The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-05-25

was decided to "kll time with the
(, old man. lie wa Drouch; to camp
and ordered 10 disclose the where
abnuts Of his son This he could not
do, had he 50 desired, having no idea
where the constantly moving rebel
ARM va, situated The soldier, tied
him Ia Il tree and tloggcd him awhile,
without avail he could not, or would
not tell
! Then they compelled him to dig his
] own grave and knccl beside it-and
into it he fell, pierced by score of
bullets.
! The planters say that in any event
there must soon be acute famine in
Cuba, because nobody within the
zones OF cultivation and the garrisoncd
places have planted vegetables or 9th
or food products for two years past,
but had devoted himself to crops
which would bring in most money, in
order to hurry his family out of The
country. Most Of them took to to-
bacco planting. as promising quick cr
results than sugar. The insurgents
cannot stop the production Of tobacco
as easily as they can prevent cane
grinding, and maybe they are less dis
posed to interfere with it, as any Gu
ban would rather forcgo his bread,
and certainly his sugar, than ciga-
rcttcs.
saw one particularly fine looking to-
baccO farm. and was informed that it
belonged to the captain Of the local
gucrillas. His place was duly guarded
by Spanish troops, which he got de-
tailed ut Government expense; and he
also paid the insurgents not to molest
his crop, by giving them one third the
{ value Of it. Last winter several
Americans took advantage Of the times
and made large purchases Of tobacco
lands. At present the tobacco indus
try is good for nothing, principally
owing to Wcylcrs decree Of two years
ago, forbidding the expectation of IIa-
vana leaf tobacco. The insurgents
rctaliatcd b. burning factoric and all
the stored tobacco they could lay
hand; on. But the Marquis Of Tenc-
rife appears to have been a thrifty
fellow as we'll as q butcher
Already millionaire. he made an
other fortune out Of his celebrated or
der, for many so-called American to-
bacco firms exported thousands of
bales in spite of the prohibitory de-
cree, pretending that it was diplo-
matte transaction between Washing
ton and Madrid. The real secret was
that Wcylcr graciously permitted ship
mcnts to be made by those who gave
him liberal commissions. The very
best tobacco raising region in the
world is Cuba's "suolta Abajo,' but
to- day every plantation in it is aban-
doncd and in ruins. After Wcyler
allowed his game to be found out, the
rebels attacked this district with spc-
cial fury and destroyed upward of four
million pounds of tobacco in few
months. 1t will take twenty years
for this famous region to become as
fiourishing US it was in January, 1896.
But the Incompatible soil, climate
and natural conditions remain unim-
paired by war $ wild alarums;' and
those who come in with little money
when peace is restored may buy the
best tobacco lands very chcaply and
become Crocsuscs in due course of
time
Among the refugees ut Key West I
met an cx-sugar planter who was anx-
ious to sell his estate; and for Gu
ban, he seemed to have developed re-
markable adaptation to the ways of
the trading Yankees His method
was to edge up to every group of men
he saw talking together and join in
tuc COuNcIShClOu.
Presently he would be heard to say
"the soil Of Cuba is too rich; that's
what the matter with the island"
Then he would go on relating what
ruinously large crops he had himself
been raising-so remarkably large that
they had invited destruction by cnvi-
GUS rebels and Spaniards; and invari-
ably ended by inquiring who wanted
to buy 30, 900 acres Of the finest land
in Cuba, worth $40 per acre, for 80
cents per acre. 10 be sure, his plan
! tation, house and mills are in ruins,
but he pointed out what profit could
be made on the same in the line of
scrap iron and old bricks.
Up to date he has not found pur-
chaser. ! heard one man tell him that
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