The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-04-18

fin. Doubtless they belonged to cer- tain secret organization of Cuba, com | posed entirely of negroes, whose de- | ceased members are always buried ac- ! cording to the rules of the order, car 1 ried to the grave on the shoulders of l their comrades and inferred with mys- | terious rites. Several "swell' funerals | dashed merrily by, each with it's gor- geous hearse, decked with plumes and l gliding, the horses canopied with cloth | of gold, and driver sitting aloft in scar let coat, knee-breeches and cooked hat | almost fac-simile of one of our Con- tinental soldiers, as shown in the old portraits, Anon, it was the white | hearse with snowy plumes of some child of wealth-horses covered with white netting and silver trappings; but always the driver in his gaudy cos tune of scarlet and yellow, followed by a train of carriages filled with men. Occasionally the dead cart rumbled by on a smart dog trot-a closed black box, not unlike the bakers wagon, with nothing to indicate it's gruesome | purpose but the cabalistic red letters | painted on the rear.
 The cemetery of Christopher Colum- 1 bus was established about twenty | years ago, by removing the bones from an ancient graveyard near by. It is an imposing place, with thousands of | sky-piercing monuments, enclosed within massive stone walls topped with
 an iron railing. The lofty gates at the entrance are closed and locked at
 nightfall; but more than once I have
 arrived after the closing hour and l found that dollar would unbar the gates and keep the custodian waiting 1 an indefinite time. A wide driveway, | between rows of pine and Indian laurel trees, runs from the entrance straight through to the dead-house against the | farther wall, intersected midway by
 another avenue of equal width and
 crossed at right angles by narrow path
 ways. Exactly in the center stands a ] handsome circular chapel, and at one l side very large space is covered with
 marble slabs laid flat on the ground,
 above the bones of thousands of un- | claimed dead from the older cemetery. Among the most notable monuments | is that of the Bomberos, (firemen)-a | magnificent work of art, erected in
 memory of fourteen gallant men who | | in most Spanish-American countries, | the Bomeros of Cuba are a rather swell
 organization, composed of young men
 in the best society. They are not re-
 markedly efficient in subduing conf1a-
 grations-generally taking things leis-
 urely and riding to the scene of disas- \ ter in their carriages-but when lives l are in danger their valor is unques- | tioned.
 | Another striking monument is of pur- l est white marble, in the form of a tenn | pie, from whose open door the angel of | Innocence, beautiful life-size statue | is flying. It commemorates tragedy I essentially Spanish in character. Be- I heath the temple lie the bones of seven young medical students, between the
 ages of fifteen and eighteen-sons of | well-to-do Cuban families. Formerly the medical college stood near the cenl- etery and the students used frequent l ly to walk and study under the shade I of it's trees. One day it was discover | ed that the tomb of some noted Span ! iard had been "desecrated," by being l marked with lead pencil. Thereupon | great was the indignation of the Span
 ish government and satisfaction for l outraged honor was demanded. It | was taken for granted that the mis-
 chief was wrought by the medical stu | dents, although there was no way of i proving who were the culprits; the
 whole school was put into prison, and finally it was determined to make an example of seven. Lots were. cast, and | the seven thus designated were led out
 and shot. The grief-stricken parents, | whose sons were thus cut off in the | morning of life, for an offense they had probably not committed, received uni- | versal athy-even from the Span
 iards after their "honor' had been vim dicated. The boys were buried in one
 grave and over them the government
 caused this costly monument to be
 erected with its appropriate symbol of the Angel of Innocence flying out of it! A parallel example of the generosity of Spain's paternal government was the gorgeous funeral of the murderedvmen
 of the Maine" paid for with Spanish gold
 The graves of our sailors lie in the
 newest and least populous portion of
 the cemetery, equi-distant from the
 aristocratic section of splendid rnonu- I potter's field. It looks very bare and
 desolate, compared to our northern
 cemeteries or the care which each
 grave would receive from loving
 friends, could the boys have been bur-
 jed at home. The large space of red
 dish-yellow, gravelly earth is not
 marked off into regular mounds, no
 blade of grass in it, and there is no at tempt at decoration beyond a few fad
 ed flowers left by American visitors and the white wooden cross set up over poor Holzer the last man who died in
 San Ambrosio. Perhaps a fine monu-
 ment may be erected here when peace
 is restored; but how much better, it
 seems to me, would it be to devote the
 money which pile of chiselled marble
 would cost toward taking home the
 remains, after the time required by
 Cuban law has expired, and turning
 them over to their friends. Could the
 men themselves have a voice in the
 matter, they would not wish to rest
 among their murderers.
 l. .x1 tod +1ot ~rz4