Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1898-03-24
WAS MINED BY WEYLER.
Startling Statement Made by Cor
respondent Laine.
He Claims to Have an Authentic Copy of .
Letter Written by the Ex-Captain
General in Which the Maine Dis
aster is Foreshadowed.

respondent recently arrested and
searched by Spanish officials in Ca
banas prison, Havana, and later ex-
PEELED from the island. This is the
opening of LANES statement:
ION January "a, at 10 p. m, met in
the cafe Inglaterra, the headquarters
of the reporters in Havana, Francisco
Diaz, reporter of the rabid Spanish
newspaper, "a Union Constitutional,
with whom | frequently exchanged
news.
ION asking him if he had anything
to give me, he took from his pocket a
| letter and gave it to me, saying: 'Wey-
| Ter wrote this letter to Santos Guzman,
who sent it to Move the editor of the
Union ConstitucionaD for him to read
and write an article on the acceptance
| by Weyler of the candidacy of deputy
| to the cortes for Havana. | took this
copy, which you can keep"
The following is the alleged letter
| referred to above:
His Excelency, Don Francisco De Los Santos
| GuZman:
| My distinguished personal and political
| friend: Since the latest events have changed
| my views about the attitude which politi-
|
| thought before that it was more dignified fer
| US to abstain from the electoral contest, be-
lieve now that II is patriotic duty for us to go
| to the polls Our success cannot lie doubted,
| nor that with programme of defense OF the
| national honor. we will have side by side with
| us all those lukewarm politicians who though
| SpaniardS at heart, are deceived by the inside
| combinations Of Moret and SagaSta and take
| as scientific solutions of our colonial problems
| what really dishonorable humiliations of
| our country before the United States.
| Write your flag, the flag of Spain, De
| fense OF National Honor" and / offer you my
| name your candidate. After having COM
| manded during two years 2C0,l 90 Spanish
| heroes in Cuba, l shall be more proud Of the
title of deputy from Havana to the cortes of
Spain. BY the way, have read these days
| that the Americans are pondering about send
| ing one of heir warships to that city. During
| my command in Cuba they did not even dare to
| dream about it They knew the terrible pun
| ishment that awaited them. l had Havana
| harbor we'll prepared for such an emergency
| rapidly finished the work that Martinez Cam
| pos carelesSly abandoned.
| If the insult is made hope that there VIII be
| Spanish hand to punish it as terribly as it
| deserves VALERIANo WLYLER.
Madrid, January s, 1855.
| Laine says that he read the letter
and pigeonholed it. When the Maine
disaster occurred, he called at the
| Office of the Union Constitutional to
see Diaz, in an effort to secure the
original of the letter. Some days after
| the Maine explosion Laine met Diaz,
who asked him if he remembered the
] letter and what its contents were
about an American warship. Laine
replied that he did. and that he be-
| lieved some one had followed Weyler's
| advice. Laine says that he has since
| found out that Diaz informed the chief
| of police that he ULaine) had copy of
a letter written by Weyler which
might bring trouble to the Spanish
government, especially as he was an
American newspaper correspondent
who was associating with Capt. Sigs-
| bee.
On March 4, Laine was arrested by
Col. Paglieri, chief of police of Ha-
vana His friends were informed of
his being imprisoned by a cabman who
knew him. According to Laine, Chief
Paglieri said: We'll, sir, we have you
here secured, and let me tell you that
the secret that ! know you possess will
never be known through you by others,
as no one will ever know what becomes
of you
Laine replied: IF you think that
| YOU can murder me as were Aria and
Posasa, the two young men who were
| taken from here and killed in the Ger
ro, you are mistaken"
The colonel replied: mo, sir: | am
not mistaken"
"You may not be mistaken" said
Laine, but | can tell you that at this
moment the French as well as the
| American consul have been notified
that / am here"
This changed the chiefs attitude
somewhat, but he persisted in trying
to secure information from Laine.
Il know" he said, ''all about copy
of letter of Gen. Weyler which you
have, and the trouble you intend to
cause with it, but | do not care very
much about that. What | want to
know now is, what information you
gave to Consul Lee on February II
about your suspicious of a plot sug-
gested by that letter and the placing
of dynamite mines in the harbor, with
which fact you said you became ac-
quainted during your incarceration in
the time of Weyler?"
This was really a surprise to me"
LANES narrative continues. Il had
referred to the letter to Gen. Lee and
had also spoken to him about what |
had seen during my imprisonment in
the Cabanas fortress, which lasted for
more than a year, during the most
bloody period of the reign of Weyler.
my Investigations during my i'm
prisonment were carried on as far as a
political prisoner could in Spanish
fortress, but it was sufficient for me to
ascertain with certainty that the guam
tity of dynamite placed in the harbor
In different places was two tons, and
that the wires of the mines were con-
nected with the Cabanas fortress and
the marine headquarters"
The Correspondents are Not Wanted.
Havana, March 1S.-The question of
the expulsion of several American cor
; respondents who are very obnoxious to
the authorities is again being consid-