Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1885-06-11
CRIME IN CUBA.
Havana the Paradise of the lFOOtpad
and the Swindier.
Havana Cor. Inter-Ocean.

In circumnavigating the globe | did
not find single place where 1t was
necessary to exercise such strict care
fulness in order to keep myself and
personal effects intact as it is IN
Cuba
There seems to be no limit to the
number Of thugs and footpads that
walk the streets of Havana, and Ger
tainly no limit to the audacity which
they display in plying their nefarious
business. We have uncanny CHAR
acters III the states, but they follow
sly, cunning methods and work IN
the darka.or IN a crowd. Here no hour
in the day is too dangerous, no place
Ia the city too public, and no project
too daring for the laWless element.
Ia the brief five weeks that l have
spent here have been brought to witt
ness personally more than one at
tempt to rob in broad daylight.
According to agreement / was to
meet a gentleman with his wife and
sister at the Cafe Central one day last
week in order that we might proceed
together from that point to sugar
plantation, which we had q permit to
visit. The Cafe Central is appropria~
tely named, being on one OF the
conspicuous corners of the Parque
Central,
N THE VERY HEART OF THE CITY.
When I arrived at the cafe the ladies
were sitting in one of the carriages
which we had ordered and the gentle
man stood beside it, wiping the per
spiration from his forehead.
'Tsn't this rather early in the day
for such free perspiration" l enquir>
ed.
1T may be, was the response, ''but
1 have Just returned from chasing a
negro four or five blocks away. My
wife vas getting into the carriage
when he passed along and made a
grab at her watch. She looked down,
and seing the broken, dangling chain
called out to me that he had her
watch. I chased him several squares,
but he finally eluded me, and Ireturn~
ed to find that after all he had not
obtained the watch, as it had caught
in nay Wife's pocket. No one offered
to stop the fleeing wretch, although l
yelled all the time.
This occurred at the hour Of eleven
o'clock IN the morning.
1t is a characteristic of the Havana
public not to lend any assistance IN
stopping a fugitive thief. suppose
the people think such a service too
menial for any one except pOilce>
man to perform.
-. THE LANDLADY OF THE HOTEL
where I am stopping was robbed of
$500 three or four years ago in broad
daylight on one Of the principal b0u-
levards here (known as the Parque de
la india), where any one of a score of
men might have apprehended the cul-
prit. She had her pocket book con
tanning the money done up in her
pocket handkerchief, and was holding
the valuable package tightly, between
her clothes. A yagabond boy came
along, struck her smart blow in the
chest, which caused her to relax her
hold upon the pocket book by reason
Of the pain, and thea, Selling the
package, began to effect his escape.
In his haste he stumbled in the
gutter and might easily have been
seized by passing gentleman, as the
lady proclaimed his act in a loud
voice. Recovering himself, he climb
ed the scaffOlding Ia front Of q new
building on the opposite side of the
street and escaped over the roof.
[ stepped IN one of the innumerable
money exchanges the other day just
as man was reaching to his hip
pocket for gold which he desired to
deposit. He pulled out the bag of gold
and then said:
1T feels as If my pants were cut
close 10 that pocket, for the bag al
most escaped me as | was pulling it
out"
A couple of men made an examina
ton, and sure enough, there was a slit
about eight inches long, manlfestly
made with a knife, through which the
bag of doubloons and centenes had
almost been flched.
D The police are numerous enough,
but too often in league with the
thieves. The trouble is that their pay
is so small, and what is worse. so un-
certain, that IN sheer desperation they
form an alliance with the Iaw-break-
ers whereby they receive a certain
sum for not interfering. Less than
one year ago two policemen became
so desperate and so bold that they at
tackled and severely wounded citi-
zen IN the attempt to rob him. The
government gave the unfaithful
guardians of the peace a hasty trial
and shot them both as an example.
Recently there was a strike among
the police on account of the withhold
ing of wages due.
But the police service is IN other re-
spects farce.
The principal part of it consists of
quardia civil, analogous to the French
gendarmes, who occupy the street cor
ners IN twos, and are on duty day and
night.
DURING THE NIGHT
an extra force of watchmen are put
on. called "serenos," from the fact
that in former years they used to cry
out the condition of the weather every
half ho,1r in a sine-SOn tone of voice