The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1888-07-18
he said, "but you may rest assured that
If he did kill the wretch he has never
regretted it."-Atldnta Constitution.
Cuban RAILWAYS.

Railway travelling in Cuba has some
very curious aspects. For instance, when
trains arrive at and depart from cities
or villages it is rather a queer thing to
see, between the depots and limits of all
municipalities, man on horseback pre-
ceding the engine. No train may Arrive
OF depart more rapidly than the speed of
this courier, who announces his own and
the trains coming by tremendous below
ings and hallooings Sometimes he Is
provided with sort of trumpet, which
he sounds lugubriously. The railroads
are nearly all of narrow guage, and
freight and passenger cars are little and
low. Not long ago Cuban engineers
were nearly all Americans and received
fabulous wages. This was also true of
the engineers on the sugar plantations.
But Uubans are bright and initiative,
and they are aloLe now in charge. The
machinery attests that. 1t is dingy,
rusty, half-ruined.
The Cuban engineer handles his engine
in hesitant, hysterical sort of way. He
is no mechanic. If breakdown occurs
he calls upon everybody within reach
and, in complete desperation, "talks it
all over" runs away altogether or COM
mits suicide from sheer fright.
The railway stations are all walled
about as high as a fortress, and freight
Is handled in the yards and transferred
much as lower Mississippi River steam
boat is wooded" by negro roustabouts
who ''shanty" with dismal songs, or by
the unwieldy bull-carts with their pic
turesque carretoneros, so common to the
streets of Havana.
There are also some odd regulations
about Cuban railway travel Ticket
Offices are closed five minutes before de-
parture of trains; and if one thus fails
of securing a ticket, one third addition
al to regular fare is exacted for the first
division over which your route may lie.
You are allowed to carry free only hat
box or a medium-size valise; but if your
train does not make schedule time you
can stop anywhere along the route and
get your entire fare refunded. No "per-
| sons of color" are allowed in first-class
cars, though gamecocks in baskets are
and If you attempted to ride upon the
platform or to occupy more than one
seat, you would Immediately be turned
over to the guardia civil, whose members
ride on trains between stations to firt
with fair senoritas, and to constantly en-
force the fact that Spain owns Cuba.
AS in most European countries, there
are three grades of passenger coaches,
and all pIe modelled on the American
plan. The third-grade cars have only
solid wood seats; the second are very
plain, but the seats are of 'cane;" the
first are very pleasant and convenient,
and in most cases prettily enough deco
rated, the woven cane seats taking the
place of our plush cu'hions on account
of the difference in climate. The con-
ductor is uniformed as with us, and is
the busiest man on earth for the amount
of business he transacts. He is at every
body every five minutes for re-examina-
tion of tickets, and pompous guardia
civil, a soldier of one of the three classes
of military in the island, is forever at
his heels, glaring impudently into faces,
demanding with maddening frequency
your passport if you happen to be for
eigner, and especially so if an American,
whom the Spaniard loathes, and search
ing your person, or even a lady's reti-
cule, if the whim sezes him.