| Show OUR CUPAN CUBAN LETTER havana IX isy 11 1898 so much imaginary stuff has been circulated ij about cuba by valiant war correspond ants who remained at safe range from the island that one hardly knows where to draw the line between fact and ft alc tion and doubtless while sometimes S being fooled by clever falsehoods we discredited strange things which ac dually occurred at first nobody believed that there were war women nen in the j cuban army though truth it is that p from the outset female soldiers have g played no unimportant part in the struggle for independence general weyler admitted their dangerous zeal Q when he first assumed command in J cuba in an interview with an amerl ameri H can correspondent he said yes we wa t captured a woman yesterday she was white too and good looking most moat of these amazons are colored this one ODO was dressed in mens clothes astride a 09 powerful horse and wielding h her er machete like the devil these women soldiers are fiercer than men thy ride and fight like furies where is she he now in morro castle of course what will be done with her well and a characteristic showing accoe danied by a gleam in the cruel eye j which boded in no good to the cap tive finished the sentence d maceo the mulatto insurgent leader had more than female sold leVO J mostly colored in his company gamec also has a good many and so has i callizo calitro alvarez the chief from th the e eaon i ern em district of san ja go de C cuba uba T the majority abandoned small farms and plantations to follow the f fortunee ea ot of the their it husbands and though all carry machetes and revolvers the their ir chief du datty y is to gather up and succor the wa wound 1 that fall in battle many of them are wives and mothers women of dignity and education not coatse coarse and shameless amazons such as the spanish authorities ties have described As a race the cuban women are most trueheart true heart ed simple and domestic in the civilized world devoted to their homes and adoring their husbands and children they axe are ardent patriots too and have shown themselves stronger than their lords in adversity and more serene in mar but their cheeks grow pale at the thought of innumerable crimes committed upon their sex in this and other cuban wars the first went to the field with their husbands and fathers fa then tor for the sake of protection while misrule prevailed through the island spanish soldiers and murderous infesting the highways looting plantations and perpetrating all manner of atrocities no woman was sate safe at home without her natural protector in some oases cases gentle ladles ladies were transformed d into avenging furies seeing their loved ones once butchered afterwards they fought shoulder to shoulder with their husbands led daring raids and applied the torch in a thousand places and some of them now sleep in unmarked graves many women not trained or red cross nurses and caring for the sick and wounded in insurgent camps children have been born upon the battlefield battle field whose mothers did not fear death so much as the horrors that might await them at home mrs kate masterson master son who ano oy by way has written some most graphic pictures of life in Cuba speaks of cuban women in the wear war as follows z from this beautiful summer land one cry goes up which is heard over the din of battle and the clash of arms it Is the wail of the desolate women they are mourning for their loved ones J and their tears are falling upon newit made graves all over the island their soft eyes have looked upon eastly bon 3 fires in which the bodies of their bables babies 1 I have been the fuel which fed the flax flames nes their cry Is more eloquent i than all the ruin and desolation in this fair land of graves like the easter s lilies bent and stained with patriot blood like the roses trampled in the earth and drenched with mire are the hearts of these poor women many of them have lost all they possess through j this war not only husbands sons and daughters relatives and friends but tf their plantations have been burned and their fortunes swept away they are I 1 willing to give everything to cubar cuba I 1 glad to see their sugar cane go up in f smoke since thereby its revenue will be lost to spain some of them sold p their jewels when all their money was b gone in order to send medicine and lint to the rebels in every cuban home a sum bum is set aside out of each days household money to send to the field there have been traitors in cuba but they were never women As a rule they are better conspirators than their fai fathers and brothers because they know the value of silence they are tireless and successful in theft efforts to get food and medicine to the rebels and word from one scattered band to another delicate senoritas seno ritas reared in southern seclusion dressed in boys clothes steal out at night to the nearby haunts of lovers or brothers in the long grass as the insurgent camps are called they secrete food in false pockets hide letters whose envelopes have been dipped in ink in their abundant black hair carry medicine in their cloth for clothes or bandages in the lining indof of their garments one girl the only daughter of a once v wealthy family has many times carried dynamite to the woods in egg shells abells deftly put together disguised as a vendor she has had many thrilling experiences experience sv her narrowest naro west escape was waa when a spanish soldier stole the basket of supposed eggs and prepared to cook them by the wayside nothing saved her then but the sudden call from headquarters which the soldier dare not disobey there la IS no ent to the well authenticated stories that are told in this line here are a few of them the very first insurgent band baand of the present war had its romance it started in matanzas Maitan zas province and its chief was antonio lopez coloma in february of 95 while his party were hiding in the woods near tha ignacia sugar mill his fiancee senorita ampard ampara obre ran away from home and joined him determined to share his fortunes whatever they might be the party were soon captured and the lovers shut up in the old san severino castle at matanzas but at opposite ends of the fortress the girl was soon released but coloma remained some months in durance vile and was then transferred to the morro in havana miss obre followed tol fol owed and they were married in prison before village was garrisoned some arms belonging to a local company of volunteers were gathered in a certain house the rebel chief esteban Estef ban hearing of this went with fifty followers to the residence of the captain of the spanish volunteers I 1 and demanded that the arms be given up to him no resistance was made and and his men were soon provided with guns and cartridges only to discover that they had been rendered useless disappointment made the rebels furious the spanish captain was quickly court ordered to be shot forthwith and the customary number of men were detailed to carry out the sentence at the critical moment when the victim stood looking into the muzzles of the rifles aimed at his breast a young woman sprang between and facing the I 1 rebels cried he will not die before you have killed a cuban woman this brave act of devotion so pleased the i executioners execution ers that they lowered their guns and left without carrying out the sentence among the early dramatic incidents I 1 of the wax war was a marriage ceremony performed at dawn in the mountains of puerto principe don a handsome well educated young man maji heir to a large estate was one of the first to enlist with gomez as a private he has fought bravely and been advanced step by step till he is now no major of a reg regiment ament recruited by himself from his 0 own wn neighborhood composed entirely of his personal friends who are all finely bred young men was in love a young girl who lived in a aman A village near his hia fathers estate she was in humbler circumstances than he and the rigid rules of cuban etiquette kept them apart but when the young major first marched through the town with his splendid company ot of men their horses bridles were lra bons and they wore I 1 palm wreaths wreatha twined around their hats in her honor conot they passed the girls home and saluted her as she stood on the balcony with her mother R went in end and asked the parents if he might and take her hei marry their daughter with him as he feared some harm might befall her in his absence but i the old folks would not consent and finally the young lover yielded to theli their wishes and marched sadly away two days later when he had gone many miles the girl dashed to his side mount mounted ed on a horse she had run away from home to join her sweetheart that night sent a guard of two men with an e extra horse and empty saddle to the house of the nearest priest the tern terrified fled padre expecting to be killed despite th assurance of his e scort escort mounted and rode with them muttering ave marlas marias reached the hills all the way they halted lust just be wh where ere the regiment was tore fore daylight and as dawn broke fro from the east the young people were married they are now at santa Cl clara axa where major has command ot or men operating with seraphine Seraph lne sanchez and his band of when damian hernandez mandez He was sent a political exile to the isle of pines his wife accompanied him that she might liberate him at the first opportunity one day when he was working with the other prisoners cutting wood she engaged the guard with whom she had previously made herself familiar fam iUar in friendly conversation taking his gun on pretense of examining it she suddenly leaped backwards and pointing it at his head threatened him with instant death it he moved then her husband and his comrades tied the unfortunate mah and fled to the coast there they compelled the of the schooner margrita to sail toy fot zapata which they reached in safety md land later they made their way to the revolutionary forces where mrs hernandez mandez He acts as nurse muree another notable woman is the wife of dr hernandez of san christobal she is young and beautiful and now in the field with her husband taking an active part an lai the the fighting she had only been married a year when her husband was called upon to organize a band of men he came to his young wife who was about to become a mother and told her that he would do just as she wil ledfor he be felt that his life belonged to her she answered that she wished him to go to 10 the war in a week he had raised a band of men and as they marched arched in out of town they saluted mrs hernandez passing her house and shouting viva the queen of cuba when the baby was a f few ew weeks old the spaniards took possession of the town one of the lieutenants rode into the hernandez parlor on horseback horse back end and subjected the young mother to threats and insults that night she got gat a horse and with the child in her arms went to join her husband riding many miles through the cuban hills until she f found him perhaps the women of san juan martinez bear off the palm for courage when the spanish troops under cor cornell ell made their way to the city the people met and took a vote as to what course they should pursue women casting ballots wath the men almost without a dissenting vote they decided to burn their city rather than have the hated spanish soldiers destroy it the men mounted all the horses and went to join the cuban army while the women set their homes on fire took their children in their arms and began the weary march to guane a town several leagues away the spaniards reaching san juan martanez at nightfall found the deserted city in flames the footsore women before they learned that the baffled soldiers were on their tracks so BO they burned that city an aa they had their own awu and again took to the road after wards they burned and sev everal other villages effectually cutting off the spaniards until they reached the protection of the cuban army among the women of gomels forces all of whom are the wives of his officers one to Is an amerlean american they dress in masculine attire as a pair of bloomers has not yet arrived in cuba they ride on fine horses with G staff and carry mauser rifles and ammunition and though they have taken part in several engagements have never neve yet been wounded FANNIE BRIGHAM WARD i new york may 25 A special from key west says that the man arrest arrested led yesterday on board the steamer panama on of being a Sp spanish antish spy is sobral formerly naval of the spanish legation at washington |
