The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-04-26

Thus said Gomez a year ago, even theI
not having sufficient food for his own. For
that matter men IN his camp guilty OF
gross violations of the rules of war are
NOT shot, for need of the powder and bal
that would have be used on them. They
ara tried. given q night of grace and hang
ed at dawn. Span.ards shudder when they
hear Of this. the act Is SO slIblimely grim
and unconquerable.
THE ropefor our uwn use, the bullet for
Spain. and no prisonres."
Small reason for remark that the con
scripts of Spain have sought no open con-
dict with Gomez.
The Cuban junta has given trusted peo-
pie trading privileges in the camps OF their
army. This IS not agreeable to Gomez.
He receives the traders, inspects their
passports, tears them up. and satirtcally
remarks:
'If you are in camp tomorrow night I
will hang YOU
He makes spying unpleasant by such
a course. and leaves II TO the civil gov
ernment to appease the wrathful traders.
Yet he is merclful by all accounts. He has
not plunde-ed women, made war upon
children, nor mu tilated men. He has spar
ed tobacco crops wherever possible. not
alone <or the trading interests n this
country, but for the good OF the general
public of his land. He swept over the
sugar fields when convinced they were a
source of strength for Spain and not for
him.
His position and his opinion Of chat Of
Spain Is told IN these words;
1--WE are fighting for a principle as old
as eternity, as broad as the world. They?
What arethey here for? Merely 10 uphold
the tottering throne of a baby king, not
yet out of The nursery. Pahr'
Gomez was bern in Santo Domingo and
was fighting there for Spain IN 1854. when
inte-necine troubles called on him to sup
port the government of which he was then
a citizen. -Four years later, when the Gu
ban revolution started, he became q pr1-
vate IN the ranks of the first army or
gained For bravery on the field OF bat
tie ne was made captain III 1869. AS Col
onel Gomez in 1872, with Caltxto Barcia,
he captured Holguin. That act made him
q brigadier genearl. The death Of Agra
monte raised him to commandant of the
insurgent forces. When the rebels were
nnally beaten he fed by way of Jamaica
to this city.
Later he fought in Venezuela, Ecuador.
and Columbia His name became an in
spiraticn TO any soldiery. His capacity for
plan Of action made him under all circum-
stances a stronger commandant than Ma
Geo. Tho latter was a whirlwind in battle,
but not tactician. Maceo slaughtered
when he struck, but was weak in prejara-
ton for battle. Maceo would have risked
all OH a single battle Gomez chose the
o:her course of fighting fifty small en-
dividing the enemy's forces,
ha-assing, annoying, all tho time. He
felt that the victory of Cuba lay in a
waiting policy, and his judgment has been
proved to becorrect. It was left for B1t2-
hugh Lee TO say, even before the Maine
was destroyed, that Blanco and all Spain
could never conquer the present rebel
lion.
Gomez came to tho command he now
holds after the death Of Maceo. His last
III TeSdTC 10 inc United Slal6S
that is of note was:
'Will they hear the cry from Armenia
and close their ears to the moan of q weak
sister on their doorsteps ?"
This man, once in the service Of weyler
as a soldier, i stheone who forced weyler
back to Spain after whipping him at every
point in the provinces of the Pearl of the
Antilles.