The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-02-25
OUR SOLDIERS IN ,crRA.
A Few of the Curious Cuban Gus
toms.

toms.
Camp vedado Cuba. Feb. 1S.-The habits
OF the people here are very interesting. A
few of them that l have noticed are as fol-
lows: a White on my way to Havana, the
other day, saw three persons gee in the
car with money sticking in their ear. My
curiosity was at once aroused TO know
the meaning of this. Soon / found that
the money was their car fare, and that
was where they carried It when they had
no pocket l saw the same practice sew.
eral time afterward While passing a Gu
ban church one day this week, noticed
a coach in front of the building, with
boy about II years of age standing in
front OF the horse. having a bel in his
hand. Soon the priest came out of the
church, accompanied by few guards
each one with large lighted lantern. The
priest got in the wagon and a once left
the church with two guards on each side
of the coach. while the boy walked ahead
OF the horse ringing the bell all the
While. Upon inquiry. I found that the
priest was going to perform a marriage
ceremony and this was the procession from
the church to the house. Il is now get
ting to be q common thing to see four
men, and sometimes boys, passing by our
camp on their way to the graveyard with
a small coffin swinging between them. at
tacned to cord at~each corner, the cof-
nm containing the body of child. There
is not day passes but you can see three
or four, and sometimes even more, such
funerals. The collins containing the bodies
OF grown people are carried on the shoui-
ders of men, There are generally eight
men to each coffin, four will earry it
awhile and then the other four will take it,
not sing.e friend or mourner is VITA
them Sometimes they carry the
bodies all the way from the
heart OF the city 10 the graveyard some
two and a nalf miles away. l saw on one
afternoon in an hours time, six funerals.
on their way TO the burying ground The
guards who guard the gates told me that
one day there were fourteen funerals pass
cd in the gate.
A man here thinks il is an insult 10 be
asked to give up his seat in a street car
to lady. One day last week / saw one
of our sergeants ask Cuban man to get
up and give his scat TO an old lady who
was standing just in front of him. At first
the man hesitated, but after being strong
~ urged by the sergeant he slowly arose
and gave up his seat. but the flashes Of
fire from his eyes as he eyed the sergeant,
with snarl on his lips the remainder OF
the journey told as plain as words could
tell that there was no love in his heart for
the American.
You very seldom see the women going
in the city with hats on their heads. They
are, as rule, bare headed. There would
be iiItle show here for one dealing IN ladies
head-wear.
The men of the Batteries D. c. M. G, and
l, were paid off this week, and there were
some happy men among them, but here, as
well as in the states, payday is a curse
to many of them. One of The men in Bat
terry I, while under the influence of drink.
attempted to fla his place in dress parade
Tuesday night, and was placed under ar
rest and put in the guard house, after a
| desperate fight with the guards. Five min
utes afterwards he broke the doors and at
| tempted to make his escape down the hill,
| back of the camp, but had not gone more
than one hundred yards. when he fell and
broke his left arm in two places. Only
| about ten days ago two of the men in that
| battery got in a quarrel, and one killed the
| other by breaking his neck over the end
| of a bench. Aside from these occurrences
the men are getting along very nicely
| round about here. H. A. Howell.