The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1898-07-22
prisoner there in 1880, thus describes

n general:
ANY one going to meet a chieftain
famous in a war like that of Cuba.
might suppose that he was going to
see some fanatic who woul be more
like a panther at bay than anything
else. 1t is difficult to imagine my sur
prise at finding myself in the presence
of a we'll dressed, gentlemanly looking
man, whose grizzly beard alone might
lead any one to suppose that he was
about so years of age.
THE manners and polite behavior
of the celebrated 'guerillero' might have
graced any Of the p%roudest salons of
The grandees of CASTLE, and he ad-
dressed our hostess with all the cour-
alier.
1T was only hen he turned around
that a deep round scar between the
eyebrows gave a strange appearance to
the features Illuminated with a pleas
ant smile. That terrible scar was in
flicted by himself in 1874. when he was
made a prisoner by the troops of Mar
hal Concha, and he preferred to be
felo de Sc sooner than &c to the cruel
chapel and vile garote that awaited
most OF the prisoners of war of any
note.
THE wound was SO dangerous that
the Spanish surgeons thought the Gu
ban leader could not live, and Mar
shall Concha gave him an 'indultO'--a
rcprieve. When the creole recovered
he was sent to Spain, to be kept under
lock and key, and the government of
Marshal Serrano treated him kindly
compared with what he would have re-
ceived in the foul dungeon of the Gu
ban forts, where rats, damp n dark
ness made more Cubans die than ever
cOurt-martial.
ut is now a matter of history how
this singular enthusiast actively co-op-
Grated in preparing the second rising
in Cuba-how he Joined the creoles
when the struggle was almost hopeless,
and how for months and weeks he de-
fed the numerous columns M guer-
rillas of General Blanco in the noun
tains of the Oriente department until
he himself confessed hat he Surren-
dered in order not to prOlOng a useless
struggle detrimental to his native isle,
1T seems incredible hat the daring,
restless, enthusiastic, fiery nature
which Such a career reveals, can be
concealed unde the modest, quiet bear
ing that certainly captivates sympathy
cor for his V%ictOrs, not an expression
of %imprudent hate or anger against
his adversaries he fought for years
not an exclamation of the bitter creole
animosity for Spaniards escaped from
the lips of Calixto Garcia in a CONVEX
sation of nearly three-QuarterS of an
hour.
"Once only, our hostess having ma
liciOusly remarked that he was a con.
spicuous figure in Madrid, and ha6
been such in two and he might be ir
a third struggle, Garcia raised his
head with great decision and a slight
tinge of sadness, remarking that his
active life was over, that all he wished
for was to look after his wife and chill.
dren in America, and that he would
no longer share in any adventures.
"Garcia's original profession was law
n his calm and dignifed discussion
speaking always impartially and with.
out prejudice, won him many friends
among the Spanish men of note anc
influence. Hence there vas a lack OF
vindictiveness toward him N the par
of two Spanish generals-Blanco anc
Martinez Campos."
These are some of the qualification
that go to make up the character OF
the Cuban leader who has already wor
the, confidence and respect of Shafter
Sampson and other high representa-
tives of the American government.
The old belief is passing
away-that the Cuban insurgents are
a band of ignorant h~alf-breeds, with
fanatical leaders, who might possibly
figure in civil life as successful cigar
dealers and managers of b barber
shops. The deeds of Gomez, of Marti
of Maceo, Garcia and their illustriou:
brother patriots-dead or alive-Wil
not be forgotten when the history o:
the great Cuban war of the revolution
ONE to be impartially written.