The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-04-26
BURNED THEIR BRIDES
How Gomez AStoniShed the
EmissarieS of Spain,
NOT TO BE PURCHASED
Neither VIII He Condescend
to Purchase Freedom.

New York, April 25.-Thomas Estrada
/ Palma Of the Cuban junta, has received
| a letter from General Maxine Gomez Of
! thensurgent army. in which the follow
ing remarkable message Is conveyed Gen
eraI Gomez writes:
Great things have been donA The es-
sent!aI thing now is to triumph. which Will
begreat glory to the victor, who. !lke Da-
vid of Biblical fame, destroyed. Goliath
with only his sling and stone.
Blanco and Pando have sent me emissar-
les with presents. The presents l burned
before their eyes, and told them Il they
should ever Return / would hang them.
The poor men were most astonished, and
[ have since learned that they refused TO
come back a second time unless they
would be permitted to remain with my
army.
I hasten 70 tell you this so you can know
the infamy of the Spaniards.
One year ago there was no clemency, no
quarter Women, mothers and children
were made victi1ne Of the Spaniards. The
soldiers Of Weyler were taking with them
every where desoiation and ruin By means
fthe Photograph the Spanish generals
sent soldiers everywhere through the is
land. Generals Luque, Ruiz and others
destroyed cattle horses and even the palm
trees. The 200 900 men then IN the island
disputed the privilege of who should Kill
the most.
Not one peace commissioner came then
But al to no purpose. 9 made theiFtroRps
useless-the heliograph and the enemy's
cannon of no account. All Of our fields
have given US bountiful fruits, while hun
ger reigns in the cities. We DO not know
where the Spanish army has gone.
was then mentioned as the "so-called."
Today they address me as the "distin-
guished adversary" Why this change?
The answer is simple.
It is that the spaniards see that their
cause is lost, and they are trying to gain
time to postpone the inevitable. 1 shall
continue to fight with the same energy as
in the past.
Victory will crown my efforts.
Like the knight in the White Company,
Maxine Gomez has held his lance atlt for
forty of his seventy-five years, and fought
wherever standard welcomed him. A
soldier of fortune in many chimes, a
stranger to fear, he has suffered from the
calumny sent after such as he by idle ton
CUES of the lovers of the conventional
things of life. Accused of being mercen-
airy, hehas fed his own troopers; charged
with blood thristiness, he has stayed the
machete where mercy seemed criminal;
tainted even by Murat HaIsted with hav-
ing the stain Of the gold os Spain on his
hands, he has dealt her armies in Cuba the
deadliest blows they have received. If he
be all the Spanish press and sympathizers
accuse him Of being, he must possess a
character hitherto unknown to men of any
time and age.
Taking him, though for what he was in
1854 in Santo Domingo. in 1872 in Cuba,
laterin the Latin REPUBLICS, he must be
accepted as a surviving remnant of the
days of knight errantry, of the hours
when it were wiser to WELD the sword In
place of the yard stick. and to measure
honor by wounds and not by dollars. In
all his career there is not single instance
of his hand having been raised in an I'M
holy cause. His contests, with one excep-
ton, have been with the under dog.
Accepting the command Of the Cuban
forces in 1895. he said of his position:
Educated for the army and having
spent the greater part of my existence on
tho field Of battle. It was not possible for
me to ignore the question rs 40 what kind
of mon would form my troops, nor yet
what kind of an enemy I had to fight in
order to fulfill what I promised on my
honorable word-that if I did noa die I
would have Cuba as soon as possible
among the free nations"
This was the utterance of a man who
hada reached the time Of life when rest
is a boon. of a nature which off the battle
field was quiet. studious, inclined 10 re-
search with the brain rather than de-
struction with the sword. But Cuba call
ed, aanad he came 20 Oriente transformed.
Gomezon the battlefield and Gomez in
his home are two different individuals.
In action he is the presentation OF
wrath. fire seems 70 leap from his eyes,
his lips parch. his hands clinch. magnetic
force emanaies from his entire body. The
battle is ended. the victory won, the mis-,
shrink. the hero is dreamer again. So de-
scrlbes him one who rode with him into
Santa Clara over the canebrake and up to
the stone forts splitting with Spanish fire
that could injure but not destroy the in
vdders.
LAS for me personally. I would prefer
he'll and the domination of the devil than
my beloved island with a Spanish captain
general"
From Pinar del Rio to Santiago de Cuba
these words or Gomez have been taken as
!nsuiration for the insurgents They gave
the lie to the assertion that he was will
ing 10 purchase Cuban independence from
Spain; that he favored autonomy: that he
would make terms with Blanco. They we're
his charge IA machete' on all slurS and
SANDERS afoat ABOUT him. Victory, cheer
ed when they heard Them.
We take noprisoaerS, because We can
not suos.st them