In the cities, outrages equally barbarous were committed.

The Havana volunteers.

The Havana volunteers, made up of the Spanish-born residents, in whose favor the government of the island has always been arranged, took possession of Havana, and put it under mob rule.  In May, 1870, they marched out in front of the Villaneuva theater and fired volleys into the crowds that were entering.  They had reason to believe, some of them said, that the performance to be given there was to raise funds for the insurgent cause.

So powerful was this organization that shortly after this outrage they placed the Captain-General of the island under arrest, and finally shipped him to Spain, sending word to the home government that he was not severe enough in his rule to suit their views, and suggesting that in case there were no Peninsulars who had the necessary stamina to govern Cuba according to their ideas, they might feel it advisable to assume command themselves.

On another occasion the dead body of one of these volunteers was placed in a public tomb in Havana, and the repository was found to have been defaced by scurrilous writing on the glass of the door.  For no known reason, except a blood-thirsty desire for vengeance on someone, no matter whether guilty or innocent, it was claimed that the outrage was committed by some of the students of the university, and on complaint of the volunteer corps, forty-three of these young men were arrested.

They were arraigned before the military tribunal, and so manifestly unjust was the accusation that an officer of the regular army of Spain volunteered to defend them.  There was absolutely no proof against them, and they were acquitted.  But the volunteers were determined that their victims should not escape, and taking advantage of the fear in which they were held, even by the Havana officials, they forced the Governor-General to issue an order for a second courtmartial.  At this examination they manipulated matters so that two thirds of the members of the trial board were connected with their organization, and a verdict of guilty was quickly rendered against all of the prisoners.  Eight of them were sentenced to be shot, and the others to long terms of imprisonment at hard labor.

The day of the execution was a holiday in Havana.  Bands of music paraded the streets, followed by the volunteers, 15,000 strong, while behind them, bound in chains, and under military guard, came the eight boys who had been condemned to die.  Conscious of their innocence of any crime, they did not falter, but marched bravely to the place of execution, where they faced their murderers and fell, riddled by bullets from the rifles of the volunteers.  The report of this affair sent a thrill of horror throughout the whole of the civilized world, and the perpetrators of the outrage were severely censured by the Spanish Cortes, but there was no attempt at punishment, nor were the ones who had been imprisoned released.