84 



THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX 



The mansion was known as "Whitlock's Folly," and the name 

 clung to the place until the building was destroyed. In 1867, after 

 the death of Mr. Whitlock, his widow sold the house to Senor 

 Yglesias Casanova, a wealthy Cuban sugar and coffee planter, for 

 $150,000. Senor Casanova was a leader of a band of Cuban pa- 

 triots, and during the early struggles of the Cuban people for 

 liberty, this place was the rendezvous of Cuban patriots and sym- 

 pathizers. It is said that the cellars and subterranean passages 



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Casanova Mansion 



were stored with powder and rifles which eventually found their 

 way into the hands of the patriots in Havana and other Cuban 

 cities. An underground passage had been made, running from 

 the house to the Sound, and under cover of darkness boats, which 

 were undoubtedly filibusters, were occasionally seen to steal into 

 the little cove that the mansion overlooked ; and, after being 

 freighted with ammunition and other implements of war, to creep 

 out again as mysteriously as they had entered. 



After the suppression of the first Cuban revolution, Casanova^ 

 whose loyalty to his country never waned, became down-hearted, 

 and the mansion that for many years had been the scene of revelry 



