The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1896-12-24
ANTONIO MACEO, CUBAN
PATRIOT.

In the gloomy gorges Of the Can
delaria, in Pinar del Rio, Cuba, there
Is man for whose head the Spanish
government would pay million pc
sos, says the New York Herald
As he sits under the rain soaked
roof Of his miserable hut. his gaunt
face standing out clearly in the fire
light, his clothes ragged and torn by
, jungle thorns and the four gilt stars
5 on his coat faded and rusted by sun
and storm, there is apparently very
little about him that would cause a
Spaniard to give dollar for either
his life or death,
All around him in the fickering
darkness is the champlng of horses,
the CLEAN OF high pomelled saddles
and the occasional clank of buckle
and bit. Over under the edge Of the
trees, in long, quiet lines, like wind
rows, lie the Cubans. Half of them
are baref0oted and barebreasted.
Half Of them are b, und with bloody
rags Half Of them should be in
hospitals, though no hospitals exist.
! You can see the light of white ban
dages all along the line. But even
the sickest and most desperately
wounded, in their fevered dreams,
still ching to their machetes.
Hospitals? Not If they know it.
Net so long as they have an arm to
WELD or leg TO stand On.
Out under the tall palms, ia black
silhouettes against the star sown skies,
stand the 8entries, silent and alert.
The man at the fire rises to his feet,
turns up the flap of his Old, faded hat,
and peers earnestly down the wooded
ridges of the mountains toward the
east, where other camp fires are CLEAN
ling. Then you may see why it is
that the Spanish government would
pay million pesos for the death of
this man.
1t Is Antonl, NJ Geo,
You n ay know him by the fierce
eyes, by the heavy brOws, by the
broad shoulders, by the square, bull
dog jaw Just such men 1t was who
stood with shield and buckler in the
arenas among wild beasts in the olden
days and sneered at HannO and Nero
and the caesars of Rome.
The camp fires to the east are those
Of the Spaniards along the trocha.
and. as Maceo watches them, his lips
curl with contempt They are his
hereditary enemies. He has fought
them from his boyhood, and Will fight
them until he dies-or Cuba is free.
Why not? The blood Of his family
stains the island from end to end. He
! iG tho 1aCt Cy7rviyOr
Revenge? Perhaps Many times
ere this, however, MaceO's revengeful
feelings have been glutted with blood.
Many times he has ridden rough
shod over fields strewn like shambIes
with dead and dying enemies. The
dominant feeling in his breast is a
longing for liberty-hberty, the eter-
nal spirit of the chainless mind, that
torture and time cannot conquer.
Twenty eight years ago Antonio
Maceo and his ten brothers swore
never to lay down their arms until
Cuba was free. Antonio, the eldest,
is now the sole fighting survivor.
His brothers We're all killed or per-
manently injured in battle.
In 1S4S Marcus Maceo lived in the
little palm thatched village of Bara
iagua, with his wife, Mariana, and
his little son, Antonio. He owned a
comfortable plantation and kept pack
mules for hire The mules were
driven along the lonely mountain
roads by Antonio. In this way the
boy made trips to Baracoa. to Guam
tanamo, to Santiago and even to
Holguin.
He saw the slaves toiling their lives
away in the fields, fettered and lashed
by overseers. He saw the red and
yellow Spanish flag floating above
the fortified towns and came to IN
derstand it as an emblem of rapacity,
cruelty and greed Young Antonio
naturally began to dream Of the why's
and wherefores. Why should one
people, with dissimilar interests and
dissimilar lives, be forced to pay tri
butte to a king and people who cared
nothing for them and who fattened
upon them?
Why had God given any nation a
right to say to another nation-"W e
discovered you and you are ours
Give us so much or your riches and
be thankful that we allow you to live"
Young MaceO could not understand
all this. No more could his father
Marcus. In good time and almost
with the Irregularities of the years,
other children came to bless the
Maceos, until there were eleven sons,
stair stepping down from Antonio
the eldest, young man of twenty, to
Jose, the Youngest, but little more
than babe III arms.
Then one early autumn day in
1868 Antonio returned to his fathers
plantation from Baracoa with the in
formation that the Cubans had rebel
led. Maceo, the father, being a care
ful man. at once advised his family to
remain strictly neutral Antonio
chafed under this restraint, but obey
ed. 50 did his younger brothers.
From time to time news of the war
reached the little plantation at Bara-
jagua. The Maceos secretly exulted
over the successes of their countrymen
IN the field, and it may have been that
the Spanlards obtained an inkling of
the sentiments. At any rate, Spanish
spies began to annoy them. and more
than once they were threatened.
The revolution had been in progress
for some months and the Spaniards
were Wild over series of disasters.
when there appeared at the Maceo
plantation band of Spanish guerri-
las, led by Capt. Campillo Senior
Maceo and his older sons were away
with mule team in the direction of
Baracoa.
They returned at nightfall. As the
; mules, with their tinkling bells and
heavy pack saddles turned bend in
: the road and the plantation came in
to view, a horrifying sight met the
gaze of Maceo and his sons. Where
: his home had been there was nothing