Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 December 1896 — CUBA’S BENEDICT ARNOLD. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

CUBA’S BENEDICT ARNOLD.

Man .Who la Alleged to Have Led Gen. Maceo to His Death. Dr. Maximo Zertucha, the supposed Benedict Arnold of the Cuban revolution, who is alleged to have betrayed the gallant, fearless Maceo and his staff to death, looks like a man who would not only betray his patient and see him

slaughtered, but would present a bill to the widow for professional services. After Maceo’s death he “surrendered” himself to the Spaniards and was protected by them. It was on the information given them by Zertucha that the story sent out by the authorities at Havana was made up. The doctor, in telling how Maceo met his death, said that the general had a force of 2,000 Cubans who were attacked by COO Spaniards. Maceo and his staff were in the center of the forces. In the battle that followed, Maceo and his entire staff were killed. The Cubans fled. Dr. Zertucha, say the Cubans, has been variable in his sympathies for years, at one time holding to Spain, at another allying himself with the islanders. The doctor was formerly a surgeon in the army of Spain. Many years ago he went to Cuba, and by political intrigue was made the mayor of the town of Melena in the province of Havana. He has been more or less intimately associated with every political party in Cuba. When the present revolution was sprung, Zertucha changed into an outright rebel and offered his services to Maceo. He freely gave his services for the cause of liberty, but’his alleged treason has made his very name odious throughout the world, and it is thought vengeful Cubans will never be satisfied until his body fills a dishonored grave.

DR. MAXIMO ZERTUCHA.