A CUBAN TRAITRESS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 1996, 4 February 1907, Page 4

A CUBAN TRAITRESS.

Tlioro was oao, ami only ono, conspicuous traitor among tlio Cuba women, tlio daughter and sister of patriots, and her name will go down m the history of the island execrated by hundreds whoso friends and kins folk she has hotVaycd to the Spanish. Hor name is Njna Diaz. She is said to bo beautiful. Clever she undoubtedly is, and«tlio sweotheart of a Spanish ollioer, which exvdains the situation. One day Weylor, disgusted at the ill-success of his spies in ferreting out any information of the plans and purposes of the insurgents, called lvis staff together. “What we want,' he said, “is a clever woman spy. They are tlio best—that is, if they work for the man they love.” So Nina Diaz was elected to the office, and did hor work only too well. At first she was always to bo found at the dock on steamer days, mingling with tlio crowd, her ears and eyes open for all she could see a lid hear. As a result Weyler’s ban fell upon one after another high in Cuban circles. 'Then she was sont to ply her vocation in Pillar del Rio, amid all the horrors of war. There she first fell under suspicion by. tlio countrymen whom sho was selling into the hands ol the or.omy. Caught while communicating with a Spanish officer, she was arrested by the insurgents Brought before Mncoo, sho explained that she was the daughter of f’elix Diaz, and had come into the lines only to see hor father and brothers. She claimed that the Spanish officor who was (Hiking to hor was endeavoring to bribe her to betray hor friends. On this testimony he was shot, no ono believing his declaration to the contrary. Sho witnessed the execution of her Spanish friend, and then followed her lather and brothers into camp, where sho made herself familiar with the plans of the insurgents. When night came she escaped to tlio Spanish linos and gave such information that tlio Cubans were surprised in the early dawn and defeated after a severe fight. During the battle Nina escaped to Havana disguised as a boy. The most unprincipled act of her treachery was when sho botrayod her own mother into the hands of the Spanish and saw her sent to the convict prison. Sho and her lover wore captured and imprisoned in Fort Cubanns. She. effected an escape, and was sent, to New York, but' the Cubans in that city heard of her arrival, and sho accomplished but little. Alter returning to Havana she was not able t'o do much mischief, as, ho ing unasked, none of the patriots trusted her, and her sources of information were cut off.