The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1898-05-13
With NEWS CATERERS.
Som: Good Stories Are Being Told
at hey west Now.
"REMINISCENCES OF HAVANA DAY:
spanish Ofaciats Were an Easy t,o,
for the Americans to Hoodwink,
and They DID So.

e SVA' VI "a TRANSFERRED pro tenn
from CUBA 10 the Philippines and possibly
also to Porto Rico and tho ranar,as ,b.rc
IA MANY n ,,rs .3, -.
val no"h 'he uo@shs Oh
'pSe'ei correspondents who have no tugs at
their disposal and nothing to do but 10
await tho arrival ., ,,, ,,,,, ,..,. 49,,
so,n ~, ~ '''
so" 'ne horiSon win neid glasses Tor war
vessels coming in with prizes.
siaA NJ an. ho,., ,xr.raa .,
''N" n"S ooine " pe
h"o"h az Lotus row ana the war race
has taken rank among the watchers with
the "bicycle face.' ana tho ..tro,iey e.-
,sc., a., .,., -, .,, =,
!" .uo'e' "nu 'Ss t''uo'es'he GU
mates sue tropic skies, White dusty
Sree,s under blazing sun and hypnotic
trees against the cloudlcss horizon all ton
,istas of feathery palm fronts and banaaa
10 somnolent lazinese. cigarettes and cool.
ing drinks and of course stories
Now that news no longer has TO run The
gauntlet froin Havana albeit the censo. is
now American tnaval officers al ibis end of
the lina) some stories may he freely told
which escaped print when tho wires were
still under Blancos arm. AS matter of
fact, there was a fair amount cf smugsling
and blockade breaking IT nows aud Other
things while Havana WAS still accessible
to the correspondents and those tales onco
told In whispers are now coming out un
the shady side Of the hotel porch ns RENT.
niscences OF the ante blockade days
The Havana customs authorities aud
such agents were an easy lot at best They
seldom called blum that was made With
2 good front and the things that went on
under their noses daily has cost half tie
force their jobs had the facts ever gotten
10 the palace.
The writer landed in Havana some
months ago with bundle OF kilograms
in his pocket that ought TO have put him
in Cabanas. They were addressed 10 an
other correspondent who was too much un-
der the han to receive mail or kilograms
in bis own name at Havana. The carry
ing OF tho bundle of messages from Key
Wet was merely friendly Office that
half dozen other correspondents have
often done before. To have concealed tho
papers on ones person would have been
confession OF conscious guilt In case Of
discovery so the bearer simply folded the
message lengthwse and stuffed them into
the big state department envelope that
held his passports The officials who re-
ceiyed the passports all saw the messages
but never questioned their contents
That incidents was mild however COM
pared with the exploit of another and more
radical correspondent Who being in full
sympathy with the Havana junta. under
toook to convey them about thirty pounds
of dynamite at a time when they needed
IL badly and when the lines ON filibuster-
ing was darwin unusually close. He simply
packed this explosive in two big wooden
candy boxes with covers and nut In layer
of big chocolate creams over oiled paper
on top The special agent at the gangway
CT the steamer knew him aud when h,
started down the ladder &c the shore bol
said to him, jokngly, whats that
| No,'vo
You guessed IT. said the unabashet
scribe. pnllipg back the lid. Take somt
up to Blanco"
The astute special agent took gen
eroue handful of the chocolates and tht
dynamite went ashore
Letters from the woods" as the in
s,rgept mail was vaguely termed in Ha.
yrpa. were almost as dangerous as dyna-
mite but thew were paased through IN,
lines quite as often.
| One of the several new spaper men wht
went into the field returned during Wsy.
Iers regime with enough letters to have
hung him. several being official documents
for Tho iunta in New York There wer,
thr,o Snanish officers OF the train thai
hrorpht him into Havana from Sagua ID
Cronde and lie had reason 10 think the,
lad marked him and were going to arrest
him ~ tn, denot In Havana. lust before
~ ,-a,n .tonned he called his Cuban ser
shir,s fror his grin tossed them to hin
Viii ,no remar,;, Take those IN to
ptsrt !" r,eaniny , laundry with very
40 cna,isb nronrietor. The man got off
r'ith tho bundle which lad the insurgent
1870 ~" 80 inside a. and when. three min
- ,a,ar the corresnondent and his bag
80 ,',ora riaid,v searched there was roth
go a. him hui , co,lple of very pro-
s .ns Iottsrt written him nv some oblig
70 r,,han friends for inst such an emer-
.ns "1'''
H,otber NJ the correspondents. who is
Ice ~ ,o,,ch With the Cubaps and has done
r,ors Tor them than any one newspaper
ras, in Key ives, tells Win a smile how ne
hoInod snsnish captain TO capture a
| Guhan stardard which eynloit made the
oar,air major for,hwith and landed him
w. wov,er's star at The palace. The
etardsrd yyss made IN order nv the Cuban
;,,n,s n Havana ana the CORRESPONDENT and
,ha c,ntain ,ook il out with them one night