Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-03-21
RURAL GUARD OF CUBA
Organization Composed of a
Fine Class of Men.
PRAISED BY GENERAL WOOD
Force Commanded by Aljandro Rodri-
guez, Veteran Insurgent.
HIS WIFE'S CASE RECALLED
Imprisonment by Weyler Aroused
Wrath of Consul General Lee, Who
Compelled Her Release.
HIS WIFE's CASE RECALLED
BY WILLIAM e. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence of The Star and the Chicago
Record Herald.

BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence of The Star and the Chicago
Record Herald.
HAVANA, IAarch IS, 1907.
The standing army of Cuba consists Of
1900 artillerymen, drilled also as infantry.
who occupy the Notifications at Havana,
Santiago, Cienfuegos and other cities along
the coast. No greater force is necessary
because under the treaty the United States
is bound to defend Cuba from foreign in
vasion. Domestic peace is preserved by an
organization known rural guards, COM
posed of picked men from the army of in
dependence and formed by Maj. II. ]. Slo-
cum of the I'd Cavalry in 1901. 1t is SINH
lar to the guarde civile of Spain, the basil
iere of Italy and the rurales of Mexico. I'm
der a law of congress the rural guard Is
entitled to a maximum force of 10000
men, but its present strength Is 4,4S2, in
Guiding u field officers, 40 line officers,
5.J non-commissoned officers and 3,S0S pri
Yates. They are scattered among 800 sta
tons about the island and are paid $21
month. with an allowance of $4S year
for uniforms. The officers are paid from
500 a month down.
The Rural Guard.
class of men. They are young, active, in
telligent fellows filled with ambition, and
having d high sense of duty. During the
recent revolution they were loyal to the
government and offered the only resistance
that was made to the insurgents. They suf-
fered a severe shock when Secretary Taft
made terms with the rebels, because they
had been taught from the beginning that
it was their duty to support the constitu-
tional government without question, and
they could not understand why the United
States should temporiZe with its enemies
1t has been very difficult to make them
understand that the situation caused by
the resignation of President Palma and
his cabinet made it necessary to exercise
diplomacy in treating with his opponents.
The liberal party is opposed to the rural
guards because such body of men, II prop
erly handled, can be made an effective OBJ
Stac.e to revolutionary success. When Presi-
dent Roosevelt sent Maj. Slocum back to
Havana to resume command of his little
corps, and ordered its increase to the maxi
mum allowed by law. the liberal neWspa-
pers and generals made a determined re-
monstrance, and Gen. Pine Guerra, COM
mander of the insurgents. and other liberal
generals made a formal protest. Upon the
recommendation of Governor Magoon the
matter was he d in allegiance, but 1t is I'M
derStood that the guards will be gradually
increased to 300 men and 80 officers. An
order has already been issued for the exam
ina ton of candidates for commissions. Maj.
Slocum is preparing to open a school for the
education of both officers and men, and
Capt. Whtmarsh, his assistant, has drawn
up manual of regulations based upon
those of the United States army modified
to suit the peculiar duties of the rural
guards. If Slocum is allowed to carry out
his plans he will make splendid force. The
guards are uniformed in khaki with trim
mings similar to those worn by the United
States army, armed with Lee-Metford
rifles, and carry machetes instead of sabers.
Duties of the Rural Guard.
The duties of the rural guards are part
military and part civil. They are the country
police and are designed to keep order, sup
press outbreaks, protect plantations and
other property from incendiaries, capture
bandits and other marauders, and also to
serve processes and perform other police
duties under the direction of the local
courts. No member of the guard serves in
his own town. and it is the intention to
change them frequently from station to sta
ton in order to prevent them from forming
any local attachments or prejudces. Similar
organizations in Spain and Italy have sim
liar duties. including the enforcement Of the
excise and customs laws. They patrol the
coasts against smugglers supervise the sale
of liquors under licenses, and assist the tax
collectors in their work They are composed
of retired soldiers but no man is admitted
to the corps who has ever been court-mar-
tailed or accused of an offense against the
OiScIpIlne or the army or the law.
Everybody except the liberals thinks very
highly of the rural guards, and Gen. Wood
when he retired from the military gov
ernorship, paid them very high compli-
ment. 1T was the opinion of all our army
officers, he said, in his report, who came
into intimate contact with the rural guard
of Cuba, that it was a thoroughly efficient
force. and judging from the aptitude with
which the Cubans who composed the entire
force, both officers and men, took to disci-
pine to the profession of arms, and to
habits of soldierly neatness and conduct.
the Cuban makes a good, reliable SOLDIER
Ill-Treatment of Mrs. Rodriguez.
The rural guard is commanded by Gen.
AljandrO Rodriguez, one of the most active
and efficient commanders of the army of
The treatment of his wife
by the Spaniards in 1896 came very near
Fastening the war with Spain two years
before the explosion of the Maine. Mrs.
Rodriguez is American citizen, ard her
sufferings provoked Consul General Lee to
such degree of righteous Indignation that
he informed Gen. Weyler that he would
close the consulate and return to tn, United
States with his entire official force unless
she released from prison.
One afternoon in February, 1896, Mr..
Thomas G.. Alvord, an American newspaper
correspondent. while sitting on the balcony
of an Havana hotel saw we women, tied
with ropes marching down the middle of
the stieet. sur ouiueu ny lie VI spanish
soldiers He followed them to the Casa de
Recogidas, prison in which abandoned
women and thieves were confned-one of
the vest and nastiest places in Havana.
When he attempted to pass through the
gate after them the soldier on guard would
not admit him. but he remained in the
neighborhood, and about half an hour later
saw one of the women at a window and
asked if she were an American She re-
piled that she was from N.w York, that
she was a member of Rev. DIR. Halls Pres
byterian Church, on 9th avenue that her
husband was general in the insurgent
army in the field and that she had been ar
rested at her home in Puerto Principe for