The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-05-11

thought came over him that these deep
indentations had been made by more ter
rible destroyers than the birds of the Dir.
The little tree had been pierced by hum
bred bullets from Spanish rifles, and at
every discharge fell some native of this
island, who had loved it not wisely but
too we'll To judge from the shots, many
a brave heart ceased to beat on that spot.
SpnniardS Like 40 See Blood.
But the exercise of Spanish skill in fir
ing at the tree was a small affair COM
pared with the larger massacres that took
place within these walls l did not at
tempt to count the prisons vaulted with
stone into which the rebels were forced
by hundreds. Here was a grand array of
captives upon which their brave captors
could vent their rage! On every side the
walls are pitted with shots, at every sound
of which some poor creature had an end
put to his suffering, till even the murder
ers, if they still retained a touch of hu-
mainly, must have been sick with the
sight of blood But If they grew tired of
their work, there were outsiders who were
never tired of massacre. Many of the rich
Spaniards in the city of Havana were Gag
err to witness tragedy that was more to
them than a hundred bull-hghts. They
had been accustomed to shout with de-
light when a bull gored a horse, that rush
ed bleeding around the arena, and now
they would find a still greater excitement
in the shedding of human blood. 1t was
the spirit of Old Rome when captives were
thrown to the lions in the coliseum, and
human life was thought; nothing If it
could serve
To make a Roman holiday
So these Cuban prisoners were kept for
great battue. DO you see that line 3"
said our guide, "along the WALTZ" That
was the dead line, where the condemned
were ranged in row of a hundred or
more, with their backs against the wall.
10 be shot down in cold blood. while the
pride aud fashion of Havana crowded ev-
cry point of vantage on the walls that
overlooked the spot and cheered with wild
enthusiasm as they saw the heaps of dead
that were thus piled up in the arena be-
fore them!
This seems the last limit of horrors. Rut
no; there may be conditions that are worse
than death. We have read of the BLACK
Hole" of Calcutta. Who could endure such
horrors without fearful temptation TO
curse God and die! But when / come to
such a spot it had for me a strange fascs-
nation, as If l We're looking into the mouth
of he'll. In spite of the warning of the
general lest | might be struck down with
yef4ow fever, l could not refrain from
thrusiing my head into places where the
ceiling was not high enough for me to
stand; and where TO move at all l should
have to creep and crawl, to move my
hands as well as my feet! Better a thou
sand tines TO be sleeping in a quiet grave
than to be thus buried alivei This Is the
last extreme of human suffering when
death itself will not die!
n great fortress has innumerable PASS
ases underground. More than once orr
guide asked us to stoop very low; to get
on my knees, TO look through the long pas
sages, one of which connects the Cabanas
with the Moro Castle, to which the garri-
son might retreat in case the first fortress
fell, to find escape by way of the sea.
In this Moro Castle there is at present
no garrison, and ii was an immense relief
to the tension of the last three hours ~
emerge from underground passages and
look out upon the broad sea, which knows
no servitude TO man. which breaches free
dom in the very dashing of her waves. and
to look up and see the Star-Spansled Ban
ner waving over us, with promise of free
dom for Cuba as boundless as the sea.