The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1897-01-20
WITH MACEO, The DARING.
.rrrrER WHO WAS WITH HIM
rr,1S OF HIS FEARLESS WAYS.
uost of Gentle Manners and Dis
eliminating Taste in Letters. and
Fighter of Daredevil COur-
orn A Great General,
age, A Great General.

age. A Great General.
ar-ntiI 7 met Antonio Maceo l did not
.,ok it possible that should ever serve
Under mulatto-even for the liberation
ofCuba."
60 smoke Major Julio Baz of the Cuban
army of independence, temporarily re-
,iJinc N New York in order to recover
hooo his wounds. He has served as aide
da.camp to the elder Maoeo, and to him
,bo death of that real hero comes with
fine force of a crushing blow.
uyou know" continued the major,
..+bat nowhere more than in the Antilles
does the feeling against negro blood pre-
vail The present war has done won
ders towards stamping out color preju
dice however, and, in my case, at least,
# served to make me thoroughly asham-
N ed Of nv senseess objection to the mu-
Iatto as a chief. | first joined Antonio
Maceo in Matanzas, shortly after his ele-
Walton to the rank of acknowledgement.
| had preferred serving under Gomez,
but duty called ana [ had to obey. How
ever, bad only to spend ten minutes
with Maceo to be completely won over.
In the first place, he upset all my pre-
conceived notions of his personality. Of
course he was brown-skinned, but his
features were handsome, his eyes fine,
and his figure and bearing so graceful
and commanding that one saw in him at
once the well-mannered man as we'll as
the dashing cavalry commander.
ellis manners, even in the field, W ere
perfect, l have seen him sitting on a
soap box at hastily improyised supper
Fable after days. fighting, and l do not
that tie luke of Tetuan or any other
Spanish grandee could play the host with
greater polish or dignity. He
was admirably educated-a Jesuit's boy,
7 5e'ieye-and his acquaintance with
Spanish, English and French literature
surprised me. For instance, l have
beard him quote from Rudyard Kipling' S
RBarrack Room Ballads He expressed
p wish once that some Cuban could
translate Kipling into the vernacular.
II have been with Maceo in several
engagements. On Que occasion during
an encounter at Mayana, near where the
trocha of 1896 | ses itself in the sea-
scoaSt marshes Of Pinar del Rio, we fell
4 10 with body of Spanish. They faI
sOutnumbered us, but one could tell by
theiwegular way in which they made
their Mausers crack that they were not
veterans AS events proved, they were,
10 tact, lot of recent recruits--boys al
most MaceO had us in the shelter oil
some palms before you could cross your.
sell, and we awaited the next volley. Ii
came-the shot rafting among the
eaVeS and bowling over very few of US.
Then suddenly Maceo gave the order tc
Vlarge' We whipped out our machetes
anu went for them with whoops and
yeIIS' | saw Antonio a good horses
length ahead of the next man. He was
not shouting, but he seemed to be calm
y knotting the cord of his maehete han.
ule more firmly to his wrist. One OF
'ue spanish officers let fly a brace of re-
|'oIVer bullets at him, but missed each
''2e' Next moment Antonio was upor
- H. ana heard the slicing of a ma
'neCe' We sent those Spaniards right.
'ooutlace, and chased them within 5OC
I "iuS Oh the trocha. 1 was in h pur.
Pu''' LOT 1t was my first lively fight and
nau just cut a man down when T heard
n'en voice sing out, Alta It was
~ general aud when rode back he
cord. ~ ais lhachete
s,,+od ,rI 'oi n"' cord" he said, as [ sa
b u1eu: 1t must have been made in Snain
we took few prisoners on that CO.
'o'0n' NOW, the Spanish showed orr
,oon0rs no mercyi SO am afraid we
rS'e rather inconsiderate with +hoso
i 11l ELBOWS Towards evening we camp
prs VI plantation near Candelaria. the
p"ner OF which, an American was onr
,iona' Maceo had a good dinner and a
rar 6,' u glasses of rye whiskey. After.
|oro L4 ~ nao The prisoners brought be-
po ,p nlm to learn something OF weyler,s
ara Sul0n'S' and very ready those Span
NO were % tell all they knew. There
1O' much patriotism in a recruit mis-
~ thousands Of