The History of Cuba, vol. 3Johnson, Willis Fletcher
History
The History of Cuba, vol. 3
Johnson, Willis Fletcher
Cuba -- Economic conditions; Cuba -- History
had in some manner miscarried, how they could not conceive, and justice
had triumphed. Such things would not do in dealing with Cubans. They
made a vigorous appeal to the Captain-General, and obtained from him an
order for assembling a second court martial, and this time they saw to
it that their own body was well represented in that body. The boys were
again apprehended, and the trial which ensued was a tragic farce, in
which they were given not the slightest chance for justice. Eight of
them were condemned to death, and the others to imprisonment at hard
labor. Consternation reigned among the best families of Cuba. One
distracted father offered a ransom of a million dollars for the life of
his son, but without avail. On November 27, 1871, the condemned
criminals, whose worst offence, if indeed there was any offense at all,
was the utterance of an indignant remark about a ruffian who had
attacked those dearest to all loyal, chivalrous and patriotic hearts,
the women of Cuba, were led out and shot in the presence of fifteen
thousand Spanish Volunteers, all under arms. In after years when the
wrong was beyond repair, justice was done to the memory of these
martyred youths, for not only did the Spanish Cortes, with admirable
fairness, investigate the matter and pronounce in favor of the innocence
of the students, but also the son of Castanon came to Cuba from Spain
with the object of removing thither his father's remains, investigated
the condition of the tomb, and made a sworn statement before a notary
that it had never been disturbed.
The murder of the students of course created intense feeling in Cuba;
Havana was in a turmoil, and the sentiment engendered by this and
similar outrages committed or incited by the Volunteers swelled the list
of those who were in sympathy with a speedy release for Cuba from
Spanish rule. The scene of the tragedy has since been marked by the
Cuban government with a tablet which bears this inscription:
"On the 27th of November, 1871, there were sacrificed in front of this
place, by the Spanish Volunteers of Havana, the eight young Cuban
students of the First Year of Medicine:
Alonzo Alvarez de la Campa,
Carlos Augusto de Latorre,
Pascual Rodriquiz Perez,
Angel Laborde,
Jose de Marcos Medina,
Eladio Gonzales Toledo,
Anacleto Bermudez,
Carlos Verdugo.
To their eternal memory, this tablet is dedicated, the 27th of November,
1899."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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