Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1891-05-06


two days after, in the absence of the
coward, Rafael Cordoba was condemned
to be degraded from his rank and shot
for desertion in the face of the enemy.
There are no Drawer nor more gallant mer
on earth than the Colombians, and il
was with an almost sickening feeling OF
repulsion that men who had known and
loved his father voted with tears q
shameful death for that fathers son.
But they never executed the sentence,
for Rafael Cordoba was not seen again.
After the battle of Pamplona, on the Isl
of April of the following year, the last
OF the war, Col Sanchez returned te
Cali. His father met him some miles
away. The shameful story had pre-
coded him, and he heard that Sonora
Cordoba was dead, dead of a broken
heart. His father seemed to Pepe to ne
many years older, and strong man a.
Col. Sanchez was he almost feared to ask
after Elodia. When at last he men
toned her name Senior Sanchez broEt
down.
"She goes about like ghost. my son.
At first she would not believe the storv.
None of us believed it. How could We
But then the official bulletin came, and
l saw it was true. 1t nearly killed
me-
1T has nearly killed me, my father.
broke in Pepes deep voice.
''Then Sonora Cordoba took to her bed
and sent for the Padre Gomez. He criei
like child as he came from her. Shs
never got up, and we buried her Elodia
stormed about the house, declaring il
was conspiracy, She went to Senora
Cordoba and never left her while she
lived. Since then she has been quiet
but, oh! Pope, she is so white and thin
1t will make you cry to see her eyes,
and the fond old man sobbed as he bent
his head and murmured PRAYER for his
little girl
Pepe's stern face grew sterner rs they
rode along III silence. When they
reached the house he went in, and his
sister met him at the head of the stairs.
He saw her, and a great wave of pity
swept over him as he took her in his
arms and kissed her gently. His mothe,
would have spoken, but Pope checked
her by a look. Elodia busted herself
with caring for his comfort, going about
with face that wrung the brothers
heart. Neither then nor afterward did
she ever speak of Rafael, but when,
some time in the spring of AZ, she de
clared her intention of becoming a sister
of charity, and Pope tried to dissuade
her, she looked at him and said with
trembling lips:
''Dost think, my brother, there is any
consolation for me except from God2"
And Pope was silent.
So far as may be known, during the
war in Mexico between Macmillan and
Juarez, lei Coronel Blanco"-The White
Colonel-frst made his appearance
There are rumors concerning him during
the various revolutions in the Central and
South American countries prior to this
time; but there is nothing certain about
them that have ever been able to learn
Sure it is that he joined the forces I'M
der Juarez, and that he cared for neither
rank nor nay. His one request was to
be permitted to take part in the fight
ing and to be placed where there was
the greatest danger. He was a man of
average height, thin and worn, with
deep sunken eyes, in which was an ex-
preston of intense sorrow.
He called himself Jose Garcia, but
was much more often addressed as ''Senor
Blanco," the name given to him by the
soldiers, who were struck by the snowy
whiteness of his hair and beard He
was intensely religious and many spoke
of him with bated breath as of a man
under a vow. But he was thorough
soldier, there could be no doubt of that
not only in his drill, but in his care for
the welfare of his men, in his knowledge
of what was needed for their health, in
his sympathy with them and his willing
ness to spend any amount of time look
ing after them. And in return his men
worshiped him. They would follow him
anywhere, confident that he would lead
them to victory. Twice during the war
the desperate charges of his regiment
turned the tide of battle. Juarez, the
greatest leader in Mexican history,
learned to lean on the white haired, silent
man as a sure support; but when the war
was over and Maximilian was dead, the
White Colonel refused all the brilliant
offers made to him, declined the wealth.
the rank, the honors which Juarez
would have heaped on him, and disap-
peared.
The men who banded together and
sought to free Cuba from the rule of
Spain had no more skillful volunteer
than the thin, white haired man with
the sorrowful eyes who appeared SO sud
denly among them. To his strategy and
ability agoodly proportion of their power
to keep up the long struggle was due,
and he risked his life as freely rs the