Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-04-11

ard Oil Company pipes oil hundreds of
| miles to the seaboard because it paws, hut
human health is nothing, and to pipe drink
ing water from pure mountain stream, like
the South Fork, is too expensive, and is not
to be thought of for moment
But must not forget that 1 am writing Of
Cuba and not Pittsburg. The banditti or
bandeleros are perennial oropln Cuba, and
the way they do their work is like thisi The
band is controlled by one or more leaders,
and they live in the wild hill region. A
polite note is found by Don -, the
Cuban planter, under his door some morn
ing, informing him if there is not So, 900,
$40, 900 or $40, 900 in gold placed under such
| and such a rock, near such tree with
certain mark that is furnished, and by such
a time, the bandsleros will burn his sugar
mills and houses above his head, and if by
any mistake the messenger sent to get the
money should meet with an accident, such
as falling into the hands Of the Spanish
soldiers, their threat will be surely exc
cuted. The money is usually raised, or Don
-, the planter, will be ambuscaded on
his way riding through his plantation of
sugar cane and carried to tine mountains.
His Ears as Souvenirs.
Sooner or later a polite note will be sent
to his despairing wife to send S25, 900 by such
a date or the next letter of request will con-
tain one OF the Don's ears as souvenir. This
Is often accompanied BY a fervent appeal
| by the Don himself for the wife to mortgage
the plantation to get the money. As we
travel from Cienfuegos, the name means
100 fires to Havana, we see here and there
bands of Spanish soldiers guarding the track
and other railroad property. We learn that
the notorious bandit, Manuel Garcia, had
recently sent polite note to the admins
| traitor of the railroad informing him that
| they would burn all available warehouses
and destroy all other railroad property if
S25, 900 were not placed at their disposal.
The Spanish authorities, having about 50,-
900 to 60, 900 soldiers otherwise unemployed,
chose to give some of them occupation rather
than pay the money.
The mulatto bandit, Matagas, eluded the
Spanish troops in his forays so long, and
levied tribute so often, that be was finally
paid S25, 900 to leave the country. This be
did, going to New York, where, after a year
or two he spent his money in riotous living,
then returned to his old haunts
in Cuba, and his followers at once
rallied to their old leader. This time,
however, Spanish patience was exhausted,
and Matagas was hunted down and shot
o.
we saw bandit chief, handsome fellow,
aged about 40, who was carelessly smoking
q cigarette in his cell, and awaiting his
doom, than which nothing is surer. He,
was informed, would not be honored by
being shot, but would some morning, with
out any warning, be asked to take seat in
high-backed chair that would be brought
into his cell, and a padded collar placed
around his neck.
Awful Method of Execution.
At the side of this collar there is a crank
with which to tighten the collar and at the
same time carry pointed nail into the
spinal marrow at the back of the neck.
Death is slow and narrowing, but none the
less sure. The guards positively refused to
give me this bandits history, but obtained
it from other sources
Within few weeks five bandits were shot
down in the harbor of Havana in the pres.
ence of their wives and children. They had
been pursued for years, and finally the
Spanish authorities had them informed that
ii they would do SO, facilities would b, fur
nished them to escape from the country with
their wives and families. They were in
duced to believe that the treacherous Span
iards were for once in their history acting in |
good faith. When they were placed on the |
ship at night by the persons who had prom
ised them escape for a sum Of money, the |
Spanish soldiers came in the morning and |
shot four of them in their beds, in view of |
their wives. Others escaped to boats in the |
harbor, and were riddled with bullets by the |
soldiers in the presence of an applauding |
populace.
A Bloodthirsty Race.
The history ofthe Spaniard is incarnadine. |
He is still cruel and bloodthirsty He de- |
lights in the bull fight, and even the beauti- |
tul senorita calls the miserable coward a |
bravo who tortures and finally kills a |
defenseless bull, while he shields himself |
by jumping or running behind barricsdes, |
or sits upon a miserable, worn-out horse,
while the infuriated bull cores the weak
and blindfolded horse until he walks upon
his own entrsils. All the while the beauti
full senoritas applaud, and tear their hats
from their heads and cast them into the
circus de toros in token of their pleasurable
excitement and appreciation of the sickenlng
sight
The Cuban, the Spaniard's natural, but
prodigal son, declares bull-fghti ng brutal,
not because it kills the bull and horses, but
because the Spanish advocate it. Cock
fighting is the Cuban gentleman's idea of
refined SPORT and as we get out to air our
selves at the way station and buy fruit from
the yenders on Sunday, we see everywhere
Cuban gentlemen, eacn with a game cock,
whose body is covered with a handkerchief
to protect the part from which the feathers
have been cut from the high, but to us
grateful wind. The best relations seem to
exist and warmest affection seems to be
bestowed upon the game cock by his owner,
who, true to his Spanish traditions, before
the day is over sacrifices his brave little
companion with remorseless certainty for
his own yitiated sense of amusement.
These game cocks are singularly beauti- /
full. Their plumage, cut and trimmed as it
is, is still where uncut, most bright and
CLOSED. Their heads seem never to have
had a comb to be cut, but the entire head is
red and smooth and featherless down to a
distance of two inches. Their eyes denote
intelligence. and they seem to look to their
companions, their owners, with degree of
utter bravery to fight to the death, because
they have been Matched, reared and expected
to do this when called upon.
Beautiful Cuban Game Cocks
These game cocks were small birds of
every conceivable color, and with spurs long
aud polished, upon which the steel gafs
were fastened. They crowed and defied one
another, and talked rooster talk to, their
owners, and pecked at the buttons on the
shirt fronts of the Cuban dandies, who held
them in their arms. When placed upon the
platform at my request TO inspect them, they
made at one another as far as possible, being
further prevented by an expensive and
padded leash attached 10 one of the legs.
The Cuban game cock is a thing of beauty,
and is more TO be admired than the heartess
brutes who fight them so mercilessly, so that
If they do not kill one another in the limited