. l cannot describe
now how we tunneled underground 10
these little classmates. The one Wealth
es and i. by most remarkable coinci-
dent, were placed in vas about seven
feet long, four feet wide and five feet
high. The water was constantly drip
ping on the straw we had for a bed, and
there was no telling how long this straw
had been there. II was moldy and alive
with vermin. The odor was sickening.
We were left in continual usk The
light from the tunnel was the only ray
from the outside world reaching Us.
From every side Of this tunnel Of
starvation and torture came groans Of
agony and signs of resignation. Here a
political prisoner told of his incarcera-
ton for months because Of some trivial
act. There a woman n her children
were being starved. The awful. inquis-
itional horrors and im-prisonments OF
those Of Ceuta could not rave been more
terrible. But this il but the overture
for the drama of tragedy and barbarity
that we were TO Witness.
About two weeks after our impris-
onment the ~Spaniards In charge of Ha-
vana called a court martial and we
were summoned for trial. We called on
the American consul to assist us. I be-
lieve his name was Russell. but am not
sure. He came to see us. not as a con-