Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-10-14
DISARMAMENT FARCE
Taft's Task With the Cuban
Army.
GUNS NOT BEING GIVEN UP
Insurgent Troops Are Merely Being
Disbanded.
VIEWS OF A RAGGED PATRIOT
Serious Minded Observers Fear the
Rebels May Again Take to
the Woods.
SUNS NOT BEING GIVEN UP
JEWS OF A RAGGED PATRIOT

Special From a Stan Correspondent.
HAVANA. Cuba. October s.-Disbanding
of the constitutional army is progress
ing slowly but the revolutionary committee
who have 1t in charge expect to report to
the provisional governor the competition of
their task within the week. The disarma-
ment Of most of the forces will not oe &C
complished. 1t will be a surprise to Cen
eral Funston and Major Ladd II they OBJ
tain 1000 rifles from the 1900 or more
rebels who are being disbanded. The pro-
gram of disbanding arranged by the revo-
ltrtionary committee and signed by the
several rebel chiefs provided that the rebel
forces should turn over their arms to their
respective brigadiers. who would pass them
along to General Pinto Guerra, and the
latter would be held responsible by the
provisional government for the carrying
out of this agreement.
Each man was to retain his horse and
was to receive a receipt from the commits
tee Identifying his mount and declaring IL
to be the lawful property OF its present
owner. At that time It was supposed that
the rebels would not break faith with
their leaders. so no check was arranged by
which they could be forced to turn over
their arms. A more effective solution Of the
problem as the American officers now real
ize would have been to permit only those
rebels who turned in their arms to retain
their horses for In any event the provis-
ional government will undertake the reim-
bursement Of the original owners from
whom the rebels took them.
The difficulty about putting through any
such ironclad agreement was that when the
program for disarmament was arranged the
provisional government was scarcely In
position to force the rebel chief to sagn 1t.
The great object which Mr.. Taft had in
view was to get the rebels back to their
homes as quietly as possible. and although
he instructed his officers to Insist upon
formal agreement Nween the govern
ment and the rebel chiefs that the forces
of the latter should lay down their arms
the Secretarys experience will. the Cubans
within the last three weeks must have en-
abled him to foresee the farcical proceed
ing into which the so-cadied disarmament
has resulted. It Is merely another and
necessary step in the patchwork peace
which has been established.
A Falstafaan Army.
Instead Of assembling the troops at their
respective camps and there disarming them,
Pine Guerra explained to the government
that his men desired to return to their
home province with their arms. that their
fellow-townsmen might see that the army
which marched out to take Havana had
not returned stripped Of their arms Guerra
and the other rebel chiefs regard them
selves as the leaders OF a victorious army,
and they requested this concession to their
convictions. For the sake of quiet 1t was
agreed that the horses of the rebels should
first be eIltrained and that the troops should
follow In second sections, and that upon ar
rival in their home provinces the disarm-
ament should take place and each man was
to take his ,and 60 home and to work.
At Santiago las Vegas, where Pine Buer-
ra recently established headquarters. the
disbanding began a week ago today. 81
multaneously 1t started at other points
~ This historic little town
and. except Havana, said to be the Oldest
in Cuba. Is three-quarters of an hours ride
from Havana on the railroad Starting at
Z In the morning we reached there shortly
of some six hundred men, gathered about
the station. Every man OF them was
mounted and armed. The mounts were bet
ter than the arms Each rebel carried
machete and the most of them had. in ad-
dition, revolver, a carbine or a rifle. Most
of the rifles have seen service in previous
revolutions and were either Remingtons or
Springfields. Probably there were four
Mausers In the outfit Seventy per cent OF
these so-called soldiers were negroes and
less than per cent Of them possessed the
semblance of a uniform. Ihelr clothes were
b grimed with mud and ragged. Their
horses. although superior to their arms,
were. as rule. small ponies. which showed
evidence OF hard usage. Here and there a
man was rugged out in in khaki uniform
much like that of the rural guard. and we
were told that these warriors had either
captured their uniforms or had previously
seen service on the government side. and
upon' taking to the woods brought as much
equipment along as they could.
Vague as to Politics.
Arriving there some time before Pine
Guerra it was possible to see something of
the makeup of the constitutional army of
which so much has been heard. While
it might not be altogether fair to refer to
armed and mounted rabble would be
fatterng tribute. They appeared to get
along we'll among themselves. They sat
their horses in the broiling sun. smoking
cigarettes or cigars and appeared far more
comfortable than their American observers
who sought the shady side Of the station
and even there suffered from the heat
What do you think of the provisional
government? I asked big blao negro
who sat his horse well and was armed with
rather directed my interpreter to ask him.
The question meant nothing to him. "tino
Guerra Is my general" this warrior replied
will review us and then we go home.'
ASK him II he knows who Mr.. Taft is," I
said to the Interpreter. He promptly an
swered In the Affirmative, adding The Is
Pine Guerra's friend" Beyond this I
could discover no trace OF Information in
the possession of this warrior as to what
had taken place in Havana or what was to
become Of the rebel forces. 1 piled half
dozen others with the same line Of ques-
lions and my interpreter was a Cuban
and spoke excellent Spanish. The questions
meant nothing to these soldiers.
An ex-Rough Rider.
While lodging In and out among the
horses we came upon an American, who
greeted us pleasantly and asked for, the
news. His name was Harvey, from Colo
RADIO, and he had been member Of the
Rough Riders. He explained that he was
not a revolutionist by profession. but that
things got SO slow on my orange grove
down the country that took to the woods
for a change" He had vague idea that
the Palma government was down and out
and he lowed we were here to stay. This
time next year. he continued, you Ameri-
cans will be fighting the rebels. The boys
is tired out now because the heavy rains
drenched us through and we have had q
tough time of it some days. but they've
enjoyed it and come another year they'll
take to the woods provided some sore
headed politician stirs 'em up"
How much pay do they receive" one
OF the party asked this soldier of for
tune. Nothing in money, but We do
pretty we'll At the different plantations
We come to-" he replied. When the folks
acts decent about 1t the boys takes only
what they wants hut ~ fhov sbow