Show ESCAPED FROMMORO An American VIio Had Many Adventures Ad-ventures SPRINGFIELD Mass April 29 Walter S Whitcomb of this city who enlisted with the Cuban insurgents and made his escape from the famous Moro castle just outside of Havana by means of e rope has returned to his home and tells an interesting story of his experience while in the army of the Cubans He was walking in the streets of Jacksonville Fla when his attention was attracted to a squad of Cuban patriots each bearing white silk banners ban-ners designating that they were in search of men to enlist for the war His adventuresome spirit seized him and he joined the cause receiving 150 at the outset in American currency Six other recruits enlisted with him They took sail in the tug Port Jackson and landed at Del Rio where they were met by two men from the insurgent insur-gent camp under the command of Antonio An-tonio Maceo The party went at once to the rebel camp Whitcomb remained in the rebel camp five weeks This camp was ninety miles from Havana and contained 12000 insurgents The patriots were well informed Whitcomb says in the simpler military tactics of their time to drill and devoted most teir tme drI I work While In camp Whitcomb suffered suf-fered an attack of fever and upon I his convalescence was given a pass through the lines to Havana When I within twenty miles of the city he fell into a camp of Spanish soldiers They I captured him and tied him hand and foot t a tree There were several Cubans Cu-bans captured with him and they were tied in like manner He spent the night thus bound In the morning the Cubans Cu-bans were gone killed the Spaniards told him Whitcomb was taken t Moro castle in company with other he confineI prisoners At night was confne1 in the great dingy tower but during the daytime he was permitted the free dom of the boulevard There were I sixty prisoners in the castle including twelve Americans Whitcomb had 140 with him when imprisoned which he I had succeeded in concealing in his shoe He bribed the guard assigned to j his cell paying him 80 for forty feet of rope with which to escape from the i tower Then he fastened the rope to a 1 stone and swung off into the Gulf of Mexico He swam out to a catboat belonging to one of the officials and was picked up by the Adrian bound for the Florida coast The catboat was taken in tow and upon reaching Florida Flor-ida Whitcomb sold it for 60 |