1873: Twelve Cuban revolutionaries
November 8th, 2017 Headsman
On this date in 1873, twelve more Cuban revolutionaries condemned by the Spanish military were shot in Santiago de Cuba, raising the overall November 7-8 butcher’s bill to 49 and seeming to auger the massacre of the entire 100-strong crew of the captured American blockade runner Virginius, and the prospect of outright war.
Cincinnati Commercial Tribune, Nov. 13, 1873.
But instead, they were the last of the executions, thanks to the bold action of a British officer.
Sir Lambton Loraine, skipper of the HMS Niobe anchored at Santiago de Cuba, dashed off a demand/threat to General Juan Burriel insisting upon an immediate cessation of executions … which he delivered personally.
Military Commander of Santiago —
Sir: I have no orders from my government, because they are not aware of what is happening; but I assume the responsibility and I am convinced that my conduct will be approved by Her Britannic Majesty, because my actions are pro-humanity and pro-civilisation, I demand that you stop this dreadful butchery that is taking place here. I do not believe that I need explain what my actions will be in case my demand is not heeded.
Communiques back to the American and British governments were running days behind events; had Loraine waited on those orders from his government, many more rebels would likely have been shot over the subsequent days. Instead, the executions ceased, clearing a path to the resolution of the crisis.
Loraine was celebrated as a hero in the United States, a number of whose nationals were aboard the Virginius. When Cuba attained independence from Spain at the end of the century, a wide boulevard in Santiago de Cuba was renamed Lambton Loraine street.
On this day..
- 1738: George Whalley and Dean Briant, wife-murderers - 2020
- 1842: The prisoner-mutineers of the Governor Phillip - 2019
- 1721: Catharaina Margaratha Linck, lesbian - 2018
- 1866: Robert Dodge, haunter - 2016
- 1944: Joseph Watson and Willie Wimberly Jr. - 2015
- 1793: Madame Roland, éminence grise - 2014
- 1752: James of the Glen - 2013
- 1676: Anna Schmieg and Barbara Schleicher, Langenburg witches - 2012
- 1861: Sushun, by Empress Dowager Cixi - 2011
- 1969: Nahashon Isaac Njenga Njoroge, assassin of Tom Mboya - 2010
- 1845: Lavinia Burnett and Crawford Burnett - 2009
- 1892: Jens Nielsen, the last in Denmark - 2008
- 1520: Stockholm Bloodbath - 2007
Entry Filed under: 19th Century,Capital Punishment,Cuba,Death Penalty,Execution,History,Mass Executions,Power,Revolutionaries,Shot,Spain,Treason,USA,Wartime Executions
Tags: 1870s, 1873, diplomacy, lambton loraine, november 8, santiago de cuba, virginius, virginius affair
