The times., 1898-07-04

partly on the rails. The deputy coroner
refused TO let the company move the man
and sent up to Santiago for the coroner
and his staff, and the road was blockaded
till that official arrived and made an in
quest. BY the time they were through
there We're seventeen trains waiting on
either side OF the body, and operations at
the mines, or the road, and at the docks.
where an ocean ship was loading. We're all
brought 10 an absolute stop. When
we first went there we had assurances
from :. p. Ely. of Cleveland. who was
at the head Of the enterprise. that every
possible contingency had been looked out
for, that the government mad agreed TO
permit the import and export of all arti-
cles intended for the mines without duty,
and that our operations would be unim-
peded.
The government had assured him of
this. We went to work and had stripped
off the dirt from the little mountain on
the side OF BBaiquiri harbor. with the in
tention Of ;umbling down the rocks by
blasting to make a breakwater for our
ships and dock. We were all ready TO
begin blasting and were in a hurry. for
the bad season was coming on, when one
morning an ctticer and lot OF soldiers ap-
peaTed and read US a long paper all dec
GRATED with seals. which proved to be
an injunction. We had TO stop or be
shot. We stopped. If we had thrown
one stone into the water there would
have been trouble. We went 70 Santa
go and got down the commander and
made a big dinner for him with plenty of
wine and gin, and Jose FerraFa, who was
the local manager of the enterprise made
a speech full of patriotism and with ref
erences to the discovery of America by
the Spaniards and all that sort Of thing
The commander reached over, signed his
name to dissolution of the injunction
and told US we could do anything we
wanted. 1t was by this sort of delays
and official acts that we might have been
materially delayed or stopped entirely
If we had not conformed to the custom
of the country in the matter of theft and
bribery
For long time we supposed the Span
ish soldiers at Santiago were weIl-drilled
troops and were q good body of men. But
we found that instead of being at the
barracks or drilling, they We're driven
out to the mines of the Juragua COM
pany, where the company built lot of
big barracks for their accommodation,
and that there they worked right along
in the mines. They were paid so cents a
day by the mining company, and the
officers took half of this, leaving the rest
for the soldiers. At this time the regular
pay of the soldiers was taken and pocket
ed by the officers. That's the sort of
discipline they had and the manner of
regulating the financial part of the Cuban
enterprise. What kind of fight would
such soldiers put up against American
troops? Eighty cents a day was all the
mining companies paid for any of their
labor, and a that price it was high, for
one man would do about a third as much
as an American. We figured that the cost
of labor was about $3.50 a day, from
~.
for the difference in money at that time.
They had a locomotive inspector at
/ Santiago who was supposed to come out
! and overlook every engine and piece of
I machinery we put in. His fees were $40
a day. and he was sure to make special
! trip for every machine. He would come
! down, stay to dinner, which was made
especially fine for him, drink all the af-
! ternoon and go back the following day,
having collected his $40 and not having
! seen the machine he had come to inspect.
! This was the regulation way of all Off
/ cials. At one time the local officials of
/ the province ordered us to widen the cuts
/ of the railway from the river to Santiago,
/ where it was very narrow and steep. II
would have been an expensive undertake
! ing and the company was not prepared to
carry it out if a dinner would do as well.
So we sent to Ferrara and he said. Send
for the governor general at Havana.
That was before Weyler's time.
I'VE went around to Havana, about so
miles, and asked the governor general to
come down. He came. We learned that
he was accompanied by thirty-two mem
bers of his official staff. We had lot
of big tents with flies. and these we
spread, making large pavilion, cool and
| comfortable. Then we went to Santa
go for the best caterer in eastern Gu
/ ha In the meantime we sent our little
narrowgauge special passenger car, the
only one we had, to the end of the line
to meet the party, and stationed thirty
two saddle horses at the point where
the officials were to leave the train. They
| made quite a cavalcade. That dinner cost
Mr.. Ely $3.50, but 1t did the business 1t
would have cost $50, 600 to have widened
Ali tri1e American r,atriots should