Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1908-02-01
NY Employee.
IOriginal.l

There were years or continued reVO-
luton in Cuba before the final relin-
quishment of the island by Spain by
order of the United States. AS far
back as fifty years ago filibustering
expeditions went there from Florida
but revolution had not gathered suffi-
cient strength for an auxiliary to be of
benefit Now and again leader would
arise, but after brief resistance to
Spanish tyranny would succumb. Usu-
ally price was set upon his head.
1t was during the latter part of this
period of incipient revolution that /
went to Cuba as a sugar planter. My
plantation was in the interior, but my
Office was in Havana. One day while
at the former my coat was caught by
a portion of the machinery, and l was
jerked toward instant death. One of
my employees, Diaz Martin, of mixed
Spanish and Aztec blood, pushed for
ward and eXtricated me few seconds
before / would have been mangled but
for him. / had been carried to a posi-
ton so dangerous for any one to enter
except with extreme caution that my
reScuer's act was one of great bravery
1t surprised me, for he had all the
SOftness of manner possessed by his
Aztec progenitOrs.
l took Martin with me to Havana
and placed him in a position where he
might become valuable to himself as
well as to me. But he was entirely I'm
educated, and l found few things of
Importance that he could do well. In
order to belefit him l paid him more
than he was worth. l confess con-
Sidered him shiftless and with no fan
cy for hard work. He remained with
me several years, during which 1 tried
him in many positions, in all of which
he failed. One day / sent him out on
an errand, and he did not come back
I made an examination of my cash
and found it all where had supposed
it was. He had taken nothing, at least
Of mine.
About this time an instruction broke
out in the interior which gave the
Spanish more trouble than any that
had occurred up to that time. The
people of the section in which it took
place had found leader, and it was
this leader who caused all the trO1-
ble Such was usually the case with
Cuban instructions. The people, VINO
were mostly negroes, were incompe-
tent to defy even for a brief period
the authority of the captain general
until some man arose to lead them.
Nothing was known of the general Of
this insurrection except that he was
called Bonito. The government offered
the usual reward for his head, but the
government could not get him.
But Bonito was fighting hopelessly.
Gradually his forces dwindled either
by death or a return to their ordinary
avocations, and at last the intrepid in
surgent found himself alone. This of
course meant that sooner or later some
one in order to obtain the reward Of
fered for his capture would deliver
him to the government.
One evening remained longer than
usual at my Office to make some esti-
mates. All my employees had gone
home, and was sitting alone at my
desk, with my back to the door. Sud
denly there came to me one of those
indeScriba bic sensations which mark
the imparting of knowledge without
the usual mediums. Though / heard
no sound, knew some one stood be-
hind me- Turning, there stood Diaz
Martin. He had entered with the soft
step usual to him and stood looking at
me with that mild, dreamy expression
had seen in pictures of the Aztec
Emperor Montezuma. I extended my
hand, which he grasped with feeling
not Indicated in his countenance. Then
1 asked him why he had left me and
where he had been.
Il received word. signor, thai my
fathers little plantation had been raid
ed by Spanish troops under pretext
that he was disloyal to the govern
ment. All he had was taken from him,
and he was thrown into prison, while
my mother and sisters were left to
starve. 1 could not but go. signOr, to
their assistance. / gathered a force in
forest, from which l emerged and
fell upon
"You are"-
"Bonito."
When I had finished gaping at him
in establishment, l got from him an
account of how for a long period he
had held a province from Spanish rule;
how he had been left alone and had
come to me as last hope for his life.
When he had finished, after procuring
some provisions for him l locked him
up in my Office and went home to con-
coct plan for getting him out of Cuba.
A sugar barrel, being of extra size,
seemed to me to be the most feasible
conveyance. If / could get the man
whose head was worth $4,000 into a
barrel and drive him myself to the
dock, 1 might put him aboard a ship
and send him to another land as suG-
ar. The next morning l went to my
Office, which was in my warehouse,
long before any one of my employees
was there. l packed Martin in a sugc~
barrel, with some provisions, a gimlet