The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1900-01-23
THE NEWS THAT
DID NOT COME.
How a Spanish Garrison In Cuba
Waited Peacefully While the
War Was On.
BY II. NJ. DIEUAIDE.

The garrison at Baracoa had become
very much depressed. For over four
months the 500 of them bad been hold
ing the place for the boy king. At first
IL was pleasant enough. The inhabitants
Of the little Cuban seaport were all in
tensely loyal-hang the bandit rebels!-
In the presence of the bright uniforms
from Havana.
Gradually, as spring approached. there
came a change. 1t was not defined, but
the commandant realized that something
had come over the spirit Of garrison ex-
istence at Baracoa He heard from Ha-
vana that a Yankee warship had been
destroyed In the harbor. He got no de-
tails. The authorities at Havana were
too busy to bother about the little garri-
son away down at Baracoa. From the
little coasting vessels that came occa-
sionally into Baracoa the garrison heard
all manner of vague rumors. The COM
mandant and his officers discussed with
some interest the chances OF war with
the United States. But they did not at
tach much Importance TO IL. One of the
younger officers summed up the situation
by remarking that the Yankees were
commercial pigs who would be more like
ly to shoot themselves than the enemy IL
they attempted to handle a gun.
AS the spring days heightened the
vague feeling of unrest that had come
over the commandant increased. There
was evidently something going wrong In
Baracoa. He was not at all so certain
Of the loyalty of the inhabitants as he
had been at FIRST. He saw little groups
In the streets that melted away as his
officers approached. He heard whisper
l.. \ Al l. I.sAn al IT, -
unfriendlncss. Sometimes he even felt
that he was being laughed at; then he
chided himself for a suspicious old man
and decided that his long exile from
Spain had made him childish. Then as
he walked through the town 1t suddenly
struck him that the population was
dwindling in an inexplicable fashion. 1t
seemed. too, an unusually large number
of shops were closed, and some Of the
houses had deserted appearance.
The commandant went back to his lit
tie Office and sat down to think. 1t added
sharply TO his unensness when he recall
ed that 1t was very long time since he
had heard from either Havana or Santa
go. The last messages he had sent had
been unanswered. This had not worried
him before, partly because he was very
mutu urtu " pHhhlbh utihy anu
partly because his messages had not been
important, but now he wrote a perempto-
~ demand for instructions, which was
cheerfully licked off in the little tin roof
ed telegraph Office.
A few days later the commandant,
again depressed by indeHnable suspicious,
summoned his officers and asked sternly
IL the order against Inhabitants leaving
hA hainu striaflv onfarCa1
With one voice they answered that II
was. As matter of fact 1t had not been
enforced at all. The people had all been
SO very, very loyal and the dark eyed
girls so kind! But-carnmba.-now
measures would be taken without delay.
1t was too late. Almost dazed, the
commandant found that he was garrison
ing virtually deserted town. The pop
ulation had melted away as IL BY, magic.
And, worst OF all, it had managed to take
with it all il could In the way of provi-
siols and drink.
Baracoa was fairly well defended, and
the commandant and his men sat them
selves down to await the attack which
they knew would come. For days moth
ing happened, and the Spaniards occu-
pied themselves In throwing up breast
urgently to Santiago that he was be-
sieged. There had been no sign Of it,
but he knew that it was true. No an
swer came. Nothing came-that was the
worst Of it. Finally. in desperation, the
commandant sent out accommodating
party Of 20 men and waited anxiously.
He would have been pleased to hear the
sound Of firing, even II he knew that each
- hi. arnntinv ms w a q
being killed. No sound came back to
him. Neither did any one of the recon
noitering party.
For three weeks the garrison waited In
dreary solitude. Not vessel came into
Baracoa, and the Spaniards scanned the
waters in vain for a sail One day, far
out on the horizon, the commandant made
out the smoke and tunnels of a process
sion of mighty craft moving eastward
that he knew to be warships. The sense
OF isolation began to be almost unendura-
BILE. ~ he recalled that he had not
heard one word from the outside world
since early in March and here II was late
In May he had feeling of living in a
bygone age. What might have happened
In those three months? What had hap
pened? Had there been war? And he
down here at this end OF the world,
guarding a cemetery of deserted streets
that apparently even the ragged Cuban
rebels did not want! He dreamed Of
Madrid and awoke to doubt il there ever
had been such q city.
There was no means Of transportation
for the garrison by sea, and the COM
mandant thought seriously Of the des-
perate expedient of taking his whole
forca overland 10 Guantanamo He
would be false to his tfust, but at least
he would discover II the world still
moved.
That very night. however, the death
like stiffness OF the deserted town was
broken by the crackle of musketry. The
garrison welcomed 1t with joy born Of
long enforced inaction. The whistlins Of
the bullets seemed positively cheerful to
the long suffering commandant, and his
fighting spirit arose. The Cubans, for
such the garrison knew the attackers to
be from the shrill cries that came out OF
the gloom, made no determined assault