The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-12-14
;ToRY OLA HERo'S LIFE.
.oNIO MACEO, LAST OF NINE
kOTHERs, TO DIE FOR CUBA.


hish OutTages Upon His Fathers
bmiIy changed Him From a
I,acifieo sIntO "A Most Terrible
demonstrated at West Point Dis
L,ised rs n HOstler-His Brilliant
III b,ring and His Many Successes.
IN From The Chicago Times-Herald.
Eor the seventh time since the present
~ [,or revolution began Gen. Antonio Ma
has been killed. The fact that he in
MI .iobv comes to life more formidable
~ ever in no wise deters the enemy from
M ling him again. Well, indeed. might the
III o,niards wish for the death of the ire
assb;e Maceo. What checks has he
nj given them What victories has he
sratched from them! What pungent
flare has he not waged in their very
rongbolds! AT no time within the past
Years has there been a moment when
,sn would not have paid 100000 pesos,
core straits as she is, for his body, dead
"a alive. What mighty motive has NOV
Antonio Maceo in his relentless war on
o.inq A brief notice OF the career of the
han hero and liberator will suffice to
aver the question.
The study of Maceo is as thrilling as that
,rv hero in the world-struggle for lib
nv His uncompromising patriotism, his
oolacable hatred of the enemy, his self
.crjice. magnetism, courage, his rugged
,tpre and his stern, solemn purpose-all
hose things drew men to him and held
X
q escape. This is the second Cuban rev.
/ mtion in which Maceo has been a con-
nicuous figure. In the ten years war he
ose from the ranks to the grade of
,aior general Then, as now, he was a
1 FEARLESS fighter. Then, as now. he was the
/ sespair of the Spaniards. But in this rev.
olption Maceo went into the fight with ali
4 he experience of his first campaign, re-
Enforced by sixteen years of study and
Drenaration in the arts of war.
4 Naceo is the last of nine brothers VINO
i Med and died for Cuba. And in him is
concentrated the spirit of the eight broth
ers and their dead father. Antonio was
Nb,rn i'm 1913 on the plantation of his father,
Narcus Maceo, near the little palm
matched village of Barajagua. He work
III for the family, driving the mules along
81 y he
Ieaves toiling and keenly felt the shame
n the Cuban's degradation. One day IN
1sR Antonio returned from trip to Hal
eun. bringing to his father the news that
The Cubans had uprisen and the island
was in revolt BY this time the family
had increased to eleven-nine sons and
TWO daughters. Young Antonio desired
10 fight for his country, but Maceo the
FATHER prevailed upon him and his broth
ers to maintain a strict neutrality. Yet
the father deeply sympathized with the
s 81 cause of the insurgents, and often lent
them secret aid when he could. Perhaps
n the Spaniards i'm some way learned this
fact and it was that knowledge that gave
81 to Cuba her greatest leader. One day
band of Spanish guerillas under the
lead of Capt Campllo passed by the Gu
bans plantation. Maceo and his elder
sons were away upon a trip to Baracoa.
+" At nightfaI when they returned they
81 found their home a mass of blackened
ruins. The barns were burned, the crops
destroyed, the mules, horses and cattle
stolen. The mother with a broken arm
was tied to tree, moaning from pain. Six
81 boys lay on the ground, bleeding and
FL senseless. The two girls were hiding, half
dead. in the bushes. What should now
r withhold the Maceos from the conflict?
. The next day the women of the Maceo
household were placed in the hands of
n friends and the father assembled his sons
together. He required them all to regis
ter an oath never to lay down their arms
until the Spaniard should be driven from
the land and Cuba be free. How well
the sons have kept that oath has been
seen in the record of blood and flame from
one end of the island to the other
Al the time that Maceo's plantation was
81 destroyed Gen. Maxine Gomez was lying
with his forces in the mountains of San
" tagO. One day he was confronted by a
tall, gaunt man, followed by half a dozen
awkward boys. The gaunt man volun-
TERED his services and those of his sons
Can you flght2' asked the leader, with a
smile. Perhaps" was the reply. Some
time after a company of Spanish cavalry
passed near the camp of Gomez They
were cut to pieces by the guerrillas of
Gomez. AT the head of the rebels rode
The Maceo awkward squad. The father
leli in this fight, and within two months
three of the sons had been slain in bat
lie, The remaining members of the Ma
Geo family seemed to bear charmed lives.
They fought recklessly. Death first over
look Miguel; then Julio fell under Span
ism fire, and Felipe and Tomas were dis
aoled This left Antonio alone. His
brother Jose was too young to join his
brother in the field. For the first year of
his service under Gomez Antonio fought
IKE a lion. In that space of time he was
promoted from a common soldier to a SER
tenant captain and major Soon after
his last promotion he led a band of 300
against the upland town OF III Arriba. and
capturing the forts drove the Spaniards
10 Santiago. He was then given the
straps of a colonel. His career from this
forward was one of glory. Gomez adj
Nanced him in power, and the Spaniards
began to dread his very name. His en-
gagements were all brilliant, his victories
lar reaching, his losses slight. He tortur-
ed the great Campos at Ramos, slaughter
ed the combined forces of Campos and
Valera at Monte Oscuro, utterly routed a
force of $500 Spaniards in the battle of
Aarzal and at Santa Maria de Halguln he
charged and dismayed the Spanish line
before the enemy could fire shot In
Inc last named action Calxto Garcia was
IN command, and Maceo led the charge.
About this time Antonio Maceo first met
MS present enemy, Capt. Gen. Valeriano
,Weyler. Weyler had just been made a
brlgadier general, and was sent against
the brave Antonio at Guaimaro. The lat
Ter led the brigadier and his men into
iravine trap and Slaughtered the Spaniards
Ike sheep. yler ran away, leaving