s who have
become American citizens.

They vow vengeance against such men, and are ever on the watch to find an
excuse for arresting or punishing them.

Dr. Ruiz, though he seems to have attended to his own business, and obeyed
the law in every way, interfering with no one, has been an object of
suspicion to Fondeviella for some time past, and when, on January 16th, a
train was thrown off the rails by insurgents, a few miles from Guanabacoa,
Dr. Ruiz was accused of having taken part in the outrage.

He was arrested and thrown into jail.

When the reason for his arrest was known, some well-known citizens of
Guanabacoa came forward, and said that they knew Dr. Ruiz was innocent. It
seems that on that very night there was a birthday party at the house of
Dr. Ruiz's father-in-law.

The doctor was present, but, feeling tired, he left the party at ten
o'clock and went to his own house. Two of his friends went with him, and
sat chatting with him until after twelve o'clock.

The train was thrown off the rails at ten-thirty, so that it was quite
impossible that Dr. Ruiz could have had any hand in the work.

The authorities refused to listen to these statements made by Dr. Ruiz's
friends, and kept him shut up in a dark and filthy cell for fourteen days.
At the end of this time word came to Consul-General Lee that Dr. Ruiz had
died in prison.

As he was a very strong and healthy man, the American Consul at once
suspected that he had not died a natural death.

On investigation it was found that the poor fellow had died from the
effects of a blow on the head.

No one knows, and probably no one ever will know, how he was killed, but
there are dark rumors that he was murdered in his cell by Fondeviella's
orders.

When the Americans were going to see the cell in which poor Dr. Ruiz had
died, they were obliged to pass along a corridor lined with other cells,
in which more prisoners were confined.

As they walked along this passage, several of the poor captives came to
their doors, and whispered that Ruiz had been ill-treated, and they
thought murdered. They declared that they had heard sounds of blows coming
from his cell, and that the jail had rung with the poor doctor's cries for
help.

This may not be true, because Cubans shut up in jails by Spaniards are not
likely to feel very friendly toward them, and these stories may have been
invented with the hope of angering the Americans into making war on Spain.

But wheth