On The Left Of The Criminal Walked An
Officer Of Justice; On His Right An Ecclesiastic, Slender And Stooping,
In
A black gown and a black cap, the top of which was formed into a sort
of coronet, exhorting the
Criminal, in a loud voice and with many
gesticulations, to repent and trust in the mercy of God.
When they reached the platform, the negro was made to place himself on his
knees before it, the priest continuing his exhortations, and now and then
clapping him, in an encouraging manner, on the shoulder. I saw the man
shake his head once or twice, and then kiss the crucifix. In the mean time
a multitude, of all ages and both sexes, took possession of the places
from which the spectacle could be best seen. A stone-fence, such as is
common in our country, formed of loose stones taken from the surface of
the ground, upheld a long row of spectators. A well-dressed couple, a
gentleman in white pantaloons, and a lady elegantly attired, with a black
lace veil and a parasol, bringing their two children and two colored
servants, took their station by my side - the elder child found a place on
the top of the fence, and the younger, about four years of age, was lifted
in the arms of one of the servants, that it might have the full benefit of
the spectacle.
The criminal was then raised from the ground, and going up the platform
took the seat ready for him. The priest here renewed his exhortations,
and, at length, turning to the audience, said, in a loud voice, "I believe
in God Almighty and in Jesus Christ his only Son, and it grieves me to the
heart to have offended them." These words, I suppose, were meant, as the
confession of the criminal, to be repeated after the priest, but I heard
no response from his lips. Again and again the priest repeated them, the
third time with a louder voice than ever; the signal was then given to the
executioner. The iron collar was adjusted to the neck of the victim, and
fastened under the chin. The athletic negro in blue, standing behind the
post, took the handle of the screw and turned it deliberately. After a few
turns, the criminal gave a sudden shrug of the shoulders; another turn of
the screw, and a shudder ran over his whole frame, his eyes rolled wildly,
his hands, still tied with the rope, were convulsively jerked upward, and
then dropped back to their place motionless forever. The priest advanced
and turned the peak of the white cap over the face to hide it from the
sight of the multitude.
I had never seen, and never intended to see an execution, but the
strangeness of this manner of inflicting death, and the desire to witness
the behavior of an assembly of the people of Cuba on such an occasion, had
overcome my previous determination. The horror of the spectacle now caused
me to regret that I made one of a crowd drawn to look at it by an idle
curiosity.
The negro in blue then stepped forward and felt the limbs of the dead man
one by one, to ascertain whether life were wholly extinct, and then
returning to the screw, gave it two or three turns more, as if to make his
work sure. In the mean time my attention was attracted by a sound like
that of a light buffet and a whimpering voice near me. I looked, and two
men were standing by me, with a little white boy at their side, and a
black boy of nearly the same age before them, holding his hat in his hand,
and crying. They were endeavoring to direct his attention to what they
considered the wholesome spectacle before him. "_Mira, mira, no te harda
dano_"[6] said the men, but the boy steadily refused to look in that
direction, though he was evidently terrified by some threat of punishment
and his eyes filled with tears. Finding him obstinate, they desisted from
their purpose, and I was quite edified to see the little fellow continue
to look away from the spectacle which attracted all other eyes but his.
The white boy now came forward, touched the hat of the little black, and
goodnaturedly saying "_pontelo, pontelo_"[7] made him put it on his head.
The crowd now began to disperse, and in twenty minutes the place was
nearly solitary, except the sentinels pacing backward and forward. Two
hours afterward the sentinels were pacing there yet, and the dead man, in
his white dress and iron collar, was still in his seat on the platform.
It is generally the natives of Africa by whom these murders are
committed; the negroes born in the country are of a more yielding temper.
They have better learned the art of avoiding punishment, and submit to it
more patiently when inflicted, having understood from their birth that it
is one of the conditions of their existence. The whip is always in sight.
"Nothing can be done without it," said an Englishman to me, who had lived
eleven years on the island, "you can not make the negroes work by the mild
methods which are used by slaveholders in the United States; the blacks
there are far more intelligent and more easily governed by moral means."
Africans, the living witnesses of the present existence of the
slave-trade, are seen everywhere; at every step you meet blacks whose
cheeks are scarred with parallel slashes, with which they were marked in
the African slave-market, and who can not even speak the mutilated Spanish
current in the mouths of the Cuba negroes.
One day I stood upon the quay at Matanzas and saw the slaves unloading the
large lighters which brought goods from the Spanish ships lying in the
harbor - casks of wine, jars of oil, bags of nuts, barrels of flour. The
men were naked to the hips; their only garment being a pair of trowsers.
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