The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1899-06-06
TIE NANIGOS OF CUBA.
True Story Infamous Secret Criminal Society That
Has Terrorized the Island


who are and who are not nanigos, and
the police know also, although they
have frequently made persons appear
as such who were innocent OF the
charge. According to the police, the
Hanigos are known by an indelible
blue mark which they tattoo on the
back OF the hand between the thumb
and inGez.inger. and ti.ere have been
periods during whic!! he police have
arrested hundreds Of persons IL tie
streets 70 examine their hands. Il
thsss had blue mark they were pa;
in prison. Sailors with tattooed marks
have sometimes been victims Of this
method Of pursuing nanigos, although
they did not belong to any secret So
ciety whatever. The real na1igos
have declared that the blue marks
proved nothing; that they were not
necessary requisite for membership IN
societies; and that it would be mis-.
take for the nanigos to mark them
selves in way that would serve to
b=tray them. The police, however,
have continued to regard with great
suspicion the blue marks, and the
plucked hens also. When one OF
these is seen in the yard Of house it
is concluded that a naDigo lodge is
celebrating its rites within.
Some years ago, Governor OF
Hrana, General Rodriguez Batista,
boasted Of having put an end by
peaceable means to these secret so.
cieties. The heads of the lodges de-
livered up to him the idols, drums
and other paraphernalis OF their
worship; the press eulogized Senior
Rodriguez Batista highly, without
taking the trouble to find out what
arguments he might have used to
produce such speedy results. But
within g short time after the Cover
nor's depsrture for Madrid the
nanigos were again in the field. Under
General Weyler's rule, aided by the
circumstance that the existing state Ct
war permitted the condemnation Of
accused persons without trial, that is,
the employment of the authority OF
the polica instead OF the action OF the
courts, measures were taken to clear
Havana of nanigos. About a thousand
persons were deported to Spain; and,
according to the declarations Of the
police, there remained IN the city some
1000 more s.S s-s----.st -.
.sa- sS--z-sss--.;a carsons sent to
Spain, It IS not certain thagals..-=ven
the greater part belonged ssnss
association, and there arc strong
reasons for believing that many mis-
takes were made. Any one who had
talked with the nanigos in the prisons
of Havana, in the vessels in which
they were transported to Spain, or in
the Peninsula, afterwards, will have
heard many CT them say: II was a
member; but there are many here who
were not members. They also gave
the names, the occupation and the age
of the victims.
The method employed to determine
who should be transported could not
be more detective than it was. There
Was no trial, nor anything resem bling
one. No proofs, no defence, no wit
nesses, no publicity. Every Saturday
the Chiefs of Police of all the districts
met together. Each one presented
the list Of persons arrested by him as
supposed Hanigos. If magistrate
was interested in any one arrested by
order Of another magistrate, he spoke
in favor of his protege, who was set Ct
liberty. In Havana it was regarded
as certain that the police accepted
money from those arrested. It is be-
yond doubt that the manner OF liy-
ing Of all the police of6cials--in-
spectors, wardens, ETC., was not in
accordance with the modest salaries
which they received.
The government Of Malrid has been
blamed without reason for having sent
back to Cuba the men thus daportec
as nanigos. Having renowned her
authority over the island, Spain could
not retain in her prisons persons o7ar
whom she no longer exercised any
species Of jurisdiction, and who, be.
sides, had not been condemned By any
regular court.
The fault was not in sending them
back to Cuba, but in having taken
them thence solely on the warr&nJ Of
a police that had by no means therepu
ton of being over-scrupulous.
It is probable that under the new
rule naniguria will disappear, FOR it Is
plain that its environment, both politi-
cal and social, has contributed TO the
preservation of the association. The
population Of Cuba is composed OF
three elements-the European, the
American, and the African. n the
contact OF races it is not one race only
that is influenced and that undergoes
modification. The European, and still
more the American, Of the poor and
ignorant classes i'll Cuba, has become
AfrancanizeG. He has taken from the
African words for his vocabulary and
music for his songs. Tie rites Of the
nanigos show that he has also accepted
something Of his idolatry, symptom
which tells what would have been the
condition of the island if there had not
been constant and abundant Infusion
into its population OF other blood.
Thanks to this infusion, CUBA and
Porto Rico are the only tropical coun.
tries capable OF an organization sini.
lar to that Of the European States.-
New York Post.
From an Obituary Notice.