Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1898-05-24

| highest patriotism or the most sordid desire
| for pecuniary gain. Sometimes they are
stimulated by motives of revenge. Once in
awhile love gives q tinge of romance to
what might otherwise be an utterly dis
creditable occupation. There is a recog-
nized military etiquette governing the use
of spies. The calling is so dangerous ana
so little rebounds to ones honor that it Is
not permissible for n general to compel by
threats any person to act as spy, but he IS
at liberty to accept such services when
| offered.
In the British army they almost have
| recognized place in the service and arc
usually under the control of the quarter
master general Martial law, while dis
tinct enough in ordering the death of n
spy, is not clear in defining what consti-
tutes spy.
A man belonging to an opposing force
and found inside the enemy'S lines in the
enemy's uniform or civilian dress is held
and treated as a spy. If, on the other
hand, he be in his own uniform he can
only be treated as prisoner of war or q
deserter.
AS regards honor and penalties, spies
ought in fairness to be divided into two
classes-those who while in the employ Of
their own country betray its secrets to the
enemy and those who penetrate the enc
my's line in disguise to get information
for their generals use. The first class is
regarded as utterly despicable by the coun-
| try that employs them as well as by the
country they betray.
A Cuban Joan of Arc.
| Some of the most efficient spies are
women. Among the Cuban insurgents are
several whose enthusiasm and daring will
make them historic heroines of the new
government which must inevitably super
sede the barbarism of Spain. All Cuba
rings with stories of Pauline Gonzales.
| She is reputed dead shot with rifle or
| revolver, and her skill with the machete
| is envied by many seasoned troopers
| On secret service missions in various
disguses she has taken her life in her
| hand TO penetrate the strongholds of the
| enemy. On two occasions she entered
| Havana and brought away valuable in
| formation.
For months the Cubans expected to hear
| that she had made her way into Weyler S
presence and slew him as a Judith or a
Charlotte Corday in their times relieved
| the world of monsters,
Pauline Gonzales is the wife of daring
| Cuban officer When her husband went
| to the front TO avenge Macco and to tear
| Cuba from the treachery of Alfonso, she
walked at his side and endured the suffer
| ing of camp life
| Fired with the spirit of Cuban liberty,
| she sought an audience with Colonel Me
| nendcz and announced that she did not
| propose to be one of the "imI edincnta. ="
| as the women with the army ere called
| whom it is necessary to convey 20 places
| of safety when the hour of danger or bat
| tie arrives.
| Mrs. Gonzales begged the colonel to al
| low her to carry the regimental flag, urg-
| ing that Cuba needed every man it could
| summon to WELD machete.
The colonel gazed long and earnestly on
this enthusiastic woman and beheld in
her soft handed deicately nurtured
woman of 81, whose apparel and refine
| ment of manner betokened her gentle
birth. She is very handsome, with straight
| regular features, soft, dark eyes that at
| times cleaned with the fires of patriotic
| fervor, and with glossy black hair cut short
| for the exigcncies of the life that she had
chosen. She was slender, taller than the
average woman, but very 1.-the and grace
III III iitI IitL SpIts IttIS titt-
sive voice had ceased, and she waited with
| parted lips the colonel decision, while her
| husband, scarcely less interested, stood
| proudly by her side.
| "Cuba needs such women as you Her
| flag is safe in your hands, replied ne CO..
| Onel, and then, sllmmcning the color
| guard, he with his own hands placed it in
| her keeping.
The trust was well placed. Two days
| later, mounted on her splendid bay mare,
10 hands high, she carried the standard
| CALAMITY in a desperate charge and under
a hot shower of Mauser bullets.
At the close of the engagement she was
given the rank of flag lieutenant and her
commission forwarded for the approval of
General Gomez. Two weeks later, on Feb
D, at Manga Leargo, this fearless woman
rode in two fierce machcte charges against
the strong guerrilla force of Corral False.
With the standard slung on her left arm
and gllttering machete waving in her
right hand, she rode in the front rank,
close to the side of her commander.
In this desperate engagement when sore
~ pressed she slew two of the Spanish
horde.
One she struck three times. shouting
viva Cuba librc!" and cut him from his
saddle. A single blow cleft the skull of
the other.
Within a month she participated in no
less than ten charges and had two horses
shot from under her One was at Villa de
Habaco and the other when with small
scouting party she rode into an ambuscadc
on the last day of March near Bolandron,
The gucrrillas, who feared and hated her
and called her the Cuban tigress, made a
desperate effort to capture her, but her de-
voted followers rallied to her rescue. and
after bloody engagement the Spanish
fled, leaving 80 Of their number dead ON
the field
| During the month of April of that year
she participated in ten battles and many
sklrmlshes. Always in the thickest of the
fray, she miraculously escaped injury
For distinguished bravery on the field
| she was promoted to the rank of CAPTAIN.
Love Made One Woman a Traitor.
There is one, and only one, conspicuous
| traitor among the Cuban women. the
daughter and sister of patriots and her
name will go down in the history os the
island execratcd by hundreds whose friends
and klnsfolk she has betrayed to the
| SD1nlSh Her