Felipa Ramirez y Castaneda

On September 11, 1827, at a ranch in the place known as "Luis Gutierrez", one and a half leagues East of Sancti-Spiritus, Cuba. Jose Gabriel Trelles, a mixed-race slave of Rafael de Morales, rode up to the house where he found Ana Beatriz Castaneda and her daughters, Felipa and Felicidad Ramirez. They were not alarmed, since they knew Jose, but soon, after he dismounted he let it be known of his intent to rape them. Because of the resistance offered by the women, he shot his gun at Felipa who managed to run away to seek help from a neighbor. She found Manuel Milian, who upon learning of the news quickly set off to help. What he found was the lifeless bodies of Ana Beatriz and her daughter Felicidad stabbed to death. The criminal disappeared but soon was apprehended in Villaclara and brought back to Sancti-Spiritus, Cuba for trial. Luis Homobono Casanova was named prosecuting attorney and asked for the death penalty by hanging, that his body be left hanging from 8 AM to 3 PM, that his head and hands be cut off, that his head be placed in a cage and displayed near the hanging, and that each of his hands, placed in a cage of their own be placed, affixed to a tree, on the roads to La Habana and Puerto Principe (Camaguey). The town did not have an executioner, so they decided to choose one of the slaves in the jail to perform the task and they chose the chinese Juan de Dios Cascante, who had been an executioner on previous occasions. Jose Gabriel Trelles was executed on May 12, 1828. Information from page 186-188 of https://cubangenclub.org/upload/files/Historia_de_Sancti-Spiritus_-...