The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-04-11
THE HOTEL CLERK ON
 OUR CUBAN FRIEND 5
By IRWIN S. COBB.

<<T SEE them cubians started in cut
 tin up and carryin' on just as
 4 soon as the Amurikan troops was withdrawed from Havana" said the House Detective.
 'Yep,' said the Hotel Clerk of the St. Reckless, they did. They certainly did. When our transports were in the haroor the Cuban populace came down the wharfs N Massey as the French say to see the last of our brave soldier lads depart Happiness and gratitude shone on their faces. And why shouldn't they be grateful, l ask you? Hadn't the regu- lars from the states been quartered in their midst for more than year, putting down all disorders except those they started themselves, with an iron hand, or anyway 1t felt like an Iron hand every time 1t landed in a Cuban face Hadn't they been on terms of the most informal cordiality with even the most exclusive native families, freely calling them 'spigotty' to their faces, and often hand ing them special wallop on public spots, such as the nose? Answer, they had
 And so the Cubans came down to the docks to see the American soldier laddies off. There was little cheering. So over come with emotion were the inhabitants that they could hardly raise their choking voices to a curse, let alone a cheer. Car olina Perfecto Lopez Gomez stood in si- lence with his friends and neghbors until the last of the ships flying the Stars and Stripes had passed the drowning ramparts of Morro castle. I don't know why ram- parts should always frown, Larry, but they always do. So there he stood, as l say, until the last of them had headed into the open gulf.
 "Are they goneT says Carolina Per- fecto Lopez Gomez, in a voice filled with huskiness, to the man standing next to him.
 "-They are says his neighbor. tears standing in his eyes,
 And there's no danger of them turn ing around and coming back at this timer says Carolina Perfecto Lopez Gomez.
 '' There is not praise be- says the other man.
 "Then come with me, children says the grateful Carolina Perfecto Lopez Go- meg to little Angina Perfecto Lopez Co., meg and little Medula Oblongata Lopez Gomez. taking them by the hand. Come, we will now go to our humble home and throw rocks at a picture of George Washington
 @'"And shortly thereafter the first insur- rection broke out, just as had been conf dently predicted all along by the Tobacco trust, the Fruit trust the Sugar trust. ana other American cnarltaDle ana peneV- olent institutions that have a large work ing interest in Cuba and hope to get the principal eventually. if nothing interferes to prevent The Havana correspondents of the American papers treated the up- rising very fully. First reports were that starting in Santa Clara province, the re- volt had already assumed widespread pro- portions in Mary Jane province. There were also strong signs of disoontent in Mehitable Ellen province and Louisa Nal lie province was on the threatened list Even in the outskirts of the capitol thou sands of discontented Cubans were liable to uprise at any moment, or eight or nine of them anyhow. The correspondents were ready to start at once to the seat of hostilities. Some of them were learning to get on a horse without the use of a lad der and others had packed their service kits, driving the cork very firmly into the pocket-ration and putting the bottled beer of the regular commissary supply care fully on ice. Havana itself was fairly rocking with suppressed excitement, so suppressed, in fact, that you couldn't no- tice it unless you'd been drinking.
 'Bit by bit the complete details filtered in. It seemed that four or five parties connected with the police force out in Sandy C1arissa province had a falling out with the desk sergeant at their station house. One of them, man of a most