The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1898-05-14
THE CUBAN WOMEN!
Stories Of Their Recent Exploits
In Canip and Field.
THEIR PART AS SOLDIERS.
SPIES AND NURSES; ALSO IN
THEIR NATURAL ROLES AS
swEErHEARTs. WIVES AND
MoTnERs4so ME- oF'THE
TERcEsT WARRIORS IN THE
ARMIES OF rNsuRGENT LEAD
! Frs ARE AafAzoNs-soME Ro-
NANTrc AND DRAMATIC Incl
DENTS OF THE WAR.

Frs ARE AafA2oNS-SOME RO-
MANTrc AND DRAMATIC Incl
DENTS OF THE WAR.
Special Correspondence.
WASHINGTON. May ESQ much
imaginary stuff has been circulated
.sou. Cuba, by valiant war correspond
..n,s who remain at safe range from the
island, that n hardly knows where TO
draw the line, between fact and fiction;
and doubtless, while sometimes being
fooled by clever falsehoods we have dis
credited strange things which actually
occurred. AT first nobody really be-
lIcyed that there were women In the
Cuban army. though tho newspapers
printed romantic tales OF their exploits.
The truth Is that from the outset, female
sold!cu have played no unimportant
part In the etrusgle for Independence.
General Weyler admitted their danger
Gus zeal when ne first assumed COM
maud In Cuba. In m Interview with an
American correspondent, he said: Eyes,
". captured a woman yesterday. She
was white, too. and good looking. Most
OF these 'Amazons' are colored. This
ono was dressed in mems clothes. astrlde
O powerful horse, md WELDING her ma
chcte Ike the devil. These women SOL
ders are fiercer than men, they ride and
fight like furies. Where Is she now? In
Moro Castle, OF Course. What will be
done with her? HWell"-and a charac-
teristic shrug. accompanied by a CLEAN
in the cruel eye which BODIED no good to
The captive, finished the sentence.
Maceo, the mt,iatto !nsurgent leader,
had more than 100 female soldiers
;(nostly eolored)f In his company. Go
riez also had a good many and SO has
Callzto Alvarez, the chief fromythe.east-
ern district OF San Jago de Cuba. The
majority abandoned small farms and
plantations to follow the fortunes of
their husbands, and though all carry
machetes and revolvers. their chief duty
that fall in battle. Many Of them are
WIVES uIu lOllcI60N OtIiGu pLs tightly
and education--not coarse and shame
less Amazons such as the Spanish al
,horitles describe. AS q race, the Cuban
women are the most true-hearttd, SIM
pie and domestic In the civilized world,
devoted to their homes and adoring their
husbands and children. They are ar
dent patriots too, and have shown them
selves stronger than their lords IN adj
versity and more serene in martyrdom.
But their cheeks grow pale at the
thought OF innumerable crimes commit
ted upon their sex in this and other Gu
ban wars. The first went to the field
with their husbands and fathers for the
sake Of protection. While mIsrule pre-
vailed through the Island, Spanish SOL
diers and murderous bandittil infesting
the highways, loodng plantations and
perpetrating all manner OF atrocities, no
woman was safe4at home without ther
natural protectors. In, some cases gen.
tie ladies' were transformed into aveng-
Ing furies, seeing their loved ones butch
cred. Afterwards they fought shoulder
TO shoulder with the men. led daring
raids and applied the torch In thou
sand places; and some of,them row sleep
In unmarked graves. Many women, not
trained or Red Cross nurses, are car
ing for the sick and wounded In lnsur-
gent camps. Children have been born
upon the battlefield. whose mothers did
not fear death SO much as the horrors
that might await them at home.
Mrs. Kate Masterton, who by the way,
has written some most graphic pictures
Of life In Cuba, speaks OF woman's part
in this war as follows:
From this beautiful summer land one
cry goes up which is heard over the din
OF battle and the clash of arms. It is
the wall OF deSolate women. They are
mourning for their loved ones and their
tears are falling upon new-made graves
all over the Island. Their soft eyes have
looked upon ghastly ebonflres In which
The bodies OF their babies have been the
iutl which fed the flames. Their cry Is
more eloquent than all the ruin and des-
olatIou In this fair land of graves. Like
the Easter lilies, bent and strained with
patriotic blood-like the roses, trampled
In the earth and drenched with mire. are
Inc hearts Of these poor women. Many
OF them have lost all they possess
through this war--not only husbands.
sens and daughters. relatives and
friends, but their plantations have been
burned and their fortunes; swept away.
They arc willing to give everything 10
CuDa-glad to see their sugar-cane go
up In smoke since thereby its 1rcvenue
VIII oe lost TO Spain. Sor:e OF them
Ald their jewels when oil their money
was gone. In order to send medicine and
ant 10 tie reheisl In every. Cuban home,
a sum Is Get aside out OF each days
household money to send 10 the field"
There have been traitors In Cuba
but they were women. As a rule
they are better conspirators than thel,
iathess and brothers, because they
Know the value Of silence, They are
ufeiess and successful In their efforts
70 get food and medicine to the rebels,
ana word from one scattered band 70
another. Delicate senoritaa. reared In
touthern sec!uslon, dressed In boys
Clothes and steal ont at night to the
nearby haunts Of loyergSor brothers, In
ue Long Grass" as the insucgent
camps are called. They sec.etc food
N false pockets, hide letters, whose en-
nelopes have been dipped in Ink, IN
.helr abundant black hair; carry mcdi.
s!he In their scent bottles, aad umbrei-
ID handles. cloth for clothes or band.
SGses IN the lining OF! their garments.
one girl, the only daughter Of a once
Wealthy family, has many times cas-
Itea dynamite to the woods, In egg
saelIs deity put, together. Disguised as
u Vencor, she has had many thrilling
sSper!enccs. Her Aarrowest escape was
"aeA a Spanish soldier stole tho baskc,
~ supposed eggs and prepared to cook
mem by the wayside. Nothing saved