Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1898-06-06

surSent camp unmolested. Then acted
as scout for about four ponehs. | went
into all sorts of places and kept our army
fully posted on the movements Of the
Spanish forces.
My career as a scout came to an end
through treachery A boy Tho had been
our friend was bribod by the Spanish to
betHy all he knew. Part of his inforna-
ton was the fact that was scout. They
promptly offered reward for NY capture.
1T happened that l IVES inside the
Spanish lines ct the time. The Spanish
soldiers We're between ne and my COM
panions
Had / not accidentally seen the placard
Offering reward for my capture | surely
would have been arrested. As il was /
was ON my guard | tried 20 flrd n naco
in the lines where / could get through,
but there was no break, and ! knew /
could not make it,
when things reached this stage, sud
denly made up my mind that would go
to llavana and boldly leave the country.
The possibility of my doing this never
entered the heads of the Spaniards, for
notice of the discovery of my identity had
not then been sent in the direction Of Ha-
vaia. So i reached the city easily and
boarded a steamer for the United States
without even being suspected l even con-
versed with the Spanish officers there and
told them something about the insurgents
that pleased them greatly.
AT this time they seemed 70 think that
the whole uprising was a sort Of farce.
They laughed at the idea and said that
tb, i,,ct i,,r, H., a
time-iust as soon as the Spanish officers
had made up their minds to stamp it out
in earnest
although got ont of Cuba all right,
had no idea Of giving up Cuha's cause
of freedom. turned to the work OF fill
clustering. This was not difficult thing
to Go, as men were wanted for the work
and expeditions We're on foot all the time.
"Our second expedition had trouble in
getting away. Our contraband cargo was
known to be in town and was being con-
stantly Watched by the authorities, so that
we could not get it aboard. We had a
good load of provisions, but we needed
guns and pistols and powder and bullets.
Finally we had to resort to strategy.
We cleared the vessel for a place in the
West Indies, sailed To sea a few days and
turned about at night and sncaked back
to within a few miles of the harbor and
sent boat ashore.
Everything was found TO be just as we
wished. The authorities. believing we had
gone for good, had left no watchmsn
around the building where the ammuni-
ton was stored, and the night was as dark
as pitch We hired tug, and In less than
one hour we had our stuff aboard The
rest was easy. The munitions of war were
put on board our vessel at sea and the tug
sneakcd back to her moorings without
even waking up the policeman We then
went to the port for which we had cleared,
dumped a few sacks of rice on the dock,
authenticated our papers and cleared for
the place from which we had started.
ave landed our stuff all right. While
we were at work We pecped through the
trees and saw the Spanish gunboat that
had chased us the day before go steaming
slowly back, most likely wondering where
we were.
ION this expedition it was necessary for
me to join the land party to convey the
goods To the insurgert camp. The trip
was one long series of skirmishos There
day missed Ily companions and was CAP
tured by the Spaniards.
Some of the soldiers wanted to shoot
me at once, but Others said it would be
necessary TO go through the proper form.
and try IN, first. This was to be done
in the morning
That night ] managed to get one hand
and arm loose. grab a sword from the
guard As he passed me and lay him out
before he knew what struck him. then
cut my feet loose and made my way to my
companions.
We finally got our goods safely to the
fnsurgcnt camp. On the way back oo the
ss,alSer, which was waiting for us in the
cove, 1 saw some of the most awful sights
that ever any man behold. The Spanish
soldiers had just been over the trail. ard
fhcir way was marked by horror. The
sights were positively too horrible TO de-