Kansas City daily journal., 1896-12-27

ish soldiers, so when went 10 mali my
letter it was torn open by Spanish Of
ficer. l had, previous to starting for Cuba,
arranged a cipher code. SO, of course. the
officer could not read 1t. I was ordered to
re-write it in English, which l did. or
rather did nt for naturally enough made
my second article in favor of the 'hne con-
dition of the Spanish army. This was for
warded and. of course. appeared IN the
American paper that way.
II was so closely watched that L soon
saw that 1t would be useless for me TO at
tempt to make a success of writing let
ters of information to the paper, SO TOOK
my departure to Key West and returned
to Cuba couple of months later on a MI
clustering steamer. l landed with a lot OIL
ammunition for General Rolol DIVISION
of the army The general made me a
major on his staff. From that tune unti
1 left the island. two months ago. hao no
tro,blA IN getting my reports to the press.
oEIow many white people are there en-
listed in the Cuban cause? was hsksu.
You people here in the: StateS-ahu L
candidly admit that had the same impres-
s;n,, before going to Cuba-tlink that the
insurgents are nothing but negroes. Less
than one-third of the population OF tne Isl
and are negroes. The rest are creoies i ai,u
whites. They are not in rebeihon siIhpS
for the sake of rebeliing, but are seehiiis
their liberty from the Spanish tyranny as
earnestly and determinedly as 1t was ever
fought for in this country Ihe peopie III
the country have turned their piahtdlioiiS
over TO the army not only the ie" "i'
have been compelled to by 1orCe Vi aims a. ms
hut all of them in the interior. me cisal
makers in the small cities, who make from
s1S to $50 a week, keep out barely enough
for their living, and the rest Is given "
the army. The war means either uitlIliaIe
victory to the Cubans or their eAtefitiilia ~
lion The feeling among a great many
tI,;c trv
simnly a guerrilla warfare, and because
no great body of men have fouSnt III
single engagement, that the war IS M lIiillis.
Washington's mode OF warfare III l',o was
much more OF a guerriila waTlare tlrhn ~, -
the war in Cuba. What explanation can
vol, give for the utter failure OF the SPAN
ish army to control the island, after nearly
two years of continuous war why "oes
General weyler who is considered one OF
the greatest Spanish generals keep SO
close to Havana? 1 have been in engage
ments where 400 Cubans put 1000 Spamards
to flight The Cubans know every toot OF
ground, while the Spaniards know hotnins
about the island. / have seen ana hanaiea
hundreds of rifles with the Spanish coat Oh
arms engraved on them. which the Cupans
have captured. This war is costing Spain
$500 600 a day, while 1t is costing the CUBAN
republic nothing, comparatively speaking.
rs there such a government as the Gu
ban republic, established? the major was
asked.
battles. and is ready, but not idly wait
ing. to be recognized. 1t is patterned art
er the government of this country. Cis-
neros who was elected president py the
95 900 Cubans who are enrolled in the army,
is the head of the whole army, ana MS
orders are as strictly observed as would pe
those which would be issued by the pres
ident of the United States to the generals
under him. The whole army of the Gu
hans. which is scattered in small divisions
all over the island, is constantly IN COM
munication with the president. He mas ap-
rointed his secretaries the same as Is zone
in this country, and every one of them IS as
finely educated as any man in like position
in this country. Every plantation is taxed
by the Cuban government and the money
sent to the secretary of the treasury.
DO YOU mean to say that those lying
near the cities held by the Spanish troops
are taxed?
Yes. sir. The owners of the sugar plant
ations near the Spanish forts are unfor-
tunate enough to be subject to double tax
alton 1 was in command of squad Of
men sent by General Roloff, who is sec
retary of war to collect taxes from a
planter in Pinar del Rio. His canemin was
less than q mile from a trocha held by
the Spaniatds. We rode to his hacienda
one night and got him out of bed and de-
He was an American and had been taxed
by the Spaniards only few weeks before.
He refused, and I ordered the men to set
fire to his refinery. The buildings alone
were worth over $4,000. He Immediately
got me nearly 5000 in gold which he had Sc
creted from the Spaniards. and gave a
draft for the rest on the New York ex-
change. We left his buildings alone and
slipped away.
That's Just a sample of the way the
Cuban army gets its revenue from the
planters, right under the guns of the Span
ish army. The property of those who re-
fuse to pay is promptly burned. General
Weyler has been burning plantations for
months simply to cut this revenue from
the Cuban forces"
rs there any truth in the report that the
Cubans are laying down their arms and
swearing that they never took part in the
insurrection, since the death of Maceo?'
well. of course what has happened
since General Maceo's death is just as well
known to you as to me. in general way
for I have been away from the army for
two months, but I would promptly call any
correspondent who writes an article to
that effect, a liar. to his face and know
that l was telling the truth in calling him
such. No man with heart in him or
with any power of observation at all,
could take the rough and tumble life with
the Cubans for five months and not know
as well as he knows that a Spaniard can
use a Manser to good effect, that Cubans
will never lay down their arms until they
are exterminated. Maceo was a great gen.
eral a master of strategy, but General
Gomez is his superior in every respect.
Maceo was fighting Weyler and conse-
quently was before the people of this coun-
try when Gomez was unheard Of. Gomez
| has control of nearly all of the eastern
| interior and has secured several of the
small cities from the Spanish troops. When
Havana is captured, and mark my word.
| that will take place before many months.
| Spain will not have stronghold on the
| island. With Havana taken. the forces of
| the Cuban army quickly collect and
| the other cites will soon fall into the
| hands of the Cuban army"
Colonel Hartman announced that. if pos
| sibie, he would have Cuban mass meet
| ing held in this city next Tuesday night
and Major Price gave his consent to re-
| main and address the meeting. He will
| try to procure the Auditorium for that
| evening.