Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-04-22


| letter has just been received from Gen.
| Enrique Collazo, who recently left this
| city on expedition to Cuba:
| LA CORONELA, CARDENAS
| April 3, 1896
| Il have been more than agreeably sur
| prsed since my arrival here; no one out
side of the island can imagine the magni-
| tude or power of the revolution. The pow
| er of the Spanish government does not ex-
| tend beyond the ground that their soldiers
| occupy, and that only while Occupied, and
| therefore, they live well entrenc he'd in the
| cities they inhabit.
| Not an estate grinds without our per-
| mission Even 'Portugalete' belonging to
Don Manual Calvo dhe chief supporter of
| the Spanish government in Cuba, has nicely
framed and hung up over the entrance to
| the estate Maxine Gomez's order for the
| protection of the estate.
. oihce my arrival here / have seen MANY
| Spahiards that live out in the country as
spaniarads, and as such are respected by
! our forces. They are bound to work so as
rot to die OF hunger, and as thew cannot
| make living in the towns are bound to
work IN their fields. We respect them, and
| 90 not interfere with them, and vet every
! now and then they fail victims to VIEWERS
| companions, whose conduct is all the more
| we ana infamous, because ii is SO hypo-
| oil'lcal. lie protests publicly against these
| outrages but his private orders are to the
| contrary. >'
| Spanish Also burn.
! They call us incendiaries and ve. ,bo,.
| purh everything they come across where
| lhey know that the poor owners have not
! the means of letting the outside world
| KNOW what Is going on. The greater part
| OIL the Killed that they report consist of
the 'pacificos.' who live in the couatrv Inv
| ane PERMISSION Of the Spanish in order to
kaih 1 Ihelr living and not starve in the cit
| les. Ihese are the victims, and these are
4 the ones who Will go 10 fill up the number
OF Their so-called killed in battle
! ne wake Of the Spanish troops can he
| ioho"ed by burnt remains Of all the small
huts and the destruction of every farm NJ.
| nlt OF land hat is under cultivation Every
morse or animal that they come across is
killed, so as to prevent rs fror, nti,i.i,'
| them.
Il VIII not take up the history Of our
iahains. The last / wrote you from on
BOARD the steamer, just as we sighted
ianu As soon we anchored / gave
Pedro NasqueZ orders to go ashore win
SIX men to reconnoiter and fird out exactly
Where we were. While he was gone the
other boats were lowered and loaded. Vas
Guez had not returned, and, judging from
his silence that everything was all right
the other boats, with forty men, Were sent
ashore. Our pilot had Instructions to take
Us to a given point, and we We're anchored.
| as he said, at that place. Some time hav-
ing passed, and none of the boats return
ing Tor the balance of the cargo, and no
signs being made, | was getting quite anX-
lcdS Tor, with forty men ashore and four
boats. | ought to have had some informa-
| ton About that time one of the boys re-
turnei in boat saying they Were COM
pletely worn out buffeting with the waves;
| that the coast, although 4 sand beach was
unapproachable without great risk, Tor the
waves were very high and breaking heay-
| lily, 10 such an extent that the three large
boats. IS soon as they touched the beach
had been capsized 1t was Impossible to
| get them off again, and they were soon
| startling information that they had landed
at small town. that he thought was Va
! radero, and about sixty yards from Span
| iSh fort.
The Landing.
My feelings cannot be described. All my
| carefully studied plans. SO well executed, so
| ably seconded by my friends and all to be
| lost at the very brink of success, through a
| mistake Of our pilot, z mistake that very
probably would cost all our lives
AT first l thought OF bringing back the
men and returning the next day to land the
| balance, but l Immediately gave up tie
| thought, it being utterly impossible. Our
| large boats were wrecked on the beach and
| the men could not be quickly brought back.
The other alternative was 10 take the bal
ance of the men ashore, join my men and
| together run the chance of life and death.
| 1t was impossible for me to abandon them
| in their perlous position.
Upon my reaching the beach l found
| them fighting with the waves and landing
| everything from the capsized boats. A
| large trench was dug and everything was
| buried in the sand. We then prepared to
| march inland, for we were in a very danger
| Gus position, we were upon a narrow
| tongue of land with only one exit and that
| very difficult. Fortunately Menocal knew
| the place and acted as a guide, but We had
| hardly advanced forty PAGES when two
| shots were fired at us from one of the
| houses. The few that were in front return
| ed the fire and then fell back on the main
| body. I then left Pedro Nasquez in charge
| of the men and went with six men to recon
| otter. fearing that those shots might mean
| an amhuscade, but found that such was not
| the case. No more shots We're fired and
| by dayhreak We were out Of our narrow
! prison.
Before o'clock that morning we met
| the Cuban forces under Lieut. Col Cepero
| Commander Miquelini and Capt Tavio:
| they had heard of our landing, and with the
| utmost rapidity had marched to our assist
ance.
Recovered the Arms.
The Spaniards waited until daybreak be-
| fore they left the fort, and when we return
ed they were digging up and loading an OK
wagon and mule cart with the arms and
tackled and we recovered everything We
! then attacked the fort, and were fighting
| some time; the first to hit the target was
Candida Crespo, and he captured the rifle
| and hat of the soldier he killed
THAT same evening we started on our
| march inland and before dusk fell In with
| Tlcrpt w to