The evening times., 1898-05-12
CUBAN PATRIOTS.
Indictm+nt. As.g..t 5rAen May Not
BE Pressed.

he Pressed.
New York. May 12IThose men who
were indicted In the United States court
of this district for hlibustering. among
whom was Gen. Caiixto Garcia. the Gu
ban insurgent leader. viii probably never
be brought to trial. Sd FAR as could be
learned yesterday. fine United Safes Gov
ernment is disposed to be charItably in
clined. and nol-pros- the indictments in
all the cases, save. perhaps. those against
Gen. Garcia and Carlos Rolon.
When Judge Thomas opened the
May term Of the United States circuit
. court-criminal branch-yesterday. 1t
was expected that the cases of the fill
busters would be found on the calendar.
They were not. and United States Dis
trict Attorney Henry L. Burnett issued
instructions that the cases were not to
be prosecuted until Attorney Generai
Griggs had been consulted.
There Is no set OF persons more inter-
ested in having the indictments disposed
of than the members of the Cuban Jun
ia. Horatio 8. Rubens. counsel to the
Junta. called on United States Commits
sioner Shields yesterday. and asked that
some action be taken one way or an
other. as about 81. 900 belonging to the
Junta was now tied up as cash bail. This
money is now lying in the Central Ma
tional Bank. the recognised depository of
the Federal Government. Mr.. Rubens
believes that II the indicted persons were
brought to trial 1t would be impossible
to convict them. Gen. Garcia is a fu-
gitive from justice, and his bail of s.
so cash has been declared forfeited.
CaIxto Garcia was indicted on March
~. 1896. with John D. Hart, Samuel
Hughes. Benjamin Guerra. Bernardo J.
Bueno. Lawrence Brabazon and another
who was never arrested. That was In
connection with the fitting out of the
steamship Bermuda with arms and am
munftion for the Insurgents Garcia
with the others, was arrested, and gave
bail. but when his case was called for
trial ne did not appear. He had gone
70 Cuba and his bail was forfeited.
ihose who were indicted with him were
tried and acquitted on April TO- 1896
Joaquin Castillo. a prominent Cuban
sympathizer. was indicted on December
). 1896. Gen. Emilio Nunez and Charles
b- Dickman were jointly indicted on Oc-
tooer lS. 1896. They were tried on No
Vember of that year, and the iurv dis,.
greed. George w. Berry. James Nc
Aiiister and Frank Agramonte were in.
oicted on March g. 1886; Carlos ROTOR
on october Is. 1895: Joseph J. Luis. on
harch >. 1897. and on the same day he
was again indicted with ENRIQUE Tru
jillo.
Rolon furnished g. 500 cash hail and for
iei.ed 1t. and he also forfeited 800 bail
IA baltimore. where he was charged with
niibustering. In nearly every instance
,he baii was fixed at s. 800. and in lieu of
Donds cash was given. This cash the
Junta would like to get back into irs
Golfers. 10
that the Junta was provided with con-
siderable money is shown by the fact
that the cash bail was not only readily
given but that the bonds were furnished
Tor four boats that were libelled and
charged with being engaged in the fill
clustering business. The Laurada was
heid In Wilmington. Del: the Three
Friends In Jacksonville. Fla: the Dauut-
less in Jacksonville ard Savannah and
the schooner Donna T. Briggs, in Norfolk.
Va. or
In the cases of the other men il may
be decided to dismiss the indictments for
the reason that now they are allies of
America, in the work. of assisting the
Government to free Cuba from Spanish
control. They were indicted for doing the
very thing that America is now bending
ITS Army and Navy energies to do. to wit,
AASAP 'aS hhSuf6 6tutc- Is one aTEu-
ment that may be raised against dispos-
ing OF the indictments by dismissal That
Is that the men violated the United States
laws at a time when this Government and
that of Spain were on a friendly footing.
1t might be construed as a bad prece-
dent to wink at an infraction of United
States statutes.
That there is disposition to treat
these cases ieniently was shown a day or
two ago. At the time the steamship Ber-
muda was preparing to load with supplies
for the insurgents In 1886 the lighter
Stranahan was overhauled by United
States marshals. Three hundred pounds
of dynamite. 500 900 cartridges. and several
hundred arms were seized and stored on
Governors Island. BY direction of Gen.
AIger and stipulation entered into by
Assistant United States District Attorney
d. Frank Lloyd and Emmett r. Olcott.
the latter representing the owners. these
were delivered to the quarter
of the United States Army yester-
day and receipt given for them. The
goods were intended to be used against
Spain. and that will be their ultimate
use, after two years delay.