The Portland daily press., 1897-01-06
WAS WITH MACEO.
One of His Officers Chats Entertain1ngIy
About the Dead Hero.

New York. December 20, 1896" ntil
l met Antonio Maceo did not think it
possible that should ever serve under
1nulatto-eyen for the liberation of
Cuba. -
So spoke Mai. JUL, Baz of the Cuban
army Of independence, temporarily rssld-
| ing In this city in order to recover from
his wounds. MAJ. Baz only remains in
this country long enough to stanoh his
Hwar-bautered body'' and "Du1ld it for
battle again. Hs has served as aid
de-camp to the elder Macen. and to him
the death of that real hero comes with
the force of a crushing blow
| "You know" continued the wounded
major, 'that nowhere more than in the
Antilles does the feeling against negro
flood prevail The present war has done
wonders toward stamping out color preju-
dice, however, and, in my case, at least,
| it served to make me thoroughly
ashamed of my senseless objection to the
| N nulatto as a chief. I first Joined An
| tonic Maceo in MatanZss, shortly after
| his elevation to the rank OF usutenant
| general. had preferred serving under
Gomez, but duty called, and | had to
obey. However, had only TO spend ten
minutes with Maceo to become complete
ly won oveE. In the first place he upset
all my preconceived notions Of his per-
sonality. Of course he was brown
skinned, but his features were hacd-
some, his eyes fine and his figure and
bearing SO graceful ard commanding
| that one saw in him at once the well
hammered man as well as the dashing
| cavalry oommander.
"His manners, even in the field, were
perfect. have seen him sitting on a
soap box at a hastily improvisei supper
tablesafter a..day's fighting, and | do not
| think that the Duke of Teutan or any
other Spanish grandee could play the
nifty. He was admiralty educated-a
Jesuit's hoy, believe-and his acquaint-
ance with Spanish, English and French
literature surprised Inc. For instance,
l have heard him squote from Rudyard
KIpling's "Barrack Room Ballards. :"
| lao CApEosoOusIs W4oAA OL Oho 'SO@oAoAA OA0S
some Cubantwould translate Kipling into
the verHacular.
"I have been with Maceo in several
engagem ents. On one occasion, during
an encounter at Mayana, near where the
troohssof 1896 loses itself in. the ssaooast
marshes Of Pinar del Rio, we fell in
with body of Spanish. They far out
numbere Us, but one could tell by the
irregular way in which they made their
Mausers crack that they we're not veter-
ans. AS events proved they. were, in fact
lot Of recent recruiEs-bUys almost.
| Maceo had us in the shelter of some
palms befurs you could GROSS yourself
and here We awaitei the next volley. 1t
| oame-the shut rafting among the leaves
and bowling over very few Of us. Then
suddenly. Maceo gave the order to charge
We whipped out our niaohe5es and went
| for them with whoops and yells. saw
| Antonio a geod hoTse's length ahead of
| the next. man. He was not shouting, but
| he seemed to be calmly knottng the cord
| of Ibis machete handle moIe firmly to his
| wrist. One OF tho Spanish officers let
| hy brace of revolver bullets at him, but
| missed each time. Next moment An
| tonic was upon him, and / heard the
slicing of q macheto We sent those
Spaniards right-a bout-faoe and chased
them within 500 yards nf the trooha.
was in hot pursuit (for il was my hIst
lively fiaht and / had just cut man
DOWN when l heard q high voice sing
out "Altai' 1t was the geHsgal, and
| when reiened in and rode ba ,ghere he
was once more fumbling at his machete
| cord.
90 This Internal cord 4 he said. as
| salused, [ think it must have been made
| in Spain, captain."
| sWe took n few prisoners on that oc-
casion. Now the Spanish showed our
prisoners no mercy; so I'm afraid that
We we're rather incoLsiderate with those
| poor fellows. Toward evening we
cnmped on plaatation near Candeleria,
the owner of which ian Arnerican) was
our friend. Maeeo had good dinner
and couple of glasses of rye whisky.
Afterwarti he hed she prisoners brought
| before him to learn something OF Weylers
movements; and very ready those
| Spanisrds were to tell all they knew.
There ia not much patriotism in re-
cruit prisoner thousands Of miles from
his native Andalusia. Antonio got
plenty of information, and fels in high
| good humor. One of the prisoners was
| a roguish looking broad-sbouldered fell
| low, who seemed to act as spokesman,
Finally the general asked his name, ami
WnaG was our SUTprlso WuSH He atisWcE0I
| Antonio Maoeo!' He was our leader
naneEake and on his account the whole
of that sorry gang was sent back to the
trocha under cover of darkness.
| "Maceo was proud OF both his names.
In swoop across the trooha, we rode by
forced marches to the outskirts of San
Antonio de- los Banos, in Hahana. II
WAS most dangerous and difficult trip,
but that was what the general loved.
Wesburned four plantations belonging to
| Spaniards and the wretched non-com
batants: and when we finally halted at
friends hacienda there was no lack Of
| good cheer. After supper Antonio said
| half jokirGly: I have an idea that !
ought to ride into the city yonder and
pay nv respects to my patron saint, San
Antonio He muEed over this fool
hardy proposition for awhile. and then
asked me il could accompany him. OF
course, 1 agreed, and with Ramon
Parjarita and three others we set out.
The camp lay between Lake Aguanab
and San Antonio and thus north of the
| line of railroads to Habana. We rode
rapidly. accommodating as well as we
could. No signs of Spanish occupation
could we see when we rode into the town.
| Then | remeru bered That it was Sunday