In March 1899, Maldonado was involved in a fight in the City of Ponce and was arrested. His men tried in vain to liberate him and the incident erupted into an armed confrontation between Maldonado's men and the local authorities in which Maldonado lost the sight from one of his eyes from the wounds received. Maldonado received support from the local press and was exonerated from all wrongdoing. He later married Juana Estrada and became a professional barber. According to his granddaughter Margarita Maldonado Colón, Maldonado was a generous man with the less fortunate and he was often visited by the president of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party, Pedro Albizu Campos. In the later years of his life (until 1930), Maldonado worked as a government employee. In his book War Against All Puerto Ricans, Denis states that Maldonado owned a barber shop which he named Salón Boricua and which was located at 351 Calle Colton (Colton Street), Esquina Barbosa (at the corner of Barbosa Street) in Barrio Obrero. The word Boricua is synonymous with Puerto Rican and is a self-referential term which Puerto Ricans commonly employ. The word is derived from the word Borinquen (the name which the native Taínos gave to the island before the arrival of the Spanish Conquistadors). And that among his employees was Vidal Santiago Díaz who in 1932, purchased the barbershop from Maldonado. Maldonado died January 17, 1932, due to throat cancer in his home in Toa Baja. Regarding his death, Denis states that Maldonado was treated for throat cancer at the Presbyterian Hospital in San Juan and that Maldonado died of the illness in 1932 in said hospital, which has been disputed. Legacy Puerto Rican folksinger Roy Brown wrote and dedicated to Maldonado a song titled "Águila Blanca." Ángel Pacheco Alvarado, a folk singer from Peñuelas, Puerto Rico honored Maldonado's memory with a song composed of three verses of which the first one is the following: See also List of Puerto Ricans Intentona de Yauco Puerto Rican Campaign Notes References Further reading "Aguila"; by: Reynaldo Marcos Padua; Publisher: Ediciones Huracan; 1ST edition (January 2008); 1874 births 1932 deaths People from Juana Díaz, Puerto Rico Puerto Rican criminals Puerto Rican nationalists Puerto Rican folklore Puerto Rican independence activists