The record-union., 1897-07-11


100 men with him. and he always posts
| his pickets three miles away from his
| headquarters. As the Spaniards march
| by the road, Gomez thus remains Sc
cure and is we'll informed at all times
where his enemy is. Two Of his pickets
| have been known to hold 2,000 Span
iards at bay Hearing a single shot,
they fear an ambush, while Gomez un-
derstanding it all turns over and goes
to sleep, or rises and gives orders to
move the camp.
The Spanish seldom chase the insur-
gents If they do Gomez delights in
fall, knowing they will cease following,
he turns in and rests laughing at his
trick, and the Spanish learn nothing
from such experiences. Gomez handles
| centrate 5000 men, The Cuban sol
diers are not drilled; they understand
trumpet calls to break or make camp,
how to rally and how to scatter, and
!
who have joined them and sought TO
introduce order and military methods
are unsuccessful, for the Cuban SOL
dier refuses to learn the most ordinary
fighter in the world, dislikes foot
marches and disdains drill.
On horseback is his favorite position,
and he charges at forts to the very loop
holes with perfect fearlessness. If his
horse escapes slaughter, its chances of
being ridden to death are enlarged, for
he gives the animal no rest, and pays
no attention to its comfort. He is not
& eood marksman and the Spaniard is no
better It is common for whole battal-
ions to fire volley after volley with the
butt of the gun under the arm, and the
bullets, as a result, go skyward. This is
also true of the Spanish. In one battle
referred to, after twenty minutes rapid
firing, not man was hurt on either
side
The most deadly of the Cuban's wea-
! ~.AANA
arm from boyhood, and the Spaniard
has a wholesome dread of it. The in
surgents have dynamite, but do not
understand it's use. They never think,
for instance, of firing bombs into the
round houses and thus disabling rail-
road at one blow, and they fail to blow
up railroad bridges, which they could
do with less output of energy than they
devote to destroying other property
indeed, the magnitude of a masonry
bridge seems to stupefy them.
The troops of Spain are poorly drilled,
but they are wonderful marchers, never
complaining and always responding
quickly to every demand for endurance.
Their officers have nothing in common
with them, are cruel to them, and the
men have no respect for the ability of
their superiors The conscripts are not
taught how to care for their arms. The
officers make no effort to have the men
look neat and tidy. and as result many
of them go in filth and rags and their
! arms are not SerV1cedDle.
Most skirmishing is done by Spanish
mounted guerrillas made up of
renegade Cubans, bandits and
negroes who are forced to serve
or be killed Many of the guer-
rilla bands are commanded by re
formed" brigand chiefs, and by these
many of the "outrages" are committed
which shock civilized peoples. Weyler
attempts to escape responsibility for
these acts by saying that no Spanish Of
ficers We're in charge.
The cafes and parks of cities and
towns are filled with idle Spanish officers,
enough of them to command five times
the number of troops in Cuba. Last
April there were in Cuba forty-seven
spanish Generals and LOO field and
company officers. while 10000 officers
and privates and military attaches were
Withdrawn from active service by spe-
cial duty Many of these Generals rule
a place or section as a conqueror would,
exacting tribute mercilessly. When
property owners appeal to them for pro-
lection they must pay for it. One es-
tate is mentioned by Alvord whose pro-
prletor paid thousands of dollars to the
General to secure a guard for the prop
erty From General to Captain the
Spanish extort and they defend by say
ing they have a chance but once in ten
,aarS while nIanterS get a crop every
year.
So it is that tribute paying lengthens
the war and large property-owners are
to blame for it. They have always paid
taxes and vexatious laws, and say that
if the Cubans gain control they will be
more exacting than are the Spanish,
hich accounts for certain Americans
saying to Secretary Olney and President
Cleveland that they are contented with
Spanish rule.
The narrator tells of one case of his
own knowledge where Weyler sent out
an officer to purchase several hundred
horses and pay in Spanish due bills.
But the officer told the horse owners not
TO give up their animals for a $50 worth
less warrant, but to see his Secretary.
They did and paid 500 per head for the
horses they would have furnished, while
the officer said he could get horses
1heaply in plenty in New Orleans to fill
his quota.