THE LURE OF TROUBLED WATERS[1]
by Charles O'Brien
 |
| The plaque honoring Dynamite Johnny O'Brien on Avenida del Puerto near the entrance to Plaza de Armas |
“A Captain
Unafraid” is “Dynamite” Johnny O’ Brien’s memoir, it was last published in 1912
by Harper and Sons in New York. “A Captain Unafraid” the film was shot in New
York, Cuba and Ireland over the past three years. The tome was ghost written by
Horace Smith towards the close of Captain O Brien’s life, it is the skeleton on
which the meat of this article and the film of the same name hangs.
“Dynamite”
Johnny O’ Brien was born in 1837, in the old dry dock section of New York,
almost on the banks of the East River[i]. His
parents though, were Irish. “Being of Irish parentage I was favourably disposed
towards dynamite on general principal,” he once exclaimed. Johnny grew up in a
playground of docks and shipyards. He ran away to sea at the age of 13.[2]
Though he began his career as a pilot-guiding vessels over the notorious waters
of Hell Gate, New York-he quickly became known as a filibuster, that is-an illegal
transporter of arms. He saw it as his patriotic duty to supply those in need
with arms and ammunition–“We [Americans] should not
forget that we were rebels once ourselves, and warmly welcomed filibustering
aid from France.” Though Johnny was involved in revolution and ruction across
the Americas, it was through his involvment with the Cuban War of Independence
that he gained true fame, or perhaps, lasting notoriety.
Before leaving
for America in 1831, Johnny says his family came from county Longford, Ireland. [3] Dynamite
Johnny’s mother’s maiden name was Bridget Sheridan and according to the book “A
Captain Unafraid” she was a relation of General Philip Sheridan’s.[4] General
Sheridan became a leading figure on the Union side in the American Civil War. Philip’s
birth is shrouded in mystery-as his mother seems to have fabricated a U.S.
birthplace for him. She (and many others) hoped Philip might become president
of the U.S.[5]
Dynamite Johnny received his sobriquet, not for the many
tons of dynamite he ferried to Cuba, but for sixty tons he brought to Panama in
1888. Panama was part of Colombia at the time, and Johnny says in his biography
that sixty tons of dynamite was enough “to blow the whole of Colombia off of
the map.” This was before dynamite was de-natured; in other words, it could
explode at the slightest jarring. A wealthy Cuban of revolutionary proclivities
had purchased The Rambler-the largest
yacht in New York Yacht Club. Intending to change the political map of Colombia
he had also purchased 60 tons of dynamite. Having looked far and wide for a captain
to ferry the dynamite (to no avail), the Cuban heard whispers of a daredevil[6] captain named Johnny
O’ Brien. A meeting was arranged between the two and Daredevil Johnny “cheerfully signed up” for the job. The dynamite
was loaded while the vessel was anchored at the Statue of Liberty and soon the expedition
was under way. The beginning of the voyage passed uneventfully, but when the
yacht entered the Gulf of Mexico a savage lightening storm blew up. Johnny’s
hair started to “crackle like a hickory fire” when he ran his hands through it.
Every time he touched a piece of metal he felt a slight shock. Thinking it was
his last moment on earth-from the corner of his eye-Johnny saw a spark alight-a
sailor contriving to light his pipe. At this moment (having failed to inform
his crew that the hold was full of dynamite), Johnny climbed down to the bottom
of the ship and tied down the boxes of sudden
death single-handedly (as they had begun to roll around). Eventually, the
storm passed and they reached the port of Colon without further incident. When
the sailors saw box after box being unloaded-emblazoned with the word Dynamite, Johnny said his crew would
have ended his life, had they not been “suffering considerably from heart failure.”
Though Johnny
looked for trouble and fortune on many’s the foreign shore, in his own country,
he aided both the Confederate and Union causes in the American Civil War. He was
appointed third officer of the Union ship The
Illinois. The Illinois (along
with other vessels) intended to ram an “iron clad” Confederate warship-The Merrimac. This was the first iron
steam ship built by the Confederates and was wreaking havoc off the coast of
Virginia. Johnny received his officership at the tender age of 25, more for the
kamikaze nature of the mission, than any perceived greatness the Union forces
felt he might have possessed[ii]. At
any-rate, the fracas never occurred, as General Goldsborough never ordered the
Union fleet to engage the Merrimac. Johnny said of Goldsborough-“I do not like
to call a dead man a coward but I will say that General Goldsborough was the
most cautious and conservative American I have ever known.”
Hot on the heels
of his station aboard The Illinois, Johnny’s next expedition was
smuggling arms to his supposed enemy-the Confederate States of America, through
the Mexican port of Matamoros. Once the arms arrived in Mexico, they were
smuggled over the border to Brownsville, Texas. Johnny shipped out as mate and
sailing master aboard The Deer, but due
to the inadequacies of the captain he was given the job of captaining the ship.
He was promptly informed that what he believed was general merchandise in the
hold, was in fact-munitions of war that were to be ferried to Texas to aid the
Confederate cause. This didn’t discourage Johnny, and he dove into the task at
hand with relish-“When I was let into the secret I was enthused rather than in
any degree deterred from carrying out the expedition, and threw my whole heart
into it.” Involved in conflicts from Haiti to Colombia, and from Mexico to
Honduras, in many ways he was a rebel without a cause, that is, until he found
his cause in the late 19th century Cuban War of Independence.
THE CALL OF CUBA LIBRE
The final Cuban
insurrection against the Spanish Crown was inspired and lead by José Martí. Martí
is considered Cuba’s founding father. The similarities between
José Martí’s revolution, and the Irish rebellion of 1916 are striking. Like
Pádraig Pearse (the main instigator of the 1916 rebellion), José was both poet
and revolutionary. Both men also envisioned a blood sacrifice and Martí’s words
were as explicit as those of Pearse-“The
reddest and slightest of poppies grows atop neglected graves. The tree that
bears the sweetest fruit is the one with a dead man lying at its roots.”[7] [iii]
Martí (who died
in one of the first skirmishes of the war) had been its guiding light and
inspiration. He organized the planned rebellion from bases in New York and
Florida, and his death was a major blow for the Cuban insurgents. Informants
had plagued the Cuban struggle also, and many’s the expedition was scuttled by
Spanish spies. With much success, the Spanish had taken to paying off ship captains
to tell them where they intended to land. Once the rebels were ashore, the
Spanish would emerge from their hiding place and kill each and every rebel.[iv]
The Cuban Junta,
from their New York waterfront base, soon heard tell of Dynamite Johnny, and
his previous filibustering exploits. Having tried their lot with many crooked
captains, they put their trust in Johnny. Johnny, for his part, did not need to
be asked twice and his first trip to aid of the Cubans was soon underway, ferrying-
“2500 rifles, a 12 pounder Hotchkiss field gun, 1500 revolvers, 200 short
carbines. 1000 pounds of dynamite, 1200 machetes, an abundance of ammunition”
and one-General Calixto Garcia-to the Island[v]. Dynamite
Johnny’s first expedition was a roaring success, and soon Garcia was encamped
in the mountains of Old Oriente Province, where, along with the guns Johnny had
supplied, he vigourously engaged the Spanish forces. Johnny put his lot in with
the Cubans, more out of sympathy with the Cuban cause than for any monetary
gain involved. The Cubans were broke and, according to Johnny, there was more
money to be made piloting legal cargo from New York-than ferrying armaments and
men to Cuba. Of course, the attendant thrill of adventure must have also played
a part in Johnny signing up for the job.
The head of Spanish
Forces in Cuba-Valeriano “The Butcher” Weyler was mightily frustrated by
Johnny’s expeditions. When Valeriano was asked his opinion on Johnny by a
reporter, he gave it succinctly: “We will get him, and I will hang him from the
flagpole of Cabaña Fortress.” When he heard of Valeriano’s declaration, Johnny
replied through the same channels, “I will make a landing within plain sight of
Havana on my next trip to Cuba. If we should capture you, which is much more
likely than that you will ever capture me, I will have you chopped up into
small pieces and fed to the fires of the
Dauntless.” A few short months later, in May 1897, Johnny landed the Dauntless (and a large cargo of
munitions) within three miles of the presidential palace (where Valeriano was
sometime ensconced) and within one mile of Cabaña fortress.
OUTWITTING AN ARMY OF SLEUTHS
Besides General
Garcia, the most lauded figure Johnny ferried to the hostilities in Cuba was General
Carlos Roloff Mialofsky. Roloff was accompanied by, among others, José Martí’s son, José Martí Zayaz Bazán.[vi]
Roloff himself was a Polish
immigrant who had settled in Cuba. José Martí once said of him “Polish by birth,
Cuban by heart.” [8] General Roloff made many trips to Cuba during
the war. For instance, in Aug 1896 he commanded an expedition to Santiago de
Cuba, along with 3000 rifles (with 1 million cartridges), 400 machetes and 2 Hotchkiss
guns. He returned aboard the same boat. As secretary of war during the revolution, he was constantly trying to
arrange the next shipment of arms to the conflict.[vii]
Once, having arranged to
meet Roloff near City Hall, New York, Johnny ambled around the area for three
hours before, in full view of a small entourage of sleuths. A carriage pulled up at the precisely the moment Johnny
had arranged, he jumped in, and was driven away before they had time to think.
“There was no other disengaged carriage in sight and before they could find one
we were out of sight,” Johnny said. Waiting for him in the Carriage was General
Roloff and one Dr. Castillo, they were driven to the “Bridgeport line dock”
where a cargo of arms was inspected which was quickly brought aboard the
Laurada bound for Cuba. Johnny didn’t command the expedition on this occasion
but was to bring Roloff to Cuba aboard The Laurada the following year, in March
1897. This later expedition had aboard, 2050 rifles, two artillery pieces, 4000
pounds of dynamite, 750 machetes, a machine gun and torpedoes.[viii]
The sleuths Johnny
so often spoke of were most often “Pinkertons guards” hired by the Spanish.
Other sleuths on his trail were
special treasury and secret service agents of the United States government. Needless
to say, as Johnny was carrying out illegal activity, the U.S. authorities were
anxious to catch him ‘in the act’.
He was known to play elaborate games to evade and confuse
the detectives and agents of the U.S. government. On one occasion his wife even
threw boiling water on two detectives as they stalked around the back of his
home in Kearney, New Jersey.
SOME INNER SECRETS
In my travels in
Cuba through the Island republic I found the internationalist element pushed to
the fore in the story the Cubans tell themselves. For instance, on O’ Rielly
Street in Old Havana, a plaque reads “Two Island peoples in the same sea of
struggle and hope, Ireland and Cuba.” The adjoining street Calle Obispo, has a
memorial celebrating Carlos Roloff. Just a few hundred metres away, in the
Cuban pilots association another recently uncovered plaque celebrates “Dynamite
Johnny” and the contribution he made “to the necessary war.” This plaque was
unveiled in 1955[ix] but has just been rediscovered,
it seems it was languishing in some ruined building by the Pilots Association.[9]
The explosion of
the U.S.S. Maine in Havana harbour
indirectly led to Johnny’s retirement from filibustering. The sinking of that
ship triggered the Spanish-American-Cuban War-thus negating the worth of Johnny’s
job of ferrying illegal armaments to Cuba-those same cargos could now be
ferried to their destination perfectly legally. Johnny always maintained that
the explosion of the ship was most likely accidental, but the U.S. was convinced
the Spanish were involved. Whoever perpetrated the action, or however it
occurred, within six months, the Spanish-American-Cuban War was over, and U.S.
dominion now extended over the Philippines, Guam, Puerto Rico and other islands.
Cuba was spared U.S. ownership
because the Teller Amendment forbade such an action. The Teller amendment called
for U.S. liberation of Cuba, not permanent occupation (perhaps due to the large
Cuban communities in New York and Florida). More tellingly, Henry Teller (who
proposed and drafted the Teller Amendment) was a Republican senator from
Colorado, and he wanted to prevent Cuban sugar cane from competing with his own
state’s sugar beet crop. His declaration read “we (the United States) hereby disclaim any disposition of intention to
exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction, or control over said island except for
pacification thereof, and asserts its determination, when that is accomplished,
to leave the government and control of the island to its people.” Oh how history’s ball of yarn unravels
and reason turns on a whimsical die! Follow
the money, others might say.
During the Spanish-American Cuban
War the media had a huge part to play. In the American press, the war became an
exotic (and often hyperbolic) drama. The most popular anecdotal story of the
war in the U.S., relates the time when illustrator Fredric Remington cabled
from a relatively peaceful Havana-"there will be no war." The supposed
reply from his U.S. H.Q. came, “you furnish the pictures, I'll furnish the war."
Theodore Roosevelt (who later
became president) was promoted to colonel before arriving in Cuba. He jumped
into the conflict with gusto, and captained the “Rough Riders” to victory at the
decisive battle of San Juan, near Havana. The American Ambassador to Britain at
the time, John Hay, when writing to Roosevelt after the hostilities had ended,
famously declared the conflict to have been "a splendid little war."
For Roosevelt (and many others) it added to U.S. territories abroad, galvanized
the scattered factions of The Civil War into patriotism, and took the eyes of
the U.S. media off domestic concerns.
Johnny found
himself settling down at the age of 61. Perhaps he was tired of revolution and
ruction? Or maybe there was no more rebellion to be had? The U.S. Eagle had now
spread its wings firmly over the Americas, and Johnny would be hard pressed to
find a theatre in which to play the game of war, without playing by the rules, and
playing by the rules was something he was loath to do, “Any man that can’t
disobey an order ain’t worth shucks.”[x]
Johnny was offered a position as chief Havana Harbour Pilot by the first
president of Cuba-Thomas Estrada Palma. He took the job gladly, but a law was
passed subsequently which made it compulsory for Cuban pilots to be Cuban
citizens. He was on the point of resigning (as he would not renounce his American
citizenship), but the Cubans waived the rule for him, and he continued the job
with his pride restored, and his patriotism intact.
On March 16th, 1912, Dynamite
Johnny captained the resurrected warship "U.S.S. Maine" on its final
journey to its proper burial three miles out from Havana Harbour. “The Maine” was raised from its watery
grave in commemoration of those who went down with the ship and all those who had
died in the insurrection. Johnny O’Brien was sole captain of the resurrected
vessel and referred to it as “the proudest moment of my life”. The Maine was surrounded
by a flotilla of 50 vessels and the entire population of Havana lined the
city’s walls, as cannons fired minute guns in commemoration of those who had
perished in the war. Johnny was dressed in his best morning suit, a starched
white shirt and bowtie, the
sole crew member of the resurrected battleship, standing alone on deck, “a little
black clad figure,”[xi]
defying the huge vessel. From the warship’s masthead flies the stars and
stripes, the “biggest and handsomest navy ensign”[xii]
he has ever seen. A flotilla of 50 vessels circles the Maine, all thronged with
sailors. Starboard of the ship is the great Cabaña
fortress-ramparts lined with soldiers, cannons firing minute guns. To port-the
old city of Havana-her whole population thronging the roofs and sea walls. Then,
Johnny opens the valves in the bulkhead and the waters rush into the ship. He
climbed down the ladder on March 16th, 1912, while concurrently in
New York, 20,000 people marching in St. Patrick’s Day parade paused, and all
the church bells rang for the war dead. Not once did Johnny look back at the
sinking vessel, flinching neither to “God, chance nor the impatient hand of
destiny.”[xiii] Down went the Maine,
exploding with the air pressure, hurtling masses of flowers which had been laid
on its deck into the air, and the flag “Old
Glory vanished under the foam with a flash of red white and blue as vivid
as a flame.”[xiv] According to newspaper
reports, before the Stars and Stripes
sank beneath the waves, Johnny took it in his hand and kissed it.[xv]
As the
twentieth century rolled in and on, Johnny declared filibustering to be “in the
dumps”.[xvi] Having
lived in Cuba since at least 1904[10],
Johnny returned the U.S. for good in the winter of 1916. The weary old
filibuster travelled home from Cuba to see snowfall on New York’s Harbour once
more before he died[xvii].
Despite being confined to a wheelchair[11]
he moves from Hotel to Hotel over a short few months. First he stays at the
Martinique, then the McAlpin-a wanderer who no more can roam.
Johnny became a free Mason at the age of
30. Having been a Mason for the next two decades he was kicked out for not
paying his dues. His relationship with money seems to have been as devil may
care as the rest of his life. According to Johnny’s great granddaughter in
Atlanta, at the end of his life, he burnt all his money in the fireplace of his
home on Highland Avenue, Kearney, New Jersey, leaving not even a dollar for a gravestone.[12]
In his last years we get a picture of a man ill at ease with settling down.
While sojourning in the McAlpin the Cuban
government organize a celebration for Johnny’s 80th Birthday. His friend
Victor Barranco (a special agent of the Cuban government) gives a speech in
lieu of the Cuban President-Menocal.[13]
Within a few weeks, Johnny is on the move again, this time he settles into a
little known Hotel near Union Square called “Hotel America.”
Johnny was once
asked if he ever feared death, he replied, “I never feared that imminent deadly
breach.” He passed over that breach on June 22nd, 1917, as the scorching New
York summer rolled in. Dynamite Johnny died at Hotel America, 105 East
Fifteenth Street, Manhattan. He was buried in Sailor’s Cemetery, City Island, with
the Cuban government in charge of the services.[xviii]
“Moving pictures” were even made of the event.[xix] Since
Johnny left the world without a dollar to his name, for many decades after his
death there is no gravestone on his grave. Victor Barranco[14]
more than anyone else seems to hold onto Johnny’s legacy over the next few
decades. Collecting money received from donations to the Times of Cuba
Newspaper,[xx] in the 1930’s Victor
places a gravestone on Johnny’s grave. One, Edward O’ Brien, is the owner of
said paper. Edward is Johnny’s nephew. Johnny’s brother Peter is his son. In
the 1950’s Victor endeavors to have A Captain Unafraid republished. Harper
brothers, who originally printed the book in 1912, turn him down.[xxi]
In May 1958, Exposition Press agree to reprint the tome,[15]
the letter begins “there is a tide in the affairs of men,” and continues, “the
republication of this book between now and Christmas could be a considerable
factor in Cuban-United States relations.” The letter mentions how “Batista
himself will write the forward.” None of this came to pass, a few short months
later Batista was ousted by the latest Cuban revolution of Fidel Castro and
Johnny’s story was swept away on the tide of history by more momentous events.
DYNAMITE JOHNNY
Johnny’s ghost
written autobiography “A Captain Unafraid,” though it certainly has Johnny’s
actions and opinions in it, is in its voice more Horace Smith that “Dynamite” Johnny.
The following interview in the San Francisco Chronicle is a great example of
Johnny’s true voice. Here Johnny sheds some light on his own opinion on his
explosive nickname-“It was the newspapers gave me that, I don’t suppose I’ll
ever get rid of the name now.” The reporter replies, “You don’t want to do
you?” Johnny continues “no I don’t suppose it makes any difference now but I
lost some good jobs on account of it, I had a chance of becoming skipper of a
racing yacht and I was well recommended too, but when the owner heard that I
was “Dynamite Johnny” he shook his head and said he didn’t want me in charge of
his boat.” The article says Johnny’s blue eyes twinkled with his next utterance
“he thought I belonged to one of those anarchist gangs and would probably blow
up his boat.”
In his last few
months alive the papers in the U.S. carry many articles on Johnny. He is as
colourful and single-minded as ever-“my men were fellers as tough as pine knots
and fuller of fight than wild cat’s”[xxii]
“I would like to chase those submarines those are the fellers to go after.”[xxiii]
“We can lick those Dutchmen, we can lick ‘em, and we ought to drive them off
the seas. I could do it. We ought to ride over him and under him and just
trample him ‘til he’s gone. If only I were able I’d take another ship out
tomorrow. I’d go where I pleased and no submarine would stop me either.”[xxiv]
That last quote (from the N.Y. Times) says more about selling papers and
senility than any politics or reasonings of Johnny’s. It seems reasonable to
guess that the loud-mouthed octogenarian may have been suffering from some form
of dementia, indeed, his death cert, two short months later lists “senility” as
a contributing factor.[xxv]
Another curious
fact, is that there were two “Dynamite” Johnny O’ Briens in the U.S. during the
second half of the 19th century. Both were infamous sea captains, one
was born in Ireland, the other in New York. To differentiate between them, lets
call them East Coast John (our Johnny) and West Coast John. West coast John was
born in Cork, Ireland on January 29th, 1851.[xxvi]
Strangely, he also lived to 80 years of age. His theatre of operations was the
East Coast of the U.S., particularly, the perilous sea corridors of Alaska. The
famous silent movie star Buster Keaton appears in “The Mariner” along side West
Coast John a few years after East coast Johnny has died. It seems during the
course of their long lives there is some confusion as to who did what and who
was who. The New York Times obituary for East Coast John states “several years
ago it was said that ‘Dynamite Johnny’ during the Russo Japanese war had
commanded a submarine for the Japanese in the great Naval encounter in the
yellow sea.” To add conjecture to conjecture, this must surely have been West
Coast John. The St. Louis Republic on Oct 25, 1900 carries an article entitled
“Now In Trouble, Dynamite Johnny Has Violated Maritime Laws.” This article
details how the “daring filibuster of the Cuban War period, set out for the
Klondike... he reached Seattle after an eventful voyage, during which he
encountered hurricanes, savages, and other disagreeable things.” The reporter
must have mixed up the two dynamite Johnny’s- Seattle and the Klondike being
the central domain of West Coast John. In 1907 a young adult fiction book is
published entitled “A Voyage With Captain Dynamite”[xxvii]
it details the adventures of a Cuban-Irish Captain. The legend of “Dynamite”
Johnny was moving full steam ahead years before either of the two Johnny’s
died!
Johnny, though
he certainly sympathized with the treatment of Cuba by the Spanish Colonial
forces had other things on his mind too when he joined in their fight-“any sort
of filibustering expedition would have tempted me away from the prosaic
piloting of New York provided it offered any reasonable amount of adventure,
but above and beyond my natural inclinations in that direction, my sympathies
were strongly with the Cubans.” His great granddaughters (when I interviewed
them in the Ear Inn in Lower Manhattan) mused that his love of liberty and
drive towards what he perceived right might have only extended in as far as “if
it had enough danger to satisfy his needs.” When we think of Johnny’s life we
can only guess at his motives. Was he really fearless? Did he serve the cause
of Cuba because of some misguided addiction to danger? Or was he a true
internationalist? When trying to get a proper picture of the man, we have to
remember, Johnny more than anything was a sailor and a captain, his
relationship with the sea is the most intangible but essential part of him.
Early in Life Johnny learned: wherever danger was to be found, that was where
he could truly test his metal as a mariner. As the first chapter of “A Captain
Unafraid” attests, Johnny was drawn inexorably to “The Lure Of Troubled
Waters.”
What I
discovered from my own trip to Cuba is that the Cubans of today who know his
story are graciously indebted to his contribution to “The Necessary War”[16]
and still think fondly of him.[17] In
his last decades Johnny lived in Cuba, but spent his last months in the city
that spawned him. In his last days he searched out Cuban company and moved to
be among them before he dies.[18]
His last words were spoken to Victor Barranco, he said “bury me by the sea
Victor.”
[1] The dividing sections
of the article are chapters from Johnny’s autobiography “A Captain Unafraid.”
[2] The Masonic Standard,
New York, Vol XVI, No 52, December 30, 1911, states that Johnny was 15 when he
ran away from home. The article describes Johnny as a veteran of Masonry.
Having been a member of Excelsior Lodge. No 195 since 1867. In “A Captain
Unafraid,” Johnny says he was 13 when he absconded from home.
[3] Confusingly, Johnny
states in “A Captain Unafraid” that his family came from the County Longford
where “they were friends neighbours and indeed related to the parents of
General Philip Sheridan.” The problem is that the Sheridan homestead, from
where they left in 1831, still stands in Killinkere, Virginia, County Cavan.
Cavan shares a border with Longford.
[4] Johnny’s great
granddaughter Patricia Clayton (nee O’ Brien) from Atlanta in the U.S.
confirms this and maintains Johnny and Philip were first cousins.
[5] Historian William F.
Drake, in his book Little Phil (The Story of General Philip Henry Sheridan),
maintains Philip was born at sea (thus not a U.S. born citizen) which precluded
him from becoming president. An article from 1965 by Rev. Joseph B. Meehan in
the Breffini Journal, gives a great case for Philip being born in Ireland.
[6] Johnny’s first nickname
was Daredevil Johnny.
[7] “El árbol que da mejor fruta es el que tiene debajo un muerto.”
This quote comes from a speech of Martí’s entitled Los Pinos Nuevos, in which Martí attempts to galvanize the spirit
of his people for the fight to come; and perhaps to come to terms with his (and
their) destined martydom on the altar of patriotism. It was given in Tampa in
1891-just a few short years before Martí died and his country was decimated by
war.
[8] “Polaco de origin, Cubano de Corazon” Historian José Antonio
Quintana quotes Martí in an interview conducted with him in Lazaro Lopez, Ciego
De Ávila, Cuba, June 2015.
[9] Another of our
interviewees in Cuba, Dúnyer Jesús Perez, an assistant to Señor Rafael Moya
(formerly of the Historians Office of Havana) sent me pictures of the newly
renovated building and the plaque. I searched high and low for the plaque
myself while in Havana. It was “rediscovered” the month after I left, in July
2015.
[10] An article in Cuban
paper ‘La Lucha’ dated, Nov 3, 1904
says “Captain John O’ Brien, returned yesterday from New York accompanied by
his wife and daughters who will make their home for the future in Havana.”
[11] Victor Barranco has a
picture of himself and Johnny from 1917 in his personal files. Johnny is seated
in a wheelchair, with Victor standing by his side. “The Sun” Newspaper on April
21st 1917 bears the headline “Dynamite Johnny Eagar To Fight.” The
article reads “Crippled By Lumbago He Sits In His Chair Receiving friends.
Dynamite Johnny who, wrackled with lumbago, sat huddled up in a wheeled chair
in the Hotel McAlpin yesterday carried a spasm of fear to more than one
President perched on the saddle of a rickety Southern Republic.”
[12] A recipt from the
personal files of Victor Barranco dates the eventual purchase of Johnny’s
headstone from “Adler’s Memorial” as May 26th, 1935.
[13] This typewritten speech
amongst Victor Barranco’s files begins-“Captain O’ Brien and gentlemen-on
behalf of the honorable, the president of Cuba, I thank you for honoring us
with your presence at this tribute of affection and gratitude which the Cuban people
are tendering to our beloved Dynamite Johnny O’ Brien.”
[14] I met Victor’s nephew
Stephen Barranco in North Carolina in 2014. He gave me copies of Victor’s
personal files.
[16] La Guerra Necesaria or La Guerra de ’95 is what the Cubans call the
final Cuban War of Independence.
[17] José Martín (historian
in the Provincial History Museum of the provience of Ciego De Ávila) when
interviewed said “within those expeditions of the Cuban Revolutionary party we
remember with much fondness Dynamite Johnny, who we love and call Juanito
Dinimita.” Sixto Espinosa, in a round table discussion conducted at the Union
of Artists and Writers of Ciego De Ávila said “I think Cubans and the world
should think of him as a great man for all he did for the liberty of this community.”
Prof. Louis Perez put it succinctly when I interviewed him in Chapel Hill,
North Carolina “clearly he is a hero for the Cubans.”
[18] New York Times,
Obituary June 22nd 1917 “he removed from the McAlpin after a
reception given him in the name of the president of Cuba. He moved he said,
because he wished to be among Cubans and to eat once more the Spanish dish arroz con pollo.”
[i] A Captain Unafraid, 1912, Horace Smith.
Harper and Sons. Page 6.
[ii] A
Captain Unafraid, 1912, page 10.
[iii] From Pinos
Nuevos by José Martí “La amapola más roja y más leve crece sobre las tumbas
desatendidas. Él arbol que da mejor fruta es el que tiene debajo un muerto.”
[iv] A
Captain Unafraid, 1912, page 77.
[v] A
Captain Unafraid, 1912, Page 80.
[vi] John
Dynamite, Marine Mambí, José
Antonio Quintana, SILAS 2007. page 1.
[vii] Diario
de Campaña del Cmte. Luis Rodolofo Miranda Municipio de la Habana Oficina
del Historiador de la Ciudad 1954. Page 66.
[viii] John Dynamite Marine Mambí, José Antonio Quintana, SILAS 2007. page 1.
[ix] Tarja
en Memoria de “El Capitán Dinamita” Unknown Paper, Newspaper Clipping, Feb
23, 1955.
[x] Tugboat,
The Moran Story by Eugene F. Reid and Louis Moran. Page 288.
[xi] The Maine Sinks To Her Ocean Grave, New
York Times article, date unknown.
[xii] The
Spanish War, An American Epic by
G.J.A. O Toole. Norton, 1984. Page 598.
[xiii] The
Spanish War, An American Epic. Page
400.
[xiv] The
Spanish War, An American Epic. Page
400.
[xv] Dynamite Johnny O’ Brien-Cuba’s American Hero, Marian Betancourt,
article in Irish America Magazine, Dec/Jan 2003.
[xvi] Memories
of Two Wars, Fredrick Funston, 1911. Chapter 1: To Cuba as A Filibuster.
[xvii] New York Times, Dynamite Johnny O’ Brien’s obituary, June 22,
1917.
[xix] El
Entierro del Capitan O’ Brien, Diario De La Marina, Havana, June 23rd,
1917.
[xx] Dynamite
Johnny Monument Fund, The Times of Cuba, March, 1926.
[xxi] Letter Of Rejection, (Harper and Brothers, Sep 15th
1956.) Victor Barranco’s Files.
[xxiii]
Dynamite Johnny, 80, Eager To Fight,
The Sun, Apr 21st 1917.
[xxiv]
Dynamite Johnny Still Full Of Fire
New York Times, March 4th 1917.
[xxv] Death Cert (NYC Department of Health,
1917 June 20th). Victor Barranco’s Files.
[xxvi] Tales
of the Seven Seas, Powers, Denis M., (Taylor Trade Publishing, 2010).
Page 4.
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