The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1919-12-16
XXI
THE TROCHA.


pIoyed by the Spaniards in their wars
against Cuban independence. perhaps
the most unique was the trocha-
trench or traverse. Martinez Campos
during the Ten Years War built the
first trocha just west OF the Cubitas
Mountains where the waist of the
island is narrowest. 1t was Campo's
hope, by means of this artificial bar
rier, to confine the operations of the
insurgents to the eastern end Of Cuba
but in that he failed. as likewise he
failed in the results gained by his
efforts to concentrate the rural popu-
lation in the cities. Not until Wey-
ler's time were these two methods OF
pacifcation, the trocha and the con-
centration camp. developed to their
fullest extent. Under the rule OF the
Butcher several trochas were con-
structed at selected points. and he
carried to its logical conclusion the
policy of concentration. with results
sufficiently frightful to shock the
world and to satisfy even Weylers
monstrous appetite for cruelty. Al
though his trochaS hindered the free
movement of Cuban troops and his
prison camps decimated the peaceful
population of several provinces. the
Spanish cause gained little. Both
trenches and prison camps became
Spanish graveyards.
Weyler's intrenchments cost millions
and were deliberately constructed.
belted with barbed wire. bristling with
blockhouses and forts. In both the
digging and the manning. however.
they cost uncounted lives. Spanish
spades turned up fevers with the soil,
and, so long as raw Spanish troops
were compelled to toll in the stream
ing morasses or to lie inactive under
the sun and the rain, those traitor
generals-June, July. and August
continued to pile up the bodies in
rotting heaps and to timber the
trenches with bones. So long as the
cities were overcrowded with pacificos
and their streets were putrid with
disease. so long did the Spanish gar
risons sicken and die. as dies perish
upon poisoned carrion.
Out on the cool, clean hills and the
windy savannas where the 1nsurrectos
dwelt there was health. Poorly armed.
ragged, gaunt, these Insurrectos were
kept moving by hunger, always NOV
ing like cattle on a barren range. But
they were healthy, for disease, which
is soft-footed and tender-bellied, could
not keep up.
At the time Johnnie O'Reilly set out
for Matanzas the war-a war without
battle, without victory, without de-
feat-had settled into a grim contest
of endurance. In the east, where the
Insurrectos were practically supreme.
there was food of a sort. but beyond
the Jucaro-Moron trocha-the old one
of Campos' building-the country was
sick Immediately west of it, in that
district which the Cubans called Las
Villas, the land lay dying, while the
entire provinces of Matanzas. Habana-
and Pinar del Rio were practically
dead. These three were skeletons,
picked bare Of flesh by Weyler's beak.
The Jucaro-M Moron trocha had been
greatly strengthened since Campos
day. 1t followed the line of the transin-
sular railway. Dotted at every quar-
ter OF a mile along the grade were
little forts connected by telephone
and telegraph lines. Between these
fortinas were sentry stations OF logs
or railway ties. The jungle on either
side OF the right-of-way had been
cleared. and from the remaining
stumps and posts and fallen tree
trunks hung a maze of barbed wire
through which a man could scarcely
crawl, even in daylight. Eyes were
keen. rifles were ready. challenges
were sharp. and countersigns were
quickly given on the Jucaro-Moron
trocha.
In O'Reilly's party there three men
besides himseIf-the ever-faithful
Jacket. a wrinkled old Camagueyan
who knew the bride trails of his
province as a fox knows the tracks
to its lair. and a silent guajiro from
farther west, detailed to accompany
the expedition because OF his wide
acquaintance with the devastated dis
tricts. Both guides. having crossed
the trocha more than once. affected
to scorn its terrors, and their easy
confidence treasured O'Reilly in spite
of Esteban's parting admonition.
The American had not dreamed or
taking Jacket along. but when he
came to announce his departure the
boy had fatty refused to be left be-
hind Jacket. in fact, had taken the
matter entirely into his own hands
and had appealed directly to Gen.
Gomez. To his general the boy had
explained tearfully that patriotism
was a rare and an admirably quality,
but that his love for his country was
not half so strong or so sacred as his
affection for Johnnie O'ReiIIy. Hav-
ing attached himself to the American