The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1899-03-28

naces from the top and furnishes all of
the fuel they use. AS the juice comes
from the presses it passes through set
of strainers and thence into a set of
boilers. 1t passes through six sets of
boilers and a filter between every two
boilers, before it comes out as sugar.
All of the work is done automatically
and it is not handled from the time the
cane is put on the chain to be carried
to the grinder until it comes out as raw
sugar at the other end of the factory,
where it has to be sacked and weighed
by hand. This mill only employs
about fifty men inside. Most of these
are to clean out the boilers and are
Cinnamon.
This mill turns out four hundred
sacks of sugar day, each weighing
two hundred and seventy-five pounds.
The capacity of the mill is six hundred
sacks day, but on accounl of so many
of their cane fields being burnt they
cannot get enough cane to run them to
their full capacity.
From here we went through the dis
tillery where they make rum out OF the
juice that is not fit for sugar. They
are making twenty barrels of this a day
now, and they will guarantee that one
drink of this will put you to sleep for a
week.
ci+ cd 1o c1o ,,fa
rather what had been the slave quar-
ters before they were set free in 1888.
From the outside all one sees is large
brick enclosure, about five or six hun
dred feet square and twenty foot
high wall with large iron gates on one
side. Passing through these gates you
will see crowd of picaninnes from ten
years down, and all shades from the
white to the black-most of them
dressed just as nature clothed them,
except for the string of beads which
they all wear. Some of them have ear
rings as further protection against
the weather.
The inside of this inclosure is filled
with long one story buildings divided
up into rooms about ten feet square,
each room generally occupied by a
family. The streets between these
houses are about fifteen feet wide and
here is where the pigs, chickens and
dogs live-if living it can be called
and when you see the people coming
out of them it looks like bees coming
out of a hive. 1 could not find out
how many lived in there, as they did
and their families lives or exist there.
Having seen all there was to see here
and only having one hour to get back
to town and catch our train we had to
decline the invitation to breakfast, and
after receiving a very hearty invitation
to come again and stay as long as we
could, we bade the superintendent and
his wife adios.
We left Plecitis that afternoon and
went to Remedins. Co. 1, 31st Michi-
gan in charge of Capt. Griffin is here.
This town is the hot bed of the revolu-
tion, is the home of Gomez, and also
the oldest town on the island. There
are two churches here that are over
three hundred years old. The town
has fifteen thousand inhabitants, is
only five miles from the coast. We
staid here one night and then came
back to RodregO.
1 had always heard much about
the pretty Spanish women, but in the
time have been here and all the towns
1 have visited in the three provinces OF
Havana, Matanzas and Santa Clara,
have failed to find them, and have
come to the conclusion that they are
not to be found. l have seen some that
would be tolerably good looking if it
was not for the fact that they stick
their heads in the flour barrel every
| time they turn around.
I think Cuba is naturally one of the
healthiest places ever saw. If it were
not so, all of these people would have
been dead long ago. They live sc
dirty and never cleaned up, until oul
troops came and made them.
Bryan and I will go to Havana
the first of the week where I expect tC
find several letters as I have moi
received any since 1 left the States.
1 hope you have been getting all o.
my letters. 1 write two week, but
the mail service is very crude in some
places on the island.
Must close now. Give my love to al
the folks. Hoping you are all well,
Your loving son and brother,
E, K. G..