The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1893-08-19


neen Ia Guatemala; been there AT dil-
ivieht times; am acquainted with the
country was In keathuallo aud Qua
,Vth"la IN last March, am machin 81;
Hu4W the country there are low and
hlsIi lands there is plenty Of swampy
! lahdi travelled through swamps for
thlrty-two leagues; took me sixteen
days; the guide said the road would
get better, but IL got worse; much
ieVtr there; have had il; was thank
lui To get out alive; have visited plan
ihtlohsi some houses are but four
posts with straw roofs; some are
adobe; some are corrugated iron; some
are 800 feet long; one building had
100 men sleeping on a floor; there
were no hunks nor partitions; CORFU
gated iron Is used all over the country.
some have wooden hunks; some parts
OF the country are all right; other
parts are not two feet over the sea
level; have seen the food; bare
corn cakes and dried meat; / have
eaten the beans and dried beef, and
was glad To get them they have
nothing else to eat in that country /;
the rule is for lunas and others in au-
thority to carry Tevolvers in that
country they carry also belts of
ammunition; have seen revolvers used
in disturbances have seen lunas
shoot laborers in the legs To stop a
row; they generally carry n revolver
and long knife; all carry knives to
protect themselves; POGO tempo dol
lars are worth from 40 to % cents /;
other coins are used, and paper also
have seen gold; the customary coin is
silver and paper.
ross-eXamined do not know the
altitude of Santa Anna plantation,
but can give the latitude; L think it
is 1000 feet high left there in last
March; was there two months was
there before in 1885 do not know if
all the labOrers are contracted there
are Chinese laborers at Guatemala.
BEN MASON sworn: Have been in
Guatemala have been there twice
was there seven months ago last; the
first time l had shaggers fever; /
worked on railway; have been in
Honolulu off and on thirteen years,
and eight different times; was in
Guatemala from May to October last
time; have travelled there; was there
when the Monserratt arrived at
San Jose; coffee grows from about
200 to $50 feet elevation there
were some 400 blackbirds on the
Monserratt; L fitted out the engine
that took them away; last October /
fitted out a coffee mill at an elevation
of less than 1900 feet; the labOrers
are mostly Indians; the plantations
are owned mostly by foreigners; the
lunaS are a murderOuS, Scoundrelly
lot; have read the statements of Clogs;
some of the laborers are hired by the
day and some. are shipped; their ra-
lions are corn and beef; the houses are
of corrugated iron and adobe and iron,
lumber and iron, and adobe with grass
roofs; the sleepy act was where the
luna pretended to be asleep; some
hands and watch the laborers through
his fingers; if they tried to escape the
luna would raise his gun and fire upon
them; the nation of the country was a
race; he described the
savage howlings of the people at a
bull fight; the more the blood spurted
the more they howled; swamps are
mostly on the Atlantic side.
Cross-examination: The last time
L was there L worked four and one
half months; 1 fitted up engine No. 5
to carry the Monserratt blackbirds in
land; it was supposed they were to go
to work at Livingstone, on the rail-
way being constructed by the govern
ment; / saw them; have seen the con-
tract laborers after they had been shot
by the lunaS, and have seen the dead
bodies when still warm; have seen
five that were killed within seven
L saw them at Reathuallo,
twenty-five miles inland; saw three of
them that were killed in one day;
these men. were killed at different
plantations near Reathuallo in last
Henry Hart is the mana
ger of a plantation, and was one of the
men who employs contract labOrers; /
put up a mill at Reathuallo; the plan
tations surround the town; it was said
the blackbirds were to go to work at
/ don't know that they
were employed at all; contract la
borers are such as are hired from the
others were Indians;
they are generally contracted for three
or four months; there are thirty or
more plantations within five miles of
l know where the Union
saloon is; l have been there; Ito Mr..
you have been there; we
Robert French; / was there on August
18th; did not tell French that it was a
matter of dollars and cents with me to
hush me up on this matter.
Re direct examination: Did not |
know / was to be witness was
spoken to by q German; his name was
Won something; do not remember it |
now; met him on the street; saw Mr.. |
tombstone afterwards; he asked me to- |
be interviewed for the ADVERTISER.
Fl. CLARKSON CLOUD, sworn for the |
in rebuttal; was at Guate- !
mala from 1854 to 1891; have been |
all the country am coffee |
specialist; was employed on three |
was in the banana BUSH |
ness previously coffee for export |
grows at 1900 feet elevation coffee |
grows at u lower level for home con- |
perhaps there are not |
more than 800 bags raised on the |
lower levels swampy lands lie on |
the coast; have visited at least fifty |
there are $50 to 200 plan |
the swampy lands are near |
the coast; q lagoon backs up near San |
Jose; there are twenty-five miles of |
forest back of it; the fruit of the |
is shipped to New Orleans; |
there Is no coffee on the Atlantic side; |
Indian labor is used on the pIanta- |
tions; do not think they are contract |
labOrers there is no depending on |
the labor there; the best people eat |
the food of the country, but the best |
people do not live in the country |
they are educated abroad have never /
seen anybody armed there revolvers |
cost too much for them to buy; re-
volver costs $50; there is n heavy |