Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, With the Annual Message of the President, December 3, 1888, Part II

No. 996.
Mr. de Muruaga to Mr. Bayard.

[Translation.]

Legation of Spain at Washington,
Washington, May 1, 1888. (Received May 1, 1888.)

The undersigned, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of Spain, has the honor to inform the Hon. Thomas F. Bayard, Secretary of State, that the consul of his nation at Key West has informed him that a filibustering expedition is now ready in that port to effect a landing on the coast of Cuba, and once more to disturb the public peace and tranquillity in that island.

The so-called General Ruz is, according to all indications, the person who is to have charge of the expedition, and to this effect he has prepared (this being a matter of public notoriety) a force of from twenty-five to thirty men, and likewise a quantity of munitions of war and explosives, which are to form the material of the said expedition. These munitions of war are now stored partly in his own house and partly in the houses of Messrs. Drguiza and Yachaustegui, and also in that of Mrs. Henry Geiges.

The consul of Spain at Key West has already officially notified the collector of customs of these facts (as the honorable Secretary of State will find stated more in detail in the inclosed copy), and that Federal officer has asked instructions from the Treasury Department authorizing him to confiscate or seize the munitions aforesaid.

The undersigned, minister, feels confident that the United States Government will, without delay, issue the necessary orders to the proper authorities at Key West to prevent this expedition, confiscating at the same time the munitions of war in question, and bringing the delinquents to the punishment which they deserve, by reason of the constant contempt which they manifest for the laws of hospitality of the United States, and of their tenacious and wicked perseverance in carrying robbery, murder, fire, and pillage into the territory of a friendly country, which is closely bound to the United States by ties of great moral and material strength, which ties, in their mad folly, they propose to sunder.

The undersigned, etc.,

E. de Muruaga.

[Inclosure.]

Señor Torroja to the Collector of Customs.

Key West, April 19, 1888.

Dear Sir: Respectfully referring to our conversation of day before yesterday morning in reference to the filibusters of this city, I will further state that the so-called General Juan Fernandez Ruz claims to have twenty-five or thirty men perfectly armed and ready to follow him in an expedition against Cuba, but I fear that said Ruz will not go himself and will remain here in order to be able to keep on sending small expeditions, although it is a fact well known almost by everybody that there is an expedition ready to sail from this port. Another such general, Flor Crombet, is holding revolutionary meetings in this city and collecting funds with which he pretends to fit out expeditions against the said island of Cuba. I beg to call your attention to the foregoing facts, as well as to some reliable information that leads me to believe that the rifles, ammunition, and explosives are for the expedition, stored in boxes in a rear room of a house painted green on the Rocky Road—Dr. Yachaustegui’s office and dwelling—and some ten rifles, flags, machetes, etc., are hanging up in Ruz and Colonel Urquiza’s rooms at Mrs. Henry Geiges’ house on the Rocky Road next to Dr. Yachaustegui. Geiges’ house is painted white.

Hoping that the laws of the United States will enable you to take such measures as are necessary and proper to prevent such criminal acts against a friendly nation,

I remain, respectfully, yours,

Joaquin M. Torroja.