Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1888-05-17
THE BRICANDS OF CUBA.
A Strange State of Things Within Days
Journey of the United States.

In the evening, at one of the clubs, ?
gentleman who had volunteered TO show
US the city said, pointing to an elderly
Cuban sitting at a table near by:
There's Senior Casanova, who was
ransomed lately for $4,000"
''Ransomed! from whom?" I asked.
why, from the bandits, was the
answer. You know you're in the
bandits country now"
The eastern end of the island has
been singularly free from bandits, and
travel through its still virgin forests
and lofty, volcanic mountains is COM
paratiyely safe. The guardia ciyile,
as the Spanish soldiery is called, make
periodical incursions from Matanzas
and other cities against the bandits.
but as a rule these raids have little re-
suit. 1t is more than limited that there
is an understanding between the sol
dierS and the bandits, and a story is
told in CienfuegOs Of q gentleman
who, from motives of curiosity, fol-
lowed the guardia civile in one of their
expeditions unknown to them, and
who, some miles out in the country, as
the evening drew on heard & low Whis-
tie from the chaparral that lined the
road on either side, saw the soldiers
stop, and moment after a number OF
bandits came from the chaparral. Then,
so runs the story, soldiers and bandits
built fire and sat down to enjoy a
mutual chat and a game of cards.
The Spanish government IS always
behind-hand it its payment gifts Cuban
i-
impression, founded on such incidents
as the foregoing, that the soldiers
make up for deferred or unpaid wages
by share in the ransom paid by some
wealthy planter for his release from
captivity. Not that guardia evils are
always unfaithful! Some few months
ago they caught and shot Espinosa, q
famous chief, and only fortnight
since they brought in q dozen bandits
as prisoners to Matanzas. But on the
whole they have done so little to sup
press this brigandage, which any other
civilized government would have
crushed out in q month, that there is
reason for the suspicion above men
toned.
"Matagas," continued our inform
ant, sis now the bandit chief most
feared. He is a mulatto and rules his
followers absolutely. Espinosa was
the chief who captured Senior Casa
nova and Senior Torrientes, but Ma
tagas is, if possible, more feared. He
changes his location constantly and
has been rather quiet of late, but we
may hear of him at any time. He has
placed a price of $4,000 on the per-
sons of the Messrs. Stewart, who own
the well-known sugar plantation La
Caroline near this city, and these
gentlemen have been obliged to use
much caution in going to and from
their plantation on their visits to the
city.
''Tell us about Senior Casanova" we
asked.
"Well, Senior Casanova was driving
through the back country one after
noon in q yOlante, over 4 rough and
lonely road, when the bandits sudden
ly appeared from the chaparral. They
surrounded the volante so quickly that
he could do nothing but surrender at
once. They ordered him to mount
mule, and at his protestations that he
was suffering from a bladder complaint
duU JHdG III NOuIu I'LL Hill 10 IIClG Il6l
only laughed. They carried him off to
a little hut in the mountains and kept
him there a week. The old gentle
man, from the complaint above de-
scribed, could only subsist on milk,
and as the bandits could not furnish
this he nearly died"
"How did they ransom him?n
''The bandits had a note conveyed
secretly to his friends, demanding So.
600 for his ransom within a week.
This his friends raised and sent by
trusted messenger to a place agreed
upon. Senior Casanova was produced,
the money paid over, and the bandit
who received it disappeared as sudden
" as if the earth had swallow him.
Casanova says that he was not treated
badly during his short captivity, but
imagine his state of mind and sus-
pense during the days he was a cap
ti7er'
Another poor fellow year or so ago
did not fare as well. The price de-
manded for him was more than his
friends, who were poor, could raise,
and so the bandits hanged him in q
peculiarly cruel and Undesirable way,
and he was afterward found dead by
the guardia civile.-NeW York. World.