The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-01-19
TRUE STORY At LAST.
Death and Burial of the Cuban
General Maceo.
LETTER FROM ANDRE HERNANDEZ
The Colonel Says That Maceo Sleeps In u
Secret Grave ON the Island He So Dearly
Loved-Friends Fight to Recover the
Body After the General Was slain
Made Frantic by His Death They Charge
Upon the spaniards.

| Jacksonville. Fla. Jan. ia letter
mas been received here from Lieutenant
| Colonel Andre Hernandez. now i'm COM
| mand of the Cuban army encamped
near Havana. giving the true account
| Of Maceos death and his subsequent
| burial. AS he says he was in command
| Of the Cuban detachment that recovered
the body from Major Cirujeda's COM
mand, and afterward buried it, his
statement should settle the matter. The
letter was sent to j. a. Huau. the Flor
ida representative of the New York
Cuban junta. 1t came through the
underground channel" 1t is dated
Ian. g. from the "encampment near
Havana" After extending to Mr. Huau
thanks for past favors, the letter goes
on 10 say:
1T was Dec. : that we suffered a
great misfortune i'm the tragic death
(by ambush) of our leader Maceo. This
Is the greatest misfortune we have SUI
fered since the beginning of the war,
but il only encourages us TO fight hard
er and aVenge his death. We were en-
camped near the fight that day, and
heard the firing.
Crossed the Trocha.
"Maceo came across the trocha, un-
known TO us, with but forty men. More
than 1900 Spaniards, who had been in
formed of his trip, ambushed him. He
rode into II and was shot at the first
fire. We heard the firing. and think
ing that some of our friends were at
tackled by the Spanish guerrillas start
ed off at once to their aid, although
we had only 400 men. When we
reached the scene of the slaughter II
was mostly over, and then we were told
that Maceo was dead, and that the en-
envy had his body tied to a horses tail
and were taking it off. Our men were
perfectly frantic over the report. and
begged to be lead against the Spaniards.
We dashed forward with drawn mach
etes, and what a fight that was!
The Spaniards met us, and the en-
counter was horrible. Our men fought
to Kill only, bent on avenging Maceo.
Our trusty and sharp machetes fell
with regularity, and I think we killed
more than 200 Of the enemy; and, what
Is more, we had the consolation of re-
covering the body Of our beloved lead
er, Maceo. The Spanards fought hard
edly, but our machetes were too much
for them, and they sullenly retreated.
Force Suffered Terribly.
"Our little force suffered terribly. Our
cavalry, which went in eighty strong,
came out with only twenty-five men,
and the infantry suffered almost in the
same proportion. But for all that, we
were consoled by the fact hat our
brave brothers gave up their lives In
good cause, and to save the body of
our lamented Maceo from the desecra-
ton the Spaniards would have inflicted
We buried the body in a secret and Sc
cure place. Only myself and few Sc
lected men and officers know the loca-
ton. In due time 1t will be marked
If known now. the murderous Span
iards would try to get it and parade it
to show their great vitrium.
Poor Maceo sleeps in peace, but his
brothers remain to avenge him, and
that they are doing daily. have
good many important things to tell you
in connection with this, but ] do not
care to put them i'm this as | am not
positive that the letter will get through
ca fpIy