Evening star., 1897-01-14

trepid In the afaces of the: t:efemy, and I
have seen him in the saddle in plain sight
of the Spahish sharpshooters, gazing at
their lines through a field glass. without an
appearance of noticing the. wbistling bull
let's AT that time.J was acting as the COM
mander of his personal cavalry escort, and
the arduous duties of that position con-
sisted in always being as close to him as
we could get. We numbered about thirty,
ara 1t was not. an unusual thing to see
thirty heads duck down when bullet came
Wh1stllnS overhead. Strange to say, neith-
er the general nor any of my party we're
ever hit while engaged in such duty al
though the infantry escort suffered con-
siderably at times Maceo carried over
thirty wounds There were five gunshot
wounds tn his chest Under fire he seemed
to bear a charmed life. at least in the en-
gagements saw him in, and l understood
that he believed that the bullet which was
to end his life would find him whether he
lodged or not. Sc he did not try to get out
of the way of them.
He never smiled during the times that
saw MIN. There was always a grave look
on his face, as though his thoughts were
busy with weighty things. At times he
would be most horribly annoyed at trifles.
especially breaches of discipline. He
thought the world of a man who would
fight, but he did not care for nor respect
man who did not like to fight
A Strict DiscipIinarinn.
Maceo ala not care for display. When
l joined him there was with the company
package sent out from Santiago de Cuba
containing some red leather leggings, a belt
and an espada, or short stabbiug sword
The sword had a guard on it, something
that the machetes did not have, and Maceo
had the armorer take the guard from the
espada and attach it to a serviceable
machete. He was always careful that the
Y1oar %f,., r. i
none of them dared transgress the various
simple rules which governed his little court
out there in the wilderness. do not think
that there were any who cared to do so
either. His word was the only law that
prevailed: His punishments were strict and
to the point If a rule was broken the man
had to suffer for it, no matter who he was.
When he captured the town Of Baradada,
small port on the north coast, the one
store was looted by the men and every
thing serviceable was carried away. There
was no commissary department. The men
took what they wanted to use and left the
rest for those who came afterWard. When
the last had left, however, there was not
much left. In the cellar of the store was
found quantity of gunpowder, about 200
nlachetes, several thousand rounds of am
munition, and score OF cans of black
machine oil to be used In the mill where
they made sugar. The cooking of the men
was very simple, A1fd it was customary
for each servant or'soldier to carry small
DOttle or monteQuellO or grease TO use IN
frying the sweet potatoes. Grease was a
scarcity, and the rieH were anxious to Sc
cure some of the machine oil to use in fry
ing the articles of food which were cooked
in that manner. lMAceo set a guard to
watch the ammunition and oil, which was
piled up in the center of the street, until
it could be carried away by the pack ami
mails. He had his Headquarters in the store
building, and sat aaoa table writing letters,
ETC., almost the entipe day. He had given
positive instructions that no man was to
come within q certain distance of the oil
and ammunititn, asj he was aware of their
fondness for the former. The guard was
a good-natured fellow, and some of his
chums, who thought 'Maceo was not watch
Ing signaled him thatithey wished to carry
off one of the cans. A good opportunity
was awaited. and when 1t was considered
safe one of the men made a quick move
ment, seized one Of the cans. and started
of with 1t. Maceo was apparently watch
ing them out Of the tall of his eye, and he
seized his revolver, which lay on the table
IN front or him, and took snap shot at
the man with the oil can. The bullet struck
him In the leg. He dropped the can with q
yell, and the general snapped another shot
at the sentry. The sentry softly picked
up the oil can and placed 1t on the pile
again, while the purloiner limped of amidst
the yells and ieers Of his, companions. The
general ordered another sentry to take the
place OF the one who had failed in his duty,
and he was relegated to the servants list.
The general gave saesardonfc smile after 1t
was over, and at. once returned to his
work"