The Black range. (Robinson, Socorro County, N.M.) 1882-1897, 1888-12-21
Railways in Cuba.

Railway travelling In Cuba has some
curious aspects For instance. when
trains arrive aud depart for cities OF
villages IL is rather u queer thing 10
see, between the depots and limits of
all municipalities, a man ou horseback
preceding the engine. No train may
arrive or depart more rapidly than the
speed uf this courier. who announces
his own and the trans coming hy tre-
medsgs believing and haliooings.
Sometimes he Is provided with a SORT
Of trumpet. which he sounds lugubri-
ouslY. The railways are nearly all of
narrow guuge, aud freight aud passen-
ger cars are little and low. Not long
AGO Cuba engineers were nearly all
Americans and received fabulous
wages. This was also true of the en-
gInerrs ON the sugar plantations. But
Cubans are bright and initiative. and
they ATE alone now In charge. The
inachinery Pt,ests that. II Is diugy,
rusty and half ruined. The Cuban Ell
gineer hadl,S his engine in a hesitant.
hysterical sort of way. Heis no me-
chanic. II a breas down occurs he
calls upon every body within reach
aud. in complete desperation "talks 1t
al over" runs away altogether OF com
mils suicide from sheer fright.
The railway stations are all walled
about as high rs "a fortress, and freight
Is handled In the yards and tranferred
much as a lower Mississippi river
steamboat is "wooded" by negro rousl-
abOuts who "shsnty" with dismal
songs. or by unwieldy bull-carts, with
their picturesque carretoueros, SO com
mon 10 the streets Of Havana.
There are some odd regulations about
Cahan railway travel. Ticket ,fllces
are closed five minutes before depart
ure OF trains; and If one thus fails of
securing n ticke', one-third additional
To regular fare is exactrd for the lifst
division over which your route may
lay. You are allowed to carry free
only n hat box or medium sized va
lise; but " your train does not make
schedule time you can stop anywhere
along the route and get your entire fare
refunded. No persons OF color" are
allowed III lirst-elass cars, though game
cocks In baskets are; and If YOU al
dIrted to ride upon the platform Or
nule than one seat you would be i'm
mediately turned over to The guardia
civil, whose members ride on trains
b, tween stations to dirt with fair set.
oritas, and 10 constantly enforce the
fact that Spain owns Cuba.
AS in most European countries
there are three grades of passenger
coaches, and all are modelled on the
American plan. The third grade carr
have only solid wood seats; the second
are very plain, but the seats are Of
"cane;" the first are very PLEASANT and
convenient are in most most cases pref.
tiIy enough decorted, the woven can,
seats taking the place of our plush
cushion ON account of the difference H.
climate. The conductor is unifOrme,
as with us, and is the busiest man OF
earth for the amount OF business h,
transacts. lie is at every bod>
every i've minutes for the exam
ination of tickets, and u pompous
guardla civil. u soldier of one Of the
three classes of military in the island
Is forever at his bells, glaring impu
IDENTIFY into faces, demanding with mad
dening frequency your passport, II yor
happen to be foreigner. and especially
so if an American, whom the Spanisl
loathes, and searching your person, oI
even a Iady's reticuI,', II the within seizc'
mm. m.-Cor. Philadelphia Times