O'Brien in command,
cleared for Vera Cruz. The Cubans, including General Calixto Garcia, who
were to go on the expedition, were sent to Atlantic City, there to engage a
fishing sloop to take them off-shore where they would be picked up by the
_Bermuda_ on her way. The ship was under suspicion, and was followed down
the bay by tugboats carrying United States marshals, customs officers, and
newspaper reporters. O'Brien says: "They hung on to us down through the
lower bay and out past Sandy Hook, without getting enough to pay for a
pound of the coal they were furiously burning to keep up with us. I don't
know how far they might have followed us, but when we were well clear of
the Hook, a kind fortune sent along a blinding snow-storm, which soon
chased them back home." General Garcia and his companions were picked up as
planned, and that part of the enterprise was completed. The vessel was
on its way. A somewhat roundabout route was taken in order to avoid any
possible overhauling by naval or revenue ships. The point selected for the
landing was a little harbor on the north coast about thirty miles from the
eastern end of the island. The party included two Cuban pilots, supposed to
know the coast where they were to land. One of them proved to be a traitor
and the other, O'Brien says, "was at best an ignoramus." The traitor, who,
after the landing, paid for his offence with his life, tried to take them
into the harbor of Baracoa, where lay five Spanish warships. But O'Brien
knew the difference, as shown by his official charts, between the Cape
Maisi light, visible for eighteen miles, and the Baracoa light, visible
for only eight miles, and kicked the pilot off the bridge. The landing was
begun at half-past ten at night, and completed about three o'clock in the
morning, with five Spanish warships barely more than five miles away. The
United States Treasury Department reported this expedition as "successful."
The vessel then proceeded to Honduras, where it took on a cargo of bananas,
and returned, under orders, to Philadelphia, the home city of its owner,
Mr. John D. Hart. Arrests were made soon after the arrival, including Hart,
the owner of the vessel, O'Brien, and his mate, and General Emilio Nunez
who accompanied the expedition as the representative of the _junta_. The
case was transferred from the courts in Philadelphia to New York, and there
duly heard. The alleged offenders were defended by Horatio Rubens, Esq., of
New Yo