The History of Cuba, vol. 3Johnson, Willis Fletcher
History
The History of Cuba, vol. 3
Johnson, Willis Fletcher
Cuba -- Economic conditions; Cuba -- History
"A finer looking set of young men I never saw; they made not a
single complaint, not a murmur, against their sentence, and
decency should have been shown their dead bodies in admiration for
the heroism they displayed when brought out for execution. Not a
muscle was seen to move, and they proved to the miserable rabble
congregated to witness the horrible spectacle that it being the
fortunes of war that they fell into the power of this government,
they were not afraid to die. It would have been a great consolation
to these poor fellows, as they repeatedly asked, to see their
consul, and through him to have sent their last adieus, and such
little remembrances as they had, to their beloved relations in the
States. But Mr. Owens, the American Consul, did not even make
application to the Captain-General to see these unfortunate
countrymen in their distress, and their sacred wishes in their last
moments have been unattended to. Lastly, at the very hour of
triumph, when the people of the Spanish steamer _Habanero_ knew
that the execution of the American prisoners, whom they had taken
to Havana, had taken place, two shots were fired across or at the
steamer _Falcon_ off Bahia Honda; and notwithstanding that this
vessel was well known to them, having as she had the American flag
hoisted, etc., she was detained and overhauled by these Spanish
officers."
Another reliable source, the report of an American naval officer,
furnished the information, that after the prisoners had been shot, their
bodies were mutilated; they were dragged by the heels, and outraged in a
manner which would make the most unenlightened savage shudder; their
ears and fingers were cut off, and portions of these, together with
pieces of skull, were distributed to the Spanish officers as souvenirs,
while some of these grim relics were afterward nailed up in public
places as a warning against attempts to revolt against the Spanish
Government. Ten of the bodies were placed in coffins, and the rest were
merely thrown into a pit.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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