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Leading Questions of Races and Crimes: Cubans

Some of the newspaper men, in the days when they were occasionally permitted to pass the Spanish lines, made narrow escapes from robbers who have no sentiments as to the dominion of Spain or the independence of Cuba, but have taken to the road to live by criminal courses, protected by the prevalent disorder. These wretches do more than all the troops in arms, however vicious and uncontrollable many of them are, to give the inhabitants of the desolated Island a bad name, and add the fame of frightfully evil deeds to the general disaster and augment to awful proportions the horrors of war. Early in April there was news from Havana of the execution by the garrote of five men, and the cable, unrestrained this time by the censors, told of the terrors of the execution, and millions read the hideous story, believing that the ruthless Spaniards were putting to death, ignominiously, brave men whose crime was patriotism. In fact, the garrote was employed to strangle a group of murderers who engaged in robbing a farmhouse, were taken red-handed and with the spoil they had gathered.