Putnam patriot., 1917-01-12
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TRIP TO HAITI
Francis TetreauIt, Putnam High School
Graduate, Tells Of Trip and impress.
sions Of Country
Was BookKeeper for WhippIe & Gil
satric, Then in Office of Auditor. Dis.
trict O, Columbia, Now Assistant TO
Receiver General, Haiti
Editor PATRIOT:

l.
Since leaving New
York City, the z4tn of last month my
time has been pretty we'll taken up
with some very interesting sights and
experiences. The trip down TO Santi
ago de CUBA on the Great " hite Fleet
boat "Sixaola" WAS very rough, al,
though she is a good sized ship and
many of the passengers never showed
their faces outside of their statercoms
from the time they set foot aboard until
We entered Santiago haTbor.
1t certainly was one grand and beau
tiful morning about 7 O'Clock, five
days after leaving New York, that We
glided into the smooth waters entering
the harbor, with old, dilaridated, mas
sivc and romantic Moro Castle on our
right and the beautiful mountains OF
Cuba on the left, not more than mile
away. The passage is exceedingly
narrow and we had to stop to take on
a pilot as there is barely room for
large ship to get through.
As soon as we came into sight of the
customs house a swarm of small craft
sprang as from nowhere and came to.
ward the ship rs fast as their ragged
sails or broken down engines would
carry them. A hundred or more cuss-
ing and fighting Cuban Spaniards try
ing to make fast their little tubs to the
gangway of the boat makes quite an
interesting picture to u stranger in this
wonderful land of the Tropics. As
the harbor is not deep enough TO allow
the ship TO reach the pier we anchored
in the middle of the bay. Then the
aboard and issued landing passes TO
the passengers most proniscously.
The passengers then got into these
small rough looking motor boats-as
many as could pile in-and we were
of for the shore of Cuba. Upon af
irving at The pier of course | had TO
pay for my passage to the shore, and
then a Dig, hurley, black bruiser grab
bed my baggage and carried ii to the
desk where the customs inspector sat.
Alter opening and closing my bags "a
lot of trouble for nothing) | paid my
porter About five minutes after that
another Spick, (Spaniard) came up to
me and demanded "veinte centavos. y
explained to him then as best |
could that [ had already paid one man
for carrying my grip and ldIdn't pro-
pose to get stung by another so | raised
q rumpus and pretty soon II regular
crow gathered around and in order to
prevent any further trouble | pulled n
beautiful big 40 Colt automatic and
waited until a fellow / landed with
called cop and then that crowd dis.
persed like So many rats and L had not
one bit of trouble thereafter, You
must be firm to these people and show
them whose boss or they will take the
skin off your teeth.
l engaged a bus which took me
to my hotel, where / registered at the
Casa Granda. Rates, rooms So up per
day; rooms ,and board 81 up. Fine
business but it certainly is some place
and most surely did live while was
there-two days. Then on Friday
morning | took Cuban train for St.
Luis, where changed trains and pre-
pared for a long, long ride to Guantan-
amo. The train left Santiago at 5b
a. m. and arrived in guantanamo
after 4 o'clock in the afternoon, while
the schedule says it is only a three
hours run. But 1 enjoyed it exceed
ingly and saw many sights worth see
ing, the oldest for me perhaps being
that of natives all along the sides of
she railroad living in, matched roof
houses, made of palm bark and banana
leaves, and the inhabitants (or the ma
joTity of them at leasD wearing sb-
solutely nothing but a large cheerful
grin from ear to ear. The track is
lined on both sides with banana trees,
orange trees, cocoanut palms and royal
palms. And then again we ran tor
miles and miles through sugar cane
plantations, where the natives were
swinging their Hmachetesp with all
the dexterity OF years Of practice. Then
also the train took US through immense
tobacco plantations where the leaf OF
the famous Habana cigars is grown.
Speaking of cigars, | never in all OF
my life smoked anything so tasty and
fragrant as the real Habana smokes,
Romeo and Juliet cigars sell there fol-
8 centavos each, whereas they are
for 20 at home. On Saturday | went
from Guantanamo 10 Caimanera and
there awaited the arrival of the steam
launch from the u. s. Naval station
on Guantanamo Bay. While waiting
strolied over to the Pawley House, q
hotel owned by man who recently
bought up the whole Hsitien navy
three ships). The steamer came
alongside for the mails and then | was
on my next to last lop to the interest
ing place of Port au Prince, Haiti
They took me over to the Naval Sta
lion. where ] called on the Command.
ant of the Yard and also upon the Cap
tsin of the Hancock" TO make ar.
engagements for my passage from Cubs
10 Haiti. The following day l got my
orders from the State Department