Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1870-01-20

A SYMPATHETIC SKETCH OF HIM BY
MARK TWAIN.

The luD3n 1'sltTIOas
A SYMPATHETIC SKETCH OF HIM BY
MARK TWAIN.
And how grand character he is!
How gallant, how lofty, how mag
nanimous! His career, from the mo-
ment his heart is first stirred Win
patriotic emotions, till that heart
ceases to beat, is chivalrous ro-
nance. He begins by shouting
"Down with the Spaniard!' in the
streets of Havana. Then he ana
hundred of his fellows are captured
by handful of soldiers and thrown
into prison. Here they take the oath
to the government, hire out to it as
spies upon other patriots, and hnish
by denouncing hundred of their
persOnal friends TO the government
nj so much per head. Those parties
are duly shot, garroted.or hanged in
the public plaza, or otherwise made
away with according to the peculiar
taste OF the commandment in the mat
ter of executions.
Next, the patriot escapes to the
country AVID resanae- patriotism once
more. A few hundreds of them band
together. and then we hear OF gallant
deeds. They pounce upon deserted
plantations, and burn up the sugar
crop and the negro quarteIs--and
forthwith our great Journals shrek
the tidjngs of Another Grand Pat
riot yictory."
Then the government troops cap
ture half the knightly gang and shut
them up in barn and burn them
aliye. And instantly our great jour-
mails. and our Congressman, and our
selves. rage about the brutal inhu-
mainly of Spain-and with all our
hearts we hate those Spaniards for
burning up those pure patriots, ana
we know we are sincere, too, not
withstanding we cannot somehow
help feeling a degree of gladness that
s'sfYsliy itvn inc glcao Joainais zen
Us, in laundering display lines, how
the patriot warrior Don Aguilar Je-
su Maria Josey John the Baptist
Bustamente made brilliant dash
upon the great plantation of Senior
Madre de Dioscl Calderon Gewhili-
kens do Valladolid and burned up
the whole concern, considering it
best on the whole to do this, mas
much as Senior Valadolid's political
opinions were Of exactly the univer-
sal pattern and could never by any
possibility be depended upon to re-
main in one shape two hours at
time unless the holder Of the same
were asleep or dead. And further,
. the papers tell us how the patriot
Bustamente and his six hundred fol-
l~------- 49, .~.,. -ni, ri NyalIaInliH and
and his family down the road some
) thirteen miles on foot, and with ropes
around their necks for convenience
in steering them, and then, while
the helpless parents and children
knelt and pleaded piteously for life,
boldly carved them to pieces with
bowie knives. And all America
shouts, "Hurrah for gallant Cuba!
Down with the hated oppressor!'
And fercely we besiege Congress to
"recognize" the struggling patriots
and reward their single-learted vir-
tue with our appreciative protec-
ton.
Right away we hear that thcSpan-
ish troops and Bustamente's army
have met and fought q tremendous
battle. We gloat over the particu-
lars. We thrill from head to heel As
we read how that battle ragged ruri-
ously from eight in the morning till
six in the evening, resulting in the
complete destruction OF eleven barns,
two plantations, tire saw-mils, one
hospital and it's patients, and the to-
ia! roIt OF the enemy, with loss Of
sixteen wounded, and one killed by
being run over by wagon. But we
lgrievo sorelyto hear that the patriot
Bustamente was taken prisoner by
the brutal Spanish horde, and our
hearts sink, and suffer, and break
when we hear that his captors las
seed him aud dragged him three
miles to the military prison at the
heels Of q galloping horse, and then
decided it was just as cheap to con-
fine what was left Of him in coffin.
And how we do abuse the uncivil-
lied sort of warfare these Spaniards
wage. s.f 4
But soon we rejoice once more,
when we hear that the unconquera-
BILE patriots, from a safe hiding-place
in the hills, have sent out emmissa-
ries, and fomented conspiracy with
the slaves, which has resulted in
gentle midnight massacre, by the
blacks, Of a couple dozen slumbcring
families Of white people, accompa-
nying the deed with the usual Cuban
..xAt a. n. n.