The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-01-05
COMIC OPERA
 ARMY AND. NAVY
Juvenile Fighting Force of Panama. Soldiers Whose Age is Under
 Fifteen Years.

duty. The little fellow was bare-footed, as is the rule in the ranks, and the only resemblance to a uniform in his apparel was a worn and soiled cap, about three sizes too large for him. About his waist was strapped belt, the point of the bayonet scabbard clearing the ground by not more than two inches. AS he brought his rihe-an obsolete Springfeld-to the order" and saiuted. the crown of his cap was several inches lower than the second sight on the gun, while the bayo- net lowered far above his head
 Boys Fight Well.
 There are men--full grown. yeli-deyel- oped. hardy isthmian products-to be found in this army; but in the main 1t is made up of boys of that age and size commonly found in the primary grades of the public schools in the States. These little fellows are. however, good fighters The majority of them, among those now over F years of age, fought in the last reYoli1ion. They are esteemed by the officers, who claim that they can glide through the swamps an1 jungles which l alternate in making this an almost irn- passable country, with greater ease than can grown men, and there is no discount- ing the fact that they can and will fight. ''They don't know enough to run away" | said an officer when I questioned their | worth as soldiers They often have to stand against trees" continued this of- | ficer. ito keep the recoil of their guns | from knocking them down; but when | it comes to standing on the firing line. | would rather have them than men,"
 And calling to a diminutive sentry. the
 officer gave message in Spanish. In 6 | few moments. in response to the sum-
 mons. there appeared before us a lad l of not more than Il years of age. This boy, who could not have weighed more | than 70 pounds, fought through the clos ing days of the last revolution, and won
 the praise of his officers by his perform
 ances at the six-days fight at the rail
 road bridge just outside of Panama, the
 last encounter in that revolution. The litle fellow went through that fight with dauntless courage, loading and firing reg l ularly and effectively, and never once showing the sign of the white feather l So it is with nearly all the others in | this army. General Huertas is himself | an example of the boy soldiery of Pan anna. Although but g years old. he is | now the comma nder-in-chief of the army in which he has served since he was nine-and-one-haif years old. A record of 22H years as a soldier for a man now
 but g years old could not be matched in any country except this, where the | unusual and the unexpected is to be found upon every hand.
 The Commander in Chief.
 | General Huertas Is one of the charac-
 ters of Panama. have already told how
 he came to deliver the army over to the separatists. There Is back of that, how ever, the mans personal story. Unedu-
 cated and illiterate, he knows absolutely nothing of the art of war or of military
 science. All his grades, @rom that of a noncommissioned officer to a full-fledged I general, were won during the last revo-
 lutiop. As a brave and resourceful fight
 CT along the bushwhacking methods in
 vogue here, his reputation is second to
 that of no other man in the army, yet
 he knows nothing of military discipline,
 and if his life depended upon 1t he could
 not drill full regiment of troops. He l lost his right arm during the last revo-
 lution, and now wears q cork appliance
 where his arm should be; but this physi-
 cal deficiency does not prevent him from
 appearing as gorgeous spectacle when he dons his full dress uniform.
 In his ignorance of military forms and
 usages and the art of war, General Huer-
 tas is on plane with all the other of