Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1898-11-27
MAROONS OF JAMAICA
THEIR HISTORY On THE ISLAND IS A
CURIOUS ONE.
How Their Name Originated-Early
Troubles Between Them md
British Government About
Treaty They Signed.
From the New York Tribune.

From the New York Tribune.
The maroons of the Island Of Jamaica.
who have been making themselves SO
troublesome to the colonial government OF
late, are a strange and remarkable people
in many ways. In the first place. ethno-
logically they are the only class or caste
extant in whose veins flows the blood Of
the aboriginal race which gave its name,
Xaymaca Gland of Streams and Woods"D.
TO the island. Secondly, they are the only
known descendants of the few negro
slaves-not more thar 1,G0-whom the
Spanish settlers left in the island when it
was seized by the English. under Penn and
Venables, in 1856.
But this mixed origin, with the probahii-
fly of a trace of Spanish blood. is not all
that makes the maroons remarkable. Their
history during the last 2o years is unlike
that of any other people in the British
West Indies, and their legal status is
probably unique in this hemisphere.
This peculiar legal status is just what
has brought about the trouble between Mr..
Salmon, the statutory freebooter of the
land under discussion in St. Mary's parish.
Oh one side, aud on the other side Il band
of maroons, who. like their brethren in
the other maroon settlements. are and
knew themselves to be military tenants of
the British crown in virtue of a treaty
ratified and signed just 1G0 years ago.
The dusky disturbers Of her Britannia
majesty's peace may never have heard of
feudal tenure, of fief, or of subinfeudation,
but in all essentials their relation to Queen
William the Conqueror's barons to that
'starkman."
Origin of the Name.
II came about very simply. From the
time when, on the expulsion of the Span
iards in 1855. the Spanish-negro slaves took
to the woods. mixed with the scattered
remnant of the aborigines, and made the
hunting Of wild hnpG their chief npnllnl-
ton, until the year lbs, these "Cimar-
rones" wild mem had been a terror and
laws had been enacted especially for their
repression. Packs of hounds were to be
maintained by every vestry to hunt the
maroons. as they had already begun to be
Spanish name.
Between 1870 and 1873 Chief cudjoe
earned fame by the audacity and cunning
with which he led his maroons in their
characteristic methods of bush fighting.
this day in the legend which makes the
hollow runk of a certain gigantic cotton
tree near Spanish Town Cudjoe's council
island, acting for George IL, weary of
perpetual murder and robbery on the one
hand and of laborious repressive opera
ers in the kings name to the free and I'M
suodued. II defeated. maroons. These
ouaco, chiefs Of the maroons, a treaty o by
the terms of which the latter were to have
an Perpetuity. free of taxation.to themselves
and their heirs, certain lands specified.
In return for these emoluments and priv
ieGes the maroons were hot only to keep
successors and their lieges, but also were
TO kill, suppress or destroy all rebels
against the British crown in Jamaica and
invaders of that dominion. This was how
the maroon barons swore fealty in l7SS,
affixing their marks to the instrument as
inteiligently. no doubt. and as intelligibly
as 4nX of their nrQdQpaSCnrc did az D,pp :.
mede.
Their Rebellion I'm 1795.
But If. as some of the recent dispatches
from Jamaica have reported, the ST.
Mary's maroons have boosted to Governor
Hemming that their race has never broken
the treaty of 17Ss: they spoke without ade-
quate warrant, of history. 1t may be that
that particular settlement or sept never
betrayed their ancestral pact, but other
rising was provoked by the seizure. i'm
prisonmept and whipping of a maroon in
Trelawney parish who had stolen a pig.
ment. nor even the mere whipping that
the maroon. complained of. but the shame
OF being whipped by a common negro in
the presence of common negro prisoners.
Not until several regiments of British
troops had been disastrousIy engaged, los
ing many of their men in repeated ambus-
cades, did the government appreciate the
necessity of entirely different tactics in
dealing with the maroon rebels. Blood
hounus were imported to Cuba TO hunt the
wild men to their lairs. and these. once
tracked, We're either killed or reported to
Nova vow =, scotia: where their descendants
From 1875 until this year-over a century
the remaining maroons in Jamaica have
kept their pact. and the repre-
Sentatlves In Jamaica of George lis heirs
have observed their side of the contract.
In the negro rising during the last decade
OF slavery In Jamaica the maroons did val
liable service in killing, suppressing and
destroying" Thirty years later in 1865
there was a less really formidable rising
of negroes In one locality. but which. some
how. seems to have occasioned more COM
motion among the representatives of Brit
ish power in Jamaica.
On this occasion-the present writer
speaks from personal recolfection-the mere
name OF maroon seemed to send a thrill OF
terror through all those negroes who. il
only by the circumstance Of inhabitinc
the disturbed district, were liable to- suspi-
cion of completely in the Morant Bay riots,
None OF the rioters nor any of their sym.
resistance when the military forces came
on the scene. While from the soldiers they
could at least run 10 the bush and be hid.
den. from the maroons they had good rea.
son to believe that they could no more
escape than from de Lard Garramighty."
Their Manner of Fighting.
Led by Colonel Alexander Gordon Fyfe, a
retired officer of the Ninety-second tGor.
dom Highlanders. to whom they were de-
votedly attached. the maroons swarmed
and all over 1t. Their weapons were no;
of the most modern pattern, but their
knack of wreathing themselves from head
80 foot In club moss and broad-leaved
kPoughs. and their uncanny power of living
<Ihotionless for hours on the watch to xiii
$uppress or destroy" 2 skulking suspect
Merry soon made the scattered negroes fee
#that the provost narshal's own compound
would be Just as safe as the hush and
much less trying 10 the nerves. So 1t was
that a detachment OF maroons had III.
. honor of capturing and bringing TO tho
halter Paul Boyle himself. the actual ring.
leader of the Morant Bay massacre.
When quiet was fully restored the ma.
rooms. with Colonel Fyfe at their held
entered Kingston IN triumph. The,
marched in column. under arches erecteT
by a loyal and grateful community The,
carried their deadly stalking guns ant
were wreathed in their strange panoply o.
foliage. Then they sat down TO a banquet
and finally a specially honored few of tbsn
were grouped and photographed with Col
onel Fyfe.