Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1912-10-05


in service have been killed or wound
ell. The Americans on the Dominican
frontier are little better than moving
targets, and hardly a week passes
! without a Dominican or a Hytian in.
6Clging in a little target practice
Every mans hand is against the
'Americanos," and there Is only one
erding to service on the frontier-an
ending under pile of stones among
the palms, with nothing but a rougn
! wooden cross to mark the spot.
was in Hayti at the time of the re-
cent revolution there, and hearing in
Port AL Prince stories of the wild and
hazardous life that the officers of the
frontier guard led / determined to
make trip overland across the noun
tains of Hayti and Santo Domingo and
sec frontier conditions as they actual
ly existed. l reached the line and saw
for myself the splendfd work that the
Americans there are doing in the face
CT privation and danger. l stayed at
the frontier forts and lived with the
men Of the guard, and in this way was
able to get at first hand true picture
of the life led by these soldiers of
fortune, who are soldiers in fact as
well.
During the long days spent in rid
Jig the interminable Dominican trails
across the mountains and the evenings
spent in the forts which have recently
been built for the greater safety of
the guard, or at the hut Of some
friendly native if darkness caught US
ft.' from one of the custom houses, !
managed to draw out, incident by in
cident, the whole murderous story of
the American 'occupation" of Santo
Domingo. s-.-.
These frontier Americans are not at
all the type of swashEuckling adyen-
tuIers who strut through the pages
of filibustering fiction, accounting sin
gle handed for whole regiments of
"greasers." On the contrary they are
for the most part the quiet close lip
ped type who do things all the time,
but say things only occasionally. Con-
stantly subjected to the fire of guerilla
warfare, the officers of the guard go
serenely about their duties, riding
with a finger literally on the trigger
of the Winchester that is always ready
fer action across their knees, and
taking an attempt to assassinate them
as regular part Of the days work.
Possibly they may even forget to men,
ton a stray bullet from the bush on
their return to the fort. a., " ri
These Dominicans are the worst
shots in the world, with the possible
exception of the Haytians," was the
way Inspector McMannus, of the guard
explained the secret Of the charmed
life which some of the officers seem to
bear. "If they could shoot even lite
lit they would bet US all in month,
and can tell you there would be some
celebrating along the frontier If we
Americans we're out of the way. Then,
again, these fellows who make all our
trouble are towards at heart, and they
know that if they step out in the trail
for a fair shot at one of US it's better
than even money that We'll plug him
fist. We are all dead shots, and none
Of use would think of putting his nose
outside the fort without whole arsen-
al, more or less. We know these trails
so we'll that we have all the likely
places for an ambush spotted, and we
keep a pretty sharp lookout when we
come on these bad places. If We see
a shaking bush or anything that looks
like foul play we let go at the place
with our rifle just on. general princi-
pies. The people hereabouts are all
wise, to this, and, SO they don't really
give themselves a fair chance to pot
U.s."
But they managed to pot you; how
do you account for that?'' ] asked. for
McMannus was just recovering from
bullet through the shoulder, received
last November, when he rode with his
life in hand to the rescue of one of his
troopers.
"Oh, I guess l was a bit careless"
replied McMannus. "Pll tell you about
it." And he did, but his description
of the incident was as dry as an off,
cial report, with all his own doings
boiled down to mere facts, and l pre-
fer to tell the story as heard it from
the others-from Inspectors Hollesen
and Farbush and from some of the
men of McMannus' own guard, who be-
lieve him to be the greatest man in
the whole west Indies.
Close to the north shore Etang Su-
matre, and just at the base of the rug
eed mountain ridge that marks 1ne
dividing line between the republics of
, Eayti and Sapto Domingo, stands the
stone custom house of Ell Fondo. built
last year to afford the frontier guard
place of refuge in case of trouble
and strong enough to stand an extend
cd siege. The only passable trail
across the mountains for many miles
in either direction runs within
stones throw of the fort, and as il
commands the water as we'll as the
land route, Ell Fondo is one of the
most important houses on the frontier
and a strong detachment of the guard
Is usually kept there.
Last November three American Off
cprS-TnSnectOr John p HOlleSen COM