KYMnWlM
V m i i ii
Map of Cuba Showing Disposition of Spanish and Cuban Troops and All Important Operations to Date
Under Cuban Occujatkh
v
CUBAN WAE BEYIEW
TWO YEARS OF
LITTLE
FIGHTING
RESULT
WITH
History of the Presdrit Uprising
Story of the stormy Island from
Its Discovery Topographical and
Climatic Conditions
A kaiid of Rebellion
Nearly two years have elapsed since
the Cubans declared that they would no
longer endure the yoke of Spain Mil
lions of dollars have been expended dur
ing that time both in the maintenance of
irmies and the destruction of the proper
ty of the people of the war swept island
GABCIAS HORRIBLE TORTURE
Feb 24 1S95 is the date upon which
the insurgents declared their independ
ence and before the end of the month
martial law had been proclaimed in Ha
vanaTose IVIarti was placed at the head
of the provisional government and Gen
Maximo Gomez had arrived in Cuba to
begin operations
TneTiistory of the island runs coinci
dent with our own and is therefore inter
esting Cuba was discovered by Christo
pher Columbus Oct 28 1492 sixteen days
after he touched at San Salvador and
nineteen years later his son Diego colon
ized the island Pope Leo X erecting its
first cathedral Velasquez followed with
new contingents and in 1519 the capital
was located at once assuming a position
of importance in the eyes of the free
lances of the ocean In 1538 a French
adventurer sacked the town which was
rebuilt when Ferdinand De Soto the
discoverer of the Mississippi River was
made Governor Spain prized Havana as
a base of operations There Cortez com
pleted his preparations for the conquest
of Mexico and there Pizarro rested his
men before proceeding to Peru Despite
the strong fortress erected the French
in 1554 again destroyed the town when
two other fortresses for the defense of
Havana were built which still exist the
Moro and the Punta By 1G00 the colon
ists were raising cattle and applying
thumb screws and the torch to the na
tives to induce them to reveal the spots
where they found gold and silver nug
gets Then they started the cultivation of
tobacco and sugar and the woes of the
natives began Under a system of cruelty
and oppression the gentle aborigines di
minished so rapidly that negro slaves
were introduced and that eventually led
to the internecine strife which has made
one of the fairest spots on earth the home
of pestilence and crime and savagery in
warfare tho contemplation of which
sickens a civilized world
After invasions by the French English
and Dutch and various claims1 as to the
ownership of the island Cuba was re
stored to Spanish rule in 1763 A new
native population now sprung up and in
1790 Las Casas whose memory is re
rered by Cubans to this day became
captain general of Cuba Its ports were
opetfefl to the world and great public im
provements were effected Despite the
Pawning of prosperity however and the
ijeu by Spaih - J Disputed TeHRiTowl under Cuban Ocapwoi
ifeJl aT Lr T -
- sjl y OiU vy a jS vty teln P
was quelled but others followed and two
years since the restive spirit of the peo
ple galling under an unjust yoke was
augmented by still worse Spanish mis
government The beet sugar production
of Germany made Cuban culture unprof
itable With hard times came discon
tent The stupid Madrid Government
continued its oppressive taxation injustice
and nepotism and exiled patriots saw
their opportunity to give affairs a political
character
Money was raised arms bought ships
chartered and parties of patriots some
of them veterans of the war of 186S 78
were landed in the eastern provinces
where white and colored workmen of the
plantations and small villnres were in
duced to take up arms
The location of Cuba is such that in
case of annexation to the United States
or even the certainty of its independence
the commercial benefits accruing to this
country would be very great and lasting
It is only 130 miles from Florida and al
though containing only 43319 square
miles or a little more than half the area
of the State of Kansas every section is
stored with rich natural resources It
has valleys that are susceptible of rais
ing the finest grades of vegetable luxur
ies and mountains S000 feet high It
has 2G0 rivers and its seasons are uni
formly divided rain from May to Octo
ber sunny skies from November to April
The population is fully adequate to all
possible national and commercial require
ments Five years ago it was announced
at 1521684 of whom 977992 wort
Spanish 10632 foreign Whites 4S9249
blacks and 43811 Chinese Havana atom
is credited with a population of 200000
souls There are several short railways
in the aggregate covering some 500 miles
Cuba abounds in citrus fruits Then
are peerless orange lemon and lime
groves cocoanuts cocoanut oil cocoa
coffee india rubber tobacco these com
modities form the base of supplies easily
obtained while the interior and middle
sections boast immense forests of ma
hogany and dye woods It is estimated
that there are 13000000 acres of unclear
ed mahogany forests alone The wood is
spjjommontbat chopping blocks are made
ofit and watering troughs of red cedar
Lignum vitae for flutes lancewood for
carriage shafts and surveying instru
ments and otherfine varieties of rare and
precious timber also exist in wild and un
limited volume There is the richest kind
of grazing for cattle Forty four times
more food can be secured from an acre
of bananas than from an acre of pota
toes and it is claimed that from that
small area in Cuba 20000 pounds of
flour can be obtained in a single year
and the much used banana wine in pro
portion With all these manifold re
sources it is estimated that the island in
normal times would take 300000000
worth of merchandise annually from the
United States to which country it now
sells 250000000 cigars every year
Up to the present time when Cuban in
dependence is still hovering in the bal
ance the history of the last great strug
gle for independence in Cuba involves the
same line of victories and reverses that
characterized the strife of the 60s only
that the people seem more
and better organized The death of
Marti May 19 1S95 and that of Maceo
a few weeks since were severe blows for
the insurrectionists for they idolized
these men but intrepid leaders are not
lacking Martis great political act was
the summoning of the September conven
tion which declared a provisional govern
ment He was shrewd and persistent
and in an incredibly brief space of time
had vast quantities of firearms imported
from the United States By December
1895 the Cuban forces were right in the
center of the Spanish army The latter
were driven back for seven consecutive
days and Campos then in command was
forced to change his strategic positions
by Gomez being overwhelmed at Calisco
Christmas eve Gomez as he had prom
ised was within a few miles of Havana
and Matanzas and so certain of success
seemed the efforts of the patriots that
Gen Weyler was sent to subdue this
conglomeration of negroes bandits assas
sins and adventurers Then began the
- va
MOTHER AND BABI SHOT BT THE SPANIARDS
representation of the island in the Madrid
Parliament several successive outbreaks
occurred culminating in the famous
Black Eagle conspiracy of 1S29 Good
governors were few and from Velasquez
down to Weyler they were vested with
absolute power Insurgents were burned
alive intolerance throve and the merci
less dealings of the despots finally effected
an amalgamation of the white red and
black races The insurrection referred to
policy of terror and butchery ever since
diligently pursued The tortures inflicted
on prisoners on suspects on helpless in
nocent women and children almost out
rival the Armenian cruelties men were
lashed to death slowly garroted women
and children were cast into burning
houses blistered with lighted matches
dismembered and these horrors coupled
with a memory of what 300 patriot Cu
bans were suffering in Spains pet con-
vict colony Ceuta fired the blood of
every true native patriot anew and
brought to them the sympathy of nearly
every nation on the earth The Cubans
stood firm with nearly three fourths of
the island under control with their civil
government fully established in Santiago
Puerto Principe Santa Clara and sev
eral minor provinces
It is a remarkable fact that when Cam
pos the strong man of Spain arrived
in Cuba with 36000 soldiers to recognize
belligerent rights in 1S76 out of 145000
soldiers previously sent nor enough had
returned to their native land to consti
tute a regiment The deeds following
the oppression of those years were heroic
Persecution made martyrs In one in
stance a boy of 15 was arrested for
m0xmui HW Iijb liTiMiJgSMJflasaaEMrsBregaEJJSP
TORTURED WITH BLAZIXG MATCHES
seditious writings He was loaded with
chains kept at hard labor and finally
sent to Spain Here he became a brilliant
journalist This boy was Jose Marti the
great Cuban patriot who by 1891 had
formed patriot clubs everywhere and who
was the first to appear as a war leader
when the present revolt broke out
The war in Cuba may be primitive in
its general methods and barbarous in
the matter of butchery but it is certainly
modern in the rapid development of dyna
mite and other explosives as weapons of
offense and defense To the dynamito
gun used by the Cubans in Pinar del
Rio more than to anything else may be
attributed the noteworthy successes of
Maceo against the Spanish troops Invis
ible bullets thouch deadly in their ef
fect are comparatively easy to stand
against It requires superhuman nerve
however to face a healthy dynamite pro
jectile and it is no wonder that the Span
ish troops have beep invariably defeated
when called upon to make a stand against
such weapons Army officers are watch
ing the war in Cuba with great interest
as the employment of dynamite by the
Cubans has satisfied the military mind of
the value of this explosive for offensive
purposes
Despite her financial embarrassment
Spain has recently done relatively more
than any European power with the ex
ception of Great Britain to strengthen
her navy At present there are four torpedo-boat
destroyers in the hands of
builders The first two have recently
completed their official trials and these
have been most successful in all respects
The dimensions of the vessels are 220x
20 feet and the
engines are triple expan
sion developing 6000 horse power The
engines at the trials both in the measured
mile and in the three hours continuous
steaming test worked smoothly and with
no heating The internal appliances are
of the most up-to-date character special
attention being paid to what is the general
defect in all torpedo craft namely ven
tilation
The encounters at Bocas del Toro Pai
marito Palmiros Canasi Manut Mogate
and Tagnasco were fast succeeding de
velopments of the Cuban campaign direct
ly after the declaration of independence
but these were mere skirmishes com
pared to the events of the past year The
splendid march of Gomez and Maceo
ij
iEK TO WIP Lnes sAotk route of marches of Gomez and Alaceo
1 General Yarlos Spanish near Guanajay in Plnar del Rio across Habana lino to Intercept skirmishing Insurgents 2 Insurgent
hospital at Cienfuesos destroyed toy Spanish and all sick and wounded butchered on Jan 18 1807 3 Colonel Hernandez Spanish south
of Guanabacoa In Habana 4 Headquarters of General Ruls Rivera successor of Maceo in Plnar del Rio with 8000 well armed men
waiting for the word from Gomez to make a dash through the trocha on Habana 5 Headquarters of the Spanish forces at Weylera
trocha at Artemlsa 6 Major Sorres near Jabaco In Matanzas 7 Spanish troops under Colonel Sauquin at Important point Cablllos
8 Captured by Gomez In January and held by a garrison of 4000 men Santa Clara 0 Gomez i supposed to be near San Valentin
and Alvarez with 18000 men waiting for an opportunity to push to Habana 10 Lone Star Rangers the gallant Texas regiment makes
across the island from Santiago to Pinar
del Rio the fierce fights within cannon
shot of Havana the constant destruction
of the trochas were brilliant achieve
ments that terrified tle encompassed
Weyler until they culminated in the
death of Maceo With the opening of the
new year however the situation seems
just as complex and undetermined as it
was the day after the two chieftains
hoisted their flag in the eastern province
and began the battle for freedom The
end is apparently no nearer than it was
a month after the first call to arms
PERSONAL ENCOUNTERS
Interesting Notes About Lnels and
Duelling
Even in Germany the popularity of
the duel is open to some doubt Its ex
istence is due not so much to a desire
for a combat as of fear what people
will say if there is no fight There
have been noted duelists who were al
ways ready for a fray and when they
entered a drawing room women quail
ed and hoped it would not be their hus
bands or lovers who would be so un
lucky as to excite the ire or the men of
blood
During the occupation of Paris by
the Allies there were duels every day
the Frenchmen usually being the chal
lengers and the victors as they were
very skillful with the small sword
Sometimes however they made a mis
take as when they jeered at an En
glish officer over losing his leg at
Waterloo The jeerer discovered that
the loss of his leg did not interfere in
the least with the Englishmans aim
There have been exceptions to the
GENERAL JTJAK RUIZ RIVERA
mania for fighting at any price An En
glish captain challenged by a French
man had the choice of weapons and
chose pistols The Frenchman declar
ed he would fight with nothing but the
sword and Interested friends finally
compromised on lances ahorseback
- en
forays on San Chrlstobal and worries the Spanish 11 Bayamo held by Calixto Garcia
with 5000 men military headquarters ef the Province of Santiago 12 Genoral Al
sinos Spanish forces In Plnar del Rio 13 General Ynclais Spanish forces In Hnar del
Rio 14 Xear Pico Puerto in the south central pare of Santa Clara Genoral Francisco
Carlllo is sup ed to bo with 5000 men 15 Gen Jose M Agulrre Cub in near Buena
Ylsta in eastern Matanzas 16 Cuban military station near Holguln was the Cuban
arsenal and a b2sls of operatons In Santiago 17 Military railway projected by Campos
from Maczanillo to Hayamo but was not finished 18 Third Army Corps of tho Cubans
operating In Puerto Princlpa under General Jose M
J OS 0 O 2 5S PUERTO Jri y C Jfel Ji JL
The combat naturally attracted much
attention A great crowd witnessed
the duel One man received three ugly
prods but finally killed his antagonist
No duelist could ever be made to
smile over the famous story of the En
glishman and Frenchman who were to
fight a duel in a pitch dark room Not
wishing to kill his man the English
man fired up the chimney when the
word was given and to his surprise
brought down the Frenchman who
had hidden there When this story is
told in France it Is always the En
glishman who is up the chimney
Fighting Fitzgerald was successful
in eighteen duels before it was discov
ered that he always wore a coat of
mail For years his fame in society
had rested on his Invariable success as
a duelist and this discovery was his
undoing A certain major in fighting
him objected when his sword snapped
on a heart thrust and demanded an in
vestigation He was afterward hang
ed in Ireland for murdering a neigh
bor
The most tragic duel in England was
between Lord Byron grand uncle of
the poet and a kinsman It was fought
in a tavern room by the light of one
tallow candle Lord Byron was tried
for murder but got off on manslaugh
ter from the penalties of which he
32 ffw
HOW LONG MUST THIS LAST
caped because he was a peer of the
realm This safeguard of peers was
done away with only during the pres
ent reign Chicago News
Crisp ana New
A much cleaner lot of paper money is
in circulation now than formerly a
bank cashier states The banks now
send their soiled notes to the United
States Treasury to be destroyed as soon
as a sufficient quantity accumulates to
justify it and new notes are issued in
their place This has been rendered
not only possible but advisable owing
to the Increased facilities for printing
banknotes One never sees a soiled
banknote in London They are all crisp
and white and new simply because the
Bank of England never lets a note go
out a second time The average life of
a Bank of England note is said to be
five days
A Living Skeleton
Seurat who was shown as a living
skeleton in England in 1825 was 27
years old He was 5 feet 7 inches
high and his bones were merely cov
ered with his dry parchment skin The
upper joints of his arms were four inch
es round The distance from the chest
to the backbone was but three Laches
The shoulder blade bones werd scarcely
an inch asunder His appetite was good
The pulsation of the heart was visible
to the eye
Measure of the Centimete
One thousand cubic centimeters
a quart of the standard measur
use in this country
Rodriguez 10 Felayo In western Puerto Principe by
which Gome passed tho trocha aid entered Santa Clara
20 Third of Campos trochas tompoiary made to Imped
the march of Gomez 21 Carlos Roloff and the Fourth
Cuban Army Corps are In Matanzas 22 Cubms under
Guena in western Matanzas near Habana
province 23 Landing places of the Three
Friends 24 Guanabacoa the scene of re
cent Spanish barbarities 25 The scene of
Maceos death
4F l 9TTmz i Zfa W
equal
fcs In
1
Said Freddy Vane
I am awfully glad to see it rain
I or now bgosh
I can wear my 20 mackintosh
Chicago Tribune
Do you think that all matches are
made in heaven Yes except those
made at the seashore Judge
Arent you giving your boy dancing
lessons at a very young age But
we intend him for the army Life
Poak The way of the transgressor
is hard Joak True but the trouble Is
Its generally hard on somebody else
Truth
Friend Do you always wait for in
spiration before you write a poem
Author No I always need ten dol
lars SomerviHe Journal
Is the sail the only thing that guides
a ship asked the green passenger
No said the mate There are rud
ders Indianapolis Journal
I am hopeful that you will pay ma
that 10 before the end of the week
Smithson Thats right old man
Be hopeful but dont be sanguine
Judge
I believe you men think more of
your wheels than you do of your
wives Why not We can get an
improved make every year Chicago
Record
I love to have you come and see sis
ter Mr Tompkins Why Dickie
Cause she never likes that candy you
bring her an gives It to me Chicago
Record
Fisher Do you believe in heredity
Mann Sure Many a time I have no
ticed that when a man was rich his
son had the same trait Cincinnati
Inquirer
Miss Wabash So you come from
Boston do you Thats where every
body so cultured isnt it Miss Bea
constreete No cultivated Somerville
Journal
Blynkins That fellow De Soaque
says some very dry things doesnt he
Wynkins Yes Ive heard him say
Dont care if I do repeatedly Balti
more News
If poker Is our national game then
the American beauty rose ought to be
the national flower Why Be
cause it has such a royal flush Chi
cago Record
Minnie George said I ought to go on
the stage He said that he had no doubt
I would be a peach Mamie Are you
sure he didnt say a Cherry Indian
apolis Journal
Tommy Paw what is a designing
villain Mr Figg Oh the descrip
tion would apply to one of these poster
artists about as well as anything
Indianapolis Journal
He Have you heard my new song
The Proposal She No what key Is
It in He Be mine er She I will
And now you can transpose it to the
key of A flat Life
Tain alius dem ez hab de mos
said Uncle Eben dat manages ter hoi
onto it de longes De cullud gemman
don git bald nigh ez quick ez de white
gemman Washington Star
Reed Ail the original jokes were
written 2000 years ago Wright What
nonsense Ill leave it to you now Do
I look as If I could be more than 2000
years old Cincinnati Enquirer
You do not go out often to dinner
Mrs Waddington No I dont think
the best dinner on earth is sufficient
compensation for making ones self
agreeable for three hours at a stretch
Chicago Record
Rugby Our landlady is one of the
most expert calculators in town Wil
klfls Is she Rugby Yep We had
beans for dinner to day and she asked
m how many I would have Cleve
land Plain Dealer
Professor Say Anna couldnt we
just as well postpone our silver wed
ding and celebrate it at the same time
as the golden wedding I dont like to
be interrupted In my work so often
Fllegende Blaetter
T
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