The Portland daily press., 1899-03-08

O0fninRo. LUZ oxpianetfon Oh MS naihe
wes given by . resident:
the good gentleman lived an appar-
emily open lifetin Ponce-the city, not the
dissrict-which he protested was decent,
respectable and virtnous. Moreover. the
authorities never molested him, yet no.
body In Ponce with eyes to see and ears
to hear could. help but know that more
dangerous character did not exist. But
as nothing IL more harmless than white
uiead, Pan Blanco became his name BY
sarcasm and common consent
They say that he took large sum with
him to San Domingo. He II q Spaniard
who went 10 Porto Rico In his teens rs
clerk. he took to gambling, and present.
ly opened u hotel. which developed into
resort for the worst criminals. He knew
than better than they knew themselves
and ooula pick out the best man In Ponce
for any given work better than anybody
else. At first he made his recommends
tions without thought of pecnniary bene-
ut to himself. Then he contracted to
hsvs jobs done. He olle,ted the 500 OF
ec00 anu sent Pane 40 or Pere or Juanito
OF any Of the other hangers ON about his
place out to abduct the child Dire the
house, Kill the man, or do whatever else
the com issIon called for. Often these
fellows had IT, co the work for notning,
and when Pan Blanco aid them II was
rarely more than ti0. Heing Spaniard,
Am 0lhucJ nao hu buvAutdkc oNVT inc
native bandits. The authorities winked
at HE business. They merely required
him 70 offend public decenoiss as little as
possible, In other words, TO conduct his
agency for assassination, murder. kid
mapping, arson, and the Ike quietly.
Many an official, moreover, was wont TO
call on Pan Blanco in moments Of finaD-
ciAl stress and effect l1ans which be was
very careless about Iepayipg, and which
Pan Blanco never bothered himself about
collecting. Thus Pan Blanco conducted
bis profitable business for three decades
without official annoyances He also had
highly probtable connections with the
outlaws Of the mountains. He was fence
for them, and to their retreats he often
found Unnecessary, IN order to aliay pub.
lilo Indignation, to send some.of his more
notorious henohmen. Hu must be about
So now. When the Americans landed lie
went form Ponce to S IN Domingo, but 1t
10 believed that from thers he made his
way back TO his native spain, there to
issd u life Of lei sure In his old age.
AQuila Blanca Is u II more picture sque
and rom ant,c figure amor g.the bandits of
Portv hico than ran BIarco. he received
his name because be was hard to catch.
Many . time we have approached to
within u dozen yards OF him." said u
former civil guard. land yet throughout
his long career Us u brigsnd he has never
OhNo bOOh fsticstS0y Dot hhNc Cfciy
reason to believe that he has been wouna-
ed many times. Once we surprised him
onfths road leading to Juana Diaz. We
were six strong, and Immediately we
opened lire on him. have never in my
life missed. pigeon at that distance.
l must certainly have hit him. there
were other. men In the party who swore
they could not have missed him. how
ever. Aguila Blanca did Lot fall into our
hand.
He dashed away with the wings Of an
eagle, and dew we never knew whittier.
We locked for blood. and saw some damp
spots on the ground whsre Aguila Blanca
had stood when we levelled.our guns at
him and dred. We came to the conclusion
that it was not possible to capture him
either alive or dead"
Aguiia Blanca life is exemplary today,
fully justifying. the cafe conduct which
Gen. Henry gave him. When Aguiia
Blanca asked for it he wrote that he had
been a man Of the woods out Of undying.
implacable hatred for Spaniards that now
that they had been driven from the Is
land he had no further incentive to war
against authority and therefore he de
sired to return to civilized life and be
law-abiding citizen Of his beloved native
island. There was some correspondence
and Gen. Henry at length granted the
passport on condition that Aguila
L14uuCo 5uOuiu dbslbb tuc 6uu
police authorities with the work Of rid
ding the island of brigauds. Aguila
Blanca's father was ruined by Spaniard
with whom he had been in = business in
Ponce. AguiIa Blanca was boy when
he started In to avenge his fathers
wrongs. Chancea made him brigand.
One day he got into an alteration with u
Spanish boy of his own size and killed
him. He was arrested, but the court de-
oided that he was too young to suffer
capital punishment and that he should
be held for sentet CO until he should at
tain his majority. Before that time he
escaped and became an outlaw.
No account OF brigandage in Porto Rico
would be complete without mention of the
Cantera, or Quarry, Of Ponce. the part of
the city to which the lawless were wont
to repair whom they came to town. There
they oaroused and fought Once a band
known rs La Mano Negra-the Black
Band-hsld sway In La Cantera. Then
another hand developed-La Mano Roja-
the Red Hand. Tho Black Hands hat to
lower their colors, and were at length
extermiuated. Every man was killed,
buu IL cost the Red Hands many mem