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A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

A CAPTAI N UNAFR AI D

I TH an unbridled passion for the sea and n the love of adventure which it enge dered , it was inevitable that I should drift into fili b ri 18 n r sa uste ng. It o ly fai to y, however, that I have not been recklessly ru nning around ’ smashing statu tes and setting all of society s regulations at defiance . I have never knowing ly violated any law except the one against fili b ri as uste ng, and that I regard an immoral instrument , for the reason that it seeks to des of troy the spirit liberty , while its only effect is to promote perjury . Not that I have ever been compelled to perjure myself or to procure false witnesses to avoid conviction on the charges

that have been brought against me, but it gen erally happens that it is only through testimony x which , at least , does not fully state the e act i facts that fil busters escape punishment. If the ( 1 1 A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

United States law against filib ustering had been f n — e fectively e forced and let it be recorded here, i before the unfolding of secrets beg ns , that its avoidance was accomplished through no shadow i instru of connivance at Wash ngton , for every ment at the hand of this government was exerted to the utmost to prevent its infraction and to might still be the victim of Spain ’s murderous misrule, the acquisiti—on of our en—tering wedge into the West Indies Porto Ricowould have a l been postponed for ye rs , and the Fi ipinos

Laws against filibustering are eminently fit

in rc s. m ting mona hial land No e peror, whether

r d to see another emperor deth one , and , perhaps, compelled to work for a living along with the ff u nanointed , for fear of the e ect the proceed ing may have on his own su bjects ; but su ch antiquated theories of government by suppression l have no place in a republic . Fi ibustering, of surreptitiously conveying munitions of war to ho re a people, or a part of a people, w are in bellion against a government whose overthrow, in generally speaking, is sought beca use it is efficient or corrupt , or both . Ordinarily the means of warfare are held by the ruling power, 80 it is necessary for the insurgents tosecure l 2 l T R O U B L E D WA T E R S

their arms from the outside . It is my doctrine u that this is an altogether la dable ambition, and that they should be allowed to buy all they can pay for, with no interference save from those with whom they are at war. Certainly it does not come with good grace from a country which prides itself on the principle that the will of the people is the law of the land to say to its neigh bors that they shall not oppose tyranny and fight with every means in their power for what they believe to be their rights . We should not forget that we were rebels once ourselves , and filibuste rin warmly welcomed g aid from France . The la w which forbids the departure of fili bustering expeditions from the territory of neutral powers is simply an act of comity be as tween nations , and is b ed on no moral prin ciple ; it really amounts to one of the entangling alliances which Washington warned this country to avoid . This is not to be interpreted as an fili rin excu se for buste g, for to no man will I make any sort of an apology for anything I have ever done; it is merely sta ting a theory and mak ing plain a condition which is not clear to many people . In the persistent and enthusias tic violation of this obnoxious law I worked much harder and for much less money than I could have easily earned by adhering to the life of a pilot , free from danger, but also free from excitement , Whereas I could have made a fortune by running [ 3 1 A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

counter to other laws , but refused to do it. It was the spirit of the thing which appealed to s n me ; I felt that I wa , to the full le gth of my ability and in the way to which I was best suited , helping mankind by aiding the cause of

s venturou ambition . I tried to fight for my o l wn country, and when that fai ed I fought for fare I was several times arrested for filibuster ing, but never convicted ; so , u nder our law, which presumes every man to be innocent until he is proven guilty , it must be considered that I am entirely innocent of the high crimes and misdemeanors to which I here confess for the first time ; until now I never have told a word I I of what have done or how did it . Whatever divergent views may be held as to agreement as to the proposition that it is ex z tremely ha ardous business . This was par ticularly tru e with reference to the Cuban revo lution we w , for there ere constantly watched

r its n th ough navy, Reve ue Cutter Service, u s os c rs c and c t m offi e , spe ial Treasu ry agents , i ul and ts powerf Secret Service, in addition to

es Pinkerton detectiv , and an army of spies , to

u he u s Nat rally , in t co r e of my activities, I have I ” T R O U B L E D W A T E R S than once I have been at such close grapples

Yet I have never been afraid I can reca ll no time when the presence of danger excited or i m F r d sturbed e . othis I claim no I credit .

- i have always had the old fash oned faith m God . It 18 my religion that a man should do the best i he can in everyth ng, and let the Almighty take

People tell me I have out raged governments . This may be . B ut I have never knowingly wronged a fellow-man i After—all , what is bravery, if not an nborn quality the heritage of clean lives, of fighting blood and unwea kened nerves? The world is full of it . And if some portion of this heritage I has been mine am gr—ateful, for in my —warring were times many of them when ,

afraid to die, I should undoubtedly ’ have found myself without delay in Davy Jon es s

Locker . Bravery is confined to no longitude or latitude, and knows no race . I have found r s brave men everywhere, as will p e ently be told , s and it was my fortune to be intimately asso cis ted with some of the best of them . Some times we were accused oi recklessn ess . If by this is meant foolish ru nning into danger with out taking account of the odds, the accusation will not stand . I have taken some long chances f in my li e, but I always knew exactly what I [ 5 ] A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D was doing and precisely what the probabilities of success were , even though it frequently took quick thinking to figure them out in a few sec ouds . It is at su ch times that one needs all of his wits , and only the fool lose s them . “ ” I was born in the old Dry Dock section of New York, almost on the bank of the East

20 1837 . M River, on April , y parents came from the County Longford , Ireland, where they were neighbors of and related to the parents of Gen . ’ B ri n Phil . Sheridan . The O e and Sheridan families, so my mother told me, came to this country on the same ship not long before I was n bor , and my father turned from farmer to ’

i . mach nist George Steer s shipyard , at which the famous yacht America and all of the Sandy

- Hook pilot boats were built, was only a block from my home , and other yards celebrated in — ’ ’ ’ those days Webb s, B rown s , Collier s, Mack ’ ’ ’ e s os y , Westervelt s, R o et Joyce s, and ’ — English s were clustered clw e about . Near

- by were the Morgan and Novelty iron works, where boilers were built. But there were few steamships in those days ; sailors were sailors then and machinists sta yed ashore, where they belonged . Tapering spars crisscrossed the sky

i . m l ne, and romance was in the air A id such surroundings the prenatal influence was strong, and the love of ships and salt water came to me

Th m mber e first thing I sa w, that I can re e , [ 0 ] T R O U B L E D W A T E R S

s when I opened my eye was a vessel , and almost

was . the next thing the sea I saw other things , l i too , but none of them he d my interest ; sh ps and the sea impressed my infantile mind as the most beautiful things in the world and the most l has wonderfu , and my opinion never changed , except that with understanding it became a conviction . Since then I have seen much of — both of them ships of all sorts and sizes carry in ever thi m e - g y ng fro dr ss goods to dynamite , i and the sea in all of its moods and fanc es . I have never known a ship that was a liar or a coward , nor have I ever seen one that , properly handled , would refuse to go where it was di r ected without argument or evasion . No man sten ch can want a better friend than a ship , or a more delightful companion , nor, on the other hand , a braver enemy, than old ocean , out of soundings and far from the worthless worries

- of the little hemmed in world ashore . Mothers learned to rock their babies from the rollin g of the deep ; every cradle is the unconscious mani festation of a reverence that has come down n through centuries from the time whe man , i virile and virtuous , worsh ped the sea and sailed far over it in search of a fair fight and its ’ s f trophies . The ea is the Creator s com orter M and restorer. It is more like its aker than man , for it is kindly most of the time , and it never seeks an unfair advantage . In its mo

[ 7 1 A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

’ and the wise man braces himself for its blows . “ ” The toll of the sea , spoken of in fear and with bated breath , is a trifle when compared with the murders of manufacturing machinery and the wrecks that are piled up on the lee shore of com eti i ho p t ve commerce. Those w lose their lives ho n at sea are few, while those w find ew life there are many, and there would be millions more if Doctor Neptune did not charge su ch small fees , for in these days the values of too many

them . I first crawled and then walked around the h neig boring shipyards, and after school I worked f n in them , faith ully but without charge, spi ning

At the time I considered that I assisted greatly ’ ha nics in fitting out the Mec Own, a schooner bought by a lot of mechanics whosailed her 1 9 around to California in 84 . My brother r Peter, seven yea rs my senior, ope ate d a ferry, which consisted of a large rowboat equipped with a sail, across to Greenpoint, and often took me i h with him . In th s way I learned ow to handle a boat, and also picked up much useful knowl

i Long Island Sound with the East R ver . The sea lust came over me sorapidly and so strongly that, withou t attempting to resist it, I ran away from home and school when I was thirteen ye ars [ 8] T R O U B L E D W A T E R S

old and signed on as cook in the fishing-sloop Albion r who unde Luke Russell , a smart sailor ’ afterward commanded Commodore B ennett s Re becca won first yacht, , and the historic race around Long Island by taking a short cut was through Plum Gut, which not barred , be cause it was not thought any one would attempt ’ it . I couldn t cook a pot of water without burn codfis ing it, but I could catch h where no one else cou ld find them. This latter accomplish ment pleased Luke more than the discovery of my inability to cook had displeased him, and I stayed with him all of one winter before Peter discovered me and took me back home. Tha t one tas te of the mighty deep in toxicated as me . There w nothing for me thereafter but th e open sea , and my parents finally concluded to let me have my way about it when they be came convinced that no other way would do .

For several yea rs I devoted myself to fishing , sailing yachts for owners who knew nothing as a about handling them , and serving an ppren l a B tice on the old pi ot boat J ne . eing con stitu tionally disposed to give orders rather than to obey them , I took a course in navigation at the Thom School in Cherry Street to fit myself for command rank . When the Civil War began

I was sailing a sloop for Edward N . Dickinson ,

Far Ro n . of ckaway , the famous pate t lawyer With his help I tried to secure an appointment

in the navy , but failed , as I was considered too 2 I 9 ] A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

young . I was too well acquainted with myself m to enlist as an able sea an , which I was tempted to do ; I knew that, when some smart young officer undertook to tell me somethi ng about was r which I bette qualified to give orders , there would be trouble and I would be a candidate

- for a court martial . However , I kept my weather-eye open until I found what looked like i a prom sing opportunity . Following the consternation created by the Vi r i nia mue Confederate ram g , or Marri , as she as u be la w best known , when she sank the C m r nd on ss and destroyed the C gre in Hampton Roads, I lli nois Vanderbilt Aroa Ocean en the , , y , and Que ,

- side wheel ocean steamships , were hurriedly des e a patched from N w York to Norfolk , where it w s proposed to use them in ramming the strange new craft that had spread terror through the

Federal fleet . This plan was suggested to President Lincoln by old Commodore Vander o s bilt, wh pre ented the ship bearing his name to the government to aid in its execu tion . D Through the influence of Mr. ickinson I was appointed third ofi cer of the I lli noi s. She was commanded by Captain B abcock , a fine old fighting skipper whohad lost all sense of fear while running a clipper ship out to the pirate oflicer was infes ted China Sea . The first a man was named Deacon , who afterward commodore of the Alexander Line ; and the second officer was

Mr. t who an adopted son of Ste son , was then [ 10 1

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

. was fleet It plain that her commander, Com modore Tattnall , was no coward ; neither was he i a fool , as heowould have shown h mself had he ventured int the shoal water around Old Point . His impressive defiance was repeated for two hours every day for more than a week , but the anxiously looked for signal to advance was never Mi nneso hoisted on the ta . All of us on the I lli nois were ambitious to win the honor that would come from sinking the naval star of the a Confederacy . The V nderbilt was a faster ship than ours , but we always kept a little i n front of the line so we would be first away when the was e expected signal brok n out . The sides of the I lli nois were sloshed with oil until they shone like a bottle, and if we had ever hit the Merri mac we would have gone clear throu gh her without

B u t we watched in vain for the signal that would have given us a chance tomake the

I llinois famous . I do not like to call a dea d l h man a coward , but I wi l say t at dmiral Goldsborough was the most cautious and con servative American I have ever known . There is no doubt that he had orders from Washington ma c not to force a fight with the Merri , but no man who does not know when and how to dis obey orders ought ever to attain flag rank in the ar United States navy , especially in time of w . B u t for his slavish obedience to long-range

ml T R O U B L E D W A T E R S

n humiliate d . Fi ally , when the Confederates l errima c as evacuated Norfo k , the M w blown up off a Ma Craney Point , e rly in the morning of y

10 , 1862, as her draft made it impossible to take vent the Federals from raising and repairing her ex lomon she was literally blown to pieces , the p ’ producing a shock which McClellan s army thought was an ea rthquake . I was on the n bridge at the time , and my first impressio was that our boilers had let go and tom the bottom out of the I lli nois . When I saw that we were all right I guessed what had happened and te ported to Captain Babcock that the Merri mac

as l . had been blown u p. He w incredu ous “ ’ ” z . few Tut, tu t, boy , you re cra y , he said A

mac report. Wi th the Merri menace removed , the I llinois retu rned to New York and retired from the government service, along with her

It happen ed , strangely , that in my next berth I fou nd myself lined u p on the side for which the af Merrimac had fought. Very soon ter leaving the I llinois I went out as mate and sailing-master

of the Deer, a smart little schooner which sailed

what purported tobe a gen eral ca rgoof mer e m chandise . We made bad w ather of it al ost

from the start and , after having been knocked [ 13 ] A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

around until all on board were worn out , we were d for obliged to put in at Nassau , leaking ba ly , repairs . On our arrival there the captain , an old square-rigger whocould not seem to get c the hang of handling a s hooner , was discharged who by one of the owners , accompa nied us , and

I was put in command of the ship . It then de veloped that our cargo consisted chiefly of mu nitions of war and was intended for the Con M a s federacy . On its delivery at at mora , which , being a foreign port , was not blockaded , it was to be immediately taken across the Rio Grande to B rownsville, Texas, and distributed to the

Southern armies . When I was let intothis secret as en th used, rather than in any degree deterred from carrying out the expedition , and threw i my whole heart nto it . Our repairs were pushed with all possible speed , but before they received the finishing touches the United States r consul developed a st ong suspicion , which might have been traced to the discharged cap tai n , that we were carrying arms for the Con federacy and warned us not to leave port until he had examined our cargo . The natural result ' of thmorder was that we were over the bar and on our way the next morning long before the consul was out of bed . As we were going out we met a Federal cru iser going in ; but that gave e us no anxiety , for w kn ew we would be out of sight long before her commander reached an [ 16 ] T R O U B L E D W A T E R S

u anchorage and comm nicated with the consu l . We were also aware that our precipitate depar ’ tu re amounted to an admission that the consul s suspicions were correct and that efforts would be made tohea d u s ofl for there had been n o , cflort to conceal the fact that we were bound M for atamoras ; but , for me , that only added a new usu and un al flavor of interest to the voyage, as though the owner w somewhat disturbed . If we were captured it might mean the end of a -arm for us yard both of , but I had no fear of that , was for the little ship a credit to her christening . She was a light-draft centerboard vessel and sailed like a witch . We kept a sharp lookout

fore and aft, day and night , but saw nothing that l looked u nfriendly . Still , the possibi ity of pur suit gave us a pleasurable thrill of excitement all of the way across the Gu lf . It was then that the germs of the filibu stering fever got into my blood , and they grew and multiplied . We reached Matamoras without inciden t and tu rned our cargo over to the waiting agents of

who . the Confederacy , paid handsomely for it Knowing the Deer would be seized if she re an c ow turned to Ameri an port , the ner sold her,

paid off all hands , and gave me one hundred

dollars to pay my passage back to N ew York . Instead of taking a smoky steamer I retu rned on r e ohe ave thirtea i - l the P id f t W , a little ton s oop ,

- which made the trip in thirty two days . On the M day we left B agdad , the port of atamoras, a [ 16 1 A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

French expedition took forcible possession of a lot of lighters used for transporting heavy cargo over the bar, with which to land a shipment

M . of arms for Maxi milian , then Emperor of exico On my return to New York the owners of the Deer bought a coasting-schooner for me an d I followed the pol ling pursuit of routine commer cis l navigation for three or four years . Weary a ing of that , I bec me an apprentice in the Hell

. I t too Gate Pilots Association was Hell Gate, , then , for that was before Pot Rock had been blown away with dynamite and other especially dangerous obstru ctions removed . There was no towing in those days , and most of the ships that n - we t through the Gate were wind jammers , which meant that with a cu rrent ru nning nine knots an hour it required some skill to avoid accidents , particularly with an unfavorable wind . I had known the channel from boyhood and was so fami liar with its twists and turns and all of its currents that I could take any ship through it in any wind that blew, or with no n the as wi d at all , for when one knew way it w simply a matter of drifting from one current into another and letting them carry the vessel pulsory apprenticeship I worked for twoyears i under a provisional license . Th s entitled me to i pilot sh ps drawing up to eight feet of water, but e I stol many more that drew twice as much. a Pilotage fees were b sed on draft, but aside from [ 16 ] T R O U B L E D W A T E R S

that I preferred the big fellows . When a fu ll fledged pilot caught me on a ship that drew more h than eig t feet , he chased me away ; but I usually r picked up another one just as la ge . I had a clean record , and received my full license as a 25 18 1 Hell Gate pilot on July , 7 . My long acquainta nce with the chann el a nd a recklessness that was much more apparent than “ real gained me the sobriquet of Daredevil ” e Johnny , and I was known by that nam for years. If I was a daredevil I was a cautious one, i for I never somuch as scratched a sh p . It oc casiona lly happened that when a bunch of ships were going up together on the last of the flood tide in a fluky breeze and I was fighting for the s off he lead , I would knock the eaweed some of t rocks ; but I always knew just how much weed was the re was at that particular spot , and there always room for a sheet of paper , at least, between — my ship and the rock they never came to gether . The captains of many of the ships that went up through Hell Gatoe kept the pilot aboard until they had cleared L ng Island Sound , so our operations often extended to Montauk as Point and even farther . For a time I w regu lar 8: ly employed by Clark Seaman , two pleasant old Qu akers whooperated the steamships George Washington and Genera l Cromwell between New a x York and Halifax . I would go up to H lifa on one ship and return with the other . Not long after I left their service both ships were lost , [ 17 1 A C A P T A I N U NA F R A I D

a with all hands , off Cape Race, the second dis ster following the first within two weeks . Lord who Austin , had been clerks for Clark Seaman , it oMer wo then put the C y f on the same run , and u tl I was on her for a while as pilot . Subseq en y I got in trouble with the same ship while running ' in a filib u ster g expedition to Colombia . There were times when piloting ships through Hell Gate and the Sound was exciting enough to suit any ordinary person , and I had a number of experiences which were spoken of as “close ” shaves . One of these concerned the bark oha wk McKa Dix c was M , owned by y , whi h I engaged to pilot through the Sound . She car ried a crew of Japanese sailors and was loaded

- with case oil for Calcutta . We went out on a bitter cold day in midwinter ; the sails were frozen to the yards and snow was piled up on deck . It was blowing hard from the northwest and , on account of the heavy weather, a tug towed us through Hell Gate and u p to Execu tion '

ofl Ro . Light , New chelle The Japs were so long in making sail that all of them had their hands , ca rs so feet , or frozen , and one of them became benumbed that he fell from the foreyard to the n deck , sustai ing injuries from which he died in a few hours . When we finally got under way I headed up for New Haven to land our crippled crew and ship a new one . The storm blew itself out during the night , but in the morning it was snowing heavily and breezing up from the north [ 13 ]

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D weather ; and they reported that I had been drowned . When we got the Mohawk to going again with we M the fresh crew, fetched ontauk Point and l stood out to sea , with me sti l on board , but with no intention of staying there . Had it not been for the gale I would have left the ship inside of the Point, but the captain was nervous, and

I wanted to see him well clear of the land .

There had been plenty of wind in the Sound , as but outside, where it had a clear sweep , it w blowing grea t guns , and no mistake . The cap him tain insisted on takin g me to India with , but I assured him that the United States was good enough for me and I would stay here . By the time the ship had a good ofi ng we were too far out for me to attempt to reach Block

Island , and I was on the point of taking to my boat and letting the gale blow me ba ck to M i on ta uk Po nt when I saw a schooner, which Hasb ouck proved to be the r , standing down the i coast . From the fact tha t she was flying l ght I su spected that she was bound for some coal r po t . I told the captain I was going aboard of her . Vehemently protesting that I was crazy ' and that no boat could live two minutes in the as sea that w piling up around us , he changed his course a little so as to bring us closer together when the schooner passed under our stern . I Moha got safely away from the lee of the wk and , with the aid of a deftly thrown line from the [ 30 1 T R O U B L E D W A T E R S

was flying schooner, soon on board of her, along s with my little boat, with whose eaworthy quali ties I was much better acquainted than was the skipper of the bark . Where are you bound for? asked the capta in Hasbrou ck of the , as I climbed over the rail . “ ” Anywhere in the world but Calcutta, I told him . i The schooner was bound for Richmond , V r ginia, for coal , but the storm continued to rage so furiously that she ran for shelter behind the B Delaware reakwater, where I and my boat took the first ship for New York . When I ap r a pea ed at pilot headqu rters , I was hailed as one s returned from the grave, and , for the fir t time ,

I had the pleasure of reading my own obituary , which had been published several days before . A VENTURE IN TWO REV OLUTION S

T was in connection with the Colombian revo I lu tion 1885 was of , the chief feature of which the burning of the city of Colon by Pedro Pres -fl Dr ed ed . . tan , that I became a full g filibuster

Ra fael Nunez was president of Colombia , and him things were going badly with . What amounted to a state of civil war existed in five ’ districts , including Panama, and the president s

. 1884 enemies were very active In the fall of , e n in a message to Congr ss , he bemoa ed the fact “ : n that , as he phrased it The very foundatio s Re of our country are undermined . volutions ” are become a safe and lucrative profession . In the following January the rebels took possession M i ’ of the lower agdalena R ver, Colombia s only waterway worth a name, over which traffic to B as and from ogota , the capital , w and still is l u B hand ed , and occ pied the ports of arranquilla,

Savanilla, and Colon , on the Caribbean coast , and B uenaventura and Panama on the Pacific side . About that time the City of Mcricowas secret ly chartered from Lord Austin , by the N ew [ 22 ] T W O R E V O L U T I O N S

n a York agents for the i surgents , to c rry a cargo a of arms and ammunition to Savanill . The Mexicohad been unable to compete with an s l Engli h ine ru nning from New York to Halifax, and was laid up alongside of the dry-dock at

Erie B asin in B rooklyn . I was asked to take command of the expedition , and gladly a c ce ed pt the commission . As a part of the con tract I was required to get the cargo on board , which gave me my first lesson in dodging the s ffi s e custom o cials, who e duty it is to pr vent the shipment of munitions of war into the terri tory of a friendly power, if they are to be used a gainst the existing government . It was sus pected that a filibu stering expedition was about s s to be ent away from New York , and the agent for the rebels were so closely watched that any activity on their part would have spoiled the whole plan . Therefore, to minimize the chance in of discovery, I proceeded to arrange th gs along plain and simple lines , which are always the best . Much of my success in my well-chosen pro fession was due to the fact that I made it a rule to ta ke the shortest practicable route betwee n two points and did things in a natural way , whereas those who were seeking to defeat my ends figured that I would take a roundabout

way , to avoid capture, and act unnaturally .

They set their traps by that chart , with the

result that they never caught anything . The reason why most men fail in their undertakings [ 281 A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D is that the first thing they do when they are

is too simme, and therefore mu st be wrong . I

e left to the detectiv s , who revel in them . The crew of the Mericohad been discharged ai when she was l d up, and she was in charge of

. M arth the mate, a person named John H cC y, ho was w , it developed , far from an adventurous r spirit. Afte having made all of the arrange ments I went down to the ship one evening McCarth l and sent y home, tel ing him to come aboard in the morning, along with the new crew h had been en a ed an d that ould act a s t at g g , ’ - for . ship keeper the night Along about ten o clock, as B when all w quiet in and around the asin , a

- steam lighter slipped alongside with the cargo . ’ exi c s The M o side ports were opened , and fi d- through them a grea t lot of el guns , rifles, and ammunition were taken on board and stored ’ - in the tween decks, aft of the engine room. Then the ports and hatches were closed and the l lighter steamed softly away before day ight, leaving no apparent trace of her visit. In the r morning the crew came aboa d , followed by two members of the revolutionary party, whose presence I accounted for with the cas ual state

[ 94 1 T W O R E V O L U T I O N S — ing chief engineer of the Ward Line was our n was chief e gineer, and it fortunate that he was McCarth the opposite type of man from y. We took on stores at once and headed out in the

fruit . No one suspected that that was not our

We made good weather of it down through Crooked Island Passage and on past the cast

ot u for s that I didn ha l up King ton he asked , if with surprise, we were not going to Jamaica . “ ’ s c We ll top there on our way ba k , I told him . set th m in Tha t e all togu ess g . There was a i free exchange of ideas, some of wh ch I over ’ r heard ; but they couldn t figu e it out, and none of them seemed disposed to ask any more ques

tions . The next night it blew up half a gale, and we rolled around in the seaway until the M arth cargo got adrift. Morrisey told cC y he could hear a lot of stuff knocking abou t and - crashing against the engine room bulkhead , and B the inquisitive mate soreported to me . oxes a in i of c rtridges are heavy th gs , to say noth ng field- of guns, and , fearing that they would smash

out the side ports and go overboard , I sent the

mate and a gang of men below to secu re them . McCarthy came back with his eyes bulging out

i The sh p is fu ll of arms and ammunition ,

[ 26 ] A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

? Are you sure I asked, with as much sur prise as I could counterfeit. “ ’ Positive l There s enough stuff down there ” to equip an army . “ I noticed them putting some things aboard “ Ma or . the night bef e we sailed , I explained y ” be there were some arms in the boxes . “ e ? Well , where are w bound for, anyway inquired the pertu rbed mate, with unconcealed

“ ’ ll t o I ll te you in a day or w , I replied , and he had to be content with that .

We raised Savanilla light early in the morning . My directions were to get the light to bear east for o and run it , but I did not c nsider it wise to go into a strange port at night with such a ca r oso e stood ofl un til da break with the g , w y , around on deck and wondering what would happen next. As the sun shot up, in the hur h - ried way it as in the tropics , I saw a wa r ship lying in the harbor, but a glance at her rig told me she was not an American , which was the only Her thing we had to fear . presence, however , greatly excited our two passengers, and when they saw smoke pouring from her funnels, from the customary pricking of the fires at sunrise , they went off into such a panic that I feared they would jump overboard and try to swim h to shore . T ey thought she was coming out s after u , and hysterically begged me to run [ 90 ]

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D tracted with him to transport five hundred sol s die t , as he called them , to Rio Hacha , a fortified coast town one hundred and fifty miles to the i eastward, wh ch he was anxious to capture . as filib usterin m Though I w new at the g ga e , I had been looking up the law, and , in consequence of su ch study as I had given it, I stipulated that the troops would be carried as thou gh they were ordinary passengers and must come aboard without their arms , which were to be shipped separately as freight. These soldiers were the funniest-looking lot of supposed fighting men I have ever seen ; if they could be realistically reproduced on the comic-opera stage their appearance would be regarded as the height of absurdity . They were s of all sizes, shapes, and age , and all imaginable 0 colors save white . N two of them wore the i s same rig, but the r costume were alike in that all were ridiculously fantastic . They had all sorts of gay feathers stuck in their hats in riot ous profusion and from two to twen ty cigar- rib bons tied around their arms to give them an imaginary rank . They knew nothing at all we about handling the arms had brought down , and I was amazed that they did not clutter up the deck with dead pa—triots while they were examining the ! wea pons out of sheer inquisi i tiveness, apparently , for the possib lity of a battle seemed to be the one thing to which they M gave no thought . any of them were aecom [ 281 T W O R E V O L U T I O N S

i pan ed by their wives or sweethearts , and the whole affair was much more su ggestive of a

picnic than a military expedition . The only commendable feature connected with the whole wonderful exhibition was the agility displayed by the officers in keeping out of the way of their

w h . s ords , w ich they mistook for hurdles

We reached Ri oHacha just before sundown . h e W en w got within sight of the town , all of the warriors and their women were ordered be

low, and the officers concealed themselves about h . w owas the deck The collector of the port , off also the comandante, came to meet us in

a boat with six men . As he swung alongside some of the ofi cers incautiously stuck their heads

over the rail in their hurry to get a look at him .

Seeing that something was wrong , he started to pu sh off ; but a score of the rebels promptly cov d l ere him with their revolvers, and he reluctant y accepted their invitation to come aboard with

his men . His crew were stowed away in a cabin , and the comandante was simultaneously prodded with swords and with questions as to the strength as of the government force hore . When the rebel general learned that Rio Hacha was defended by nearly as many men as he had in his command

he quickly concluded not to land , in which de cision he was earnestly su pported by every officer

and beribboned private in his party . Wishing

to see what kind of a fight they would put up ,

[ 29 ] A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

had r I told them I brought them the e to fight , as r ag eed , and that if they failed to complete the

bargain they were cowards . This charge they

chee rft admitted by refusing to deny it.

Moved by my taunts , perhaps , the pack of poltroons then conceived the brilliant scheme l of capturing a ittle schooner lying a mile away , which was flying the Colombian colors and was - said to be a government war ship . The com manding general officially advised me of the r Mexico plan , and grandly o dered me to run the n alogside the schooner . Without mincing words I told hit a d run all of the risks roposed to

take with such a craven crowd , and assured him that he would fin d himself more at home in a cli m M mate uch hotter than that of Colombia . y i s fusal of to consider his command, and the manner -c it, caused much physical ulture conversation and

somewhat passionately , I fear, with such expres sive expletives as I had been able to pick up in l my thirty yea rs at sea . The upshot of it a l was that when their persuasive powers had failed they removed me from the bridge by main force d and awkwardness and place a Curacao pilot, who had been sent along on account of his knowledge of the coast , in command of the ship .

Thinking it would be plain sailing after that , the rebels gleeft told one another what they would do to the handful of men on the schooner ; M i but they reckoned without orr sey . Know [ 80 ] T W O R E V O L U T I O N S

ing that I was no longer in command , the big chief engineer was deaf to all signals . The Curacao pilot rang bells until the engine- room in sounded like a fire station a panic, but not a lever was touched nor did a wheel tu rn . “ ’ ’ b t That Dutchman s got a good arm , u he s ” ’ Morrise s n liable to break it, was y o ly comment , as he smiled at the clamor .

Finally a guard was sent for the engineer, and w he as taken before the general , who imperi onely demanded an explanation of his failure to

I will not turn an ounce of steam into the ’ cylinders so long as Captain O B rien is off the ” M bridge, quietly replied orrisey , without a

trace of nervousness . “ ’ B u t Captain O B rien is no longer in command ” “

. was of the ship , explained the general He ” removed for refu sing to obey my orders, and — with an attempt at gravity which was only —“ amusing he may yet pay for his insubordina ” tion with his life . “ ”

. I n s ou that ca e, was the cold reply , y had better get a new chief engineer where you got ’ your new captain . I ll take no orders from

you nor any of your gang . This suggestion gave the bold warrior a new a ide , and he swallowed his rage long enough to i n a u call for a maqu ist . His subordinates took p the cry and tore around among the rank and file in o search f an engineer . If their number had [ 31 ] A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D included a man who understood a marine engine Morrisey and I might have found ourselves in serious trouble ; but there was not one among them whoknew enough about machinery to oil

- . who a lawn mower The assistant engineers, were then appealed to , let themselves out with a as the explan tion , which was accepted true, that they knew only their own duties and were not e competent to take charge of the ngine . They said they might make a mistake that would blow i as up the ship , which na ve suggestion w all that was needed to eliminate them from further

M was When this situation developed , orrisey again summoned before the gen eral . At first bu t an effort was made to bribe him , he just laughed . Then the general declare d that, if he did not retu rn to the engine- room and obey e ord rs within five minutes , he would have him M was shot on the spot . orrisey, like myself , a who man ordinarily used short words , and only as many as were absolutely necessary ; but on the t that occasion he was , for a few minutes , mos l loquacious person I have ever istened to , and m about the maddest . He defied all South A eri cans in general and Colombians in particular, with speci al reference to those whowere aboard er ico the M . He served notice on them that he f was an American o ficer on an American ship , and that if they harmed him , or any of us , they would surely suffer for it , whereas if they carried [ 39 ] T W O R E V O L U T I O N S ou t their threat and seized the schooner they would be hung for piracy . If I had forgotten anything expressive of derision he remembere d it, and I listened with profound admiration who while he told them and what they were , m where they ca e from , and where they belonged . His vitriolic vehemence was a continuous blast of u h bl e fire , under which the cowards s riveled up i n and scattered . When he could th k of nothing

- more to say , the half paralyzed general held a d' brief consultation with his sta , at the con elusion of which I was restored to the command of the ship and Morrisey returned in soom

- triM ph to his engine room . Fearing that the government forces would come out in the darkness and board us in an attempt to rescue their comandante, and knowing that if such an atta ck was made there would be a heavy loss of life among the rebels who jumped overboard , I put to sea at once and i returned to Savan lla. I supposed that our mot r ley mob would be considered in disg ace , but , d instea , they were welcomed as heroes, because , forsooth , they had effected the capture of the comandante at Rio Hacha and his boat ’s crew . When the revolutionary treasurer settled with me for transporting the troops , I was paid in the r depreciated paper currency of the count y . There was a pile of it that suggested nothing for so much as a sta ck of hay , and the silver [ 33 ] A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D which I exchanged it was a burden for two able sea men . In addition to this payment, and as a reward for the service I had rendered them, the h rebels refu nded the port charge s, w ich amounted to several hundred dollars . This money I i creditedto the owners of the ship . The off cers u t expected that , as it amo nted to a gratui y , it wou ld be divided among them ; and when the y found they were to get none of it there were Mc a h as many protests . C rt y w the chief com l was p ainant . He contended that the money a gift to the officers and that , as the owners h aw i noth ng about it , we should divide it among c ourselves . I insisted that the fa t that the owners had no knowledge of the donation was all the more reason why I should be honest with

them , and refu sed to listen to any argument on r u the subject, whereat Mcca thy showed m ch

annoyance . Soon afte r ou r retu rn toSavanilla it was an nounced that the captured comandante was

to be shot , and a regular field day of murder

was planned by the rebels . When I heard of this I called on General Aizpuru and told him that the United States government would hold him personally responsible for the safety of the his comandante and men , and that if any of them were injured he would pay dearly for the Ai z uru outrage . After much argument p as sured me that none of the prisoners would be

harmed , and they were not , though they were [ 34 ]

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

pedition within the meaning of the law . This has i doctrine , which s nce been upheld by the as higher cou rts, w in line with my own theory , and I was greatly plea sed to hear it laid down as the law, for I expected to profit by it in future

w After my dismissal Mr. Root said I as the dumbest witness he had ever seen on the ” stand . No doubt he spoke truly , for, while I answered every question that was put to me, I volunteered no explanations ; it was no part of my bu siness to tell all I knew if the prosecuting attorney could not drag it out of me with his M t as interrogations . y acqui tal w followed by Mmi ca the release of the , which had been seized by the Federal authorities when I was indicted . She was chartered to carry fruit from Cuba to

New York , but it seemed that she could not be a l operated profit bly without vio ating the law , and after a few trips she was again laid up in B n fil Erie asi , to await further ib uste ring activity . 188 M rr- In 7 , arco Aurelio Soto, e president of v in Honduras, who was li ing handsome style on

- Fifth Avenue near Sixty third Street , secretly started a movement to regain the presidency by the always popular means of a revolution . Like all former rulers of South and Central a Americ n countries , he was possessed of a large “ ” war chest, so there was no lack of funds . After assuring himself of some support and send ing word to his friends to prepare for trouble , [ 36 ] T W O R E V O L U T I O N S

Cit oMexico he bought the y f from Lord Austin ,

D . 15 . B r through his agent, A Straus , of oadway , with the in te ntion of u sing her toca rry the we a p ons with which he expected to wage his little w ' ar. On account of the notoriety which I had unwillingly acquired in the Colombian affair , a new capta in , who could never have been sus ec d filib us erin p te of cherishing t g inclinations , was placed in command of the ship ; but I was i engage d at the same t me and held in reserve . The first thing the new ca pta in did was toge t ca ught as he was trying tota ke on a ca rgoof arms and ammunition from a lighter in Erie

B asin as I had done two yea rs before . His de tection confirmed the suspicion that steps were being taken toward a disturbance of the peace i u s in Honduras , and the v gilance of the c toms

to inoffensive navigation , then shipped a general cargo for Progreso, Mexico , and the arms were openly sent to Kingston , Jamaica , on an Atlas i was Mexic l ner . It intended that after the o had delivered her cargo she would go to Jamaica and get the arms and take them to Honduras ; but this plan was arranged in ignorance of the

English law . Any one can ship all of the arms he wants to into British territory, but no one can get them out again unless it is clear that they are going to some recognized government . n u Mexic ca Co seq ently , when the o lled at King [ 87 1 A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

he ston for the arms , s found them u nder guard . After some delay they were shipped back to New York on a regular liner as the only way

out of the muddle . Customs officers and detectives employed by the government of Honduras were watching for m the on their arrival , with instru ctions never to let them get out of their sight . The arms and ammunition were piled up on the dock and then transferred to a steam-lighter of the Shortland

Company, which had orders to take them to the B i Erie as n , where they were to be locked up in a warehouse and placed under a permanent guard . The men who were handling the heavy cargo were so intentionally slow in getting it aboa rd the lighter that it was late in the even ing before the work was finished . The detec tives and customs men , more anxious to get home than to earn their pay , asked the capta in of the B s lighter when he would go over to Erie a in .

He told them he would not move until morning, and , with the promise that he would find them ai him w ting for at the warehouse, they all went away . There were enough of them sothat they could have afforded to leave a couple of men on

guard , as a wise precaution , but it did not occur to them that they mightbe overlooking something . Fram In the mean time, the , a Norwegian fru it steamer which was laid up at B oston , had been er of chart ed by Lord Austin , at the instance Marcourelioand I l1ad been call on o A , ed t take [ as l T W O R E V O L U T I O N S

an a ctive hand in the affair . After arrange ments had been ma de as to the precise manner in which the revolutionary cargo was to be its rr handled on a ival from Jamaica , I went up toBoston tota ke command of the Framand bring

her down. We reached New York , not by acci on r dent, the ve y day the lighter took the much traveled mu nitions of war aboard , and wen t to - f- - an ou t othe way place in Weehawken to coal . We filled all of our bunkers and put three hun dred tons in the hold, for we were going on a long trip and could not afiord to stop anywhere

for coal . Late in the afternoon we dropped down the ud H son and anchored off the Sta tue of Liberty , in the lee of a big iron saili ng- ship which had su nk across the channa and made a good break for was r water, it in the winte and much ice was ’ n floating down the river . About ine o clock in the evening the lighter which the sleu ths had de serted came alongside and her whole cargo of field i was guns , rifles, and ammunit on taken aboard ° w throu gh our side ports . I t as a very simple

Operation and free from interference of any kind . The officers did not su ppose we would have the ' eflron tery to take the stu fi away from under so we their noses , and the scheme worked was d not guarded against . The empty lighter steame thirty miles up the Hudson , where she remained in hiding for two or three weeks, and we were well out tosea before daylight . [ 80 1 A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

’ When the Fram s supplementary clearance

was s - filed tythe Custom House five days later,

which was the limit of time the law allowed , it revealed our cargo and destination , but it was then too late to head us off ; fortunately there

was no wireless telegraph in those days . We stopped at Turk ’s Island to pick up a gang of filibusters who had been engaged in New York M and sent there on a Clyde liner . any of

them backed out at the last minute, but we took on board fifty as tough cha racters as one could

wish to see . They had all been promised planta tions if the revolution succeeded , and were ready

for any kind of a fight . Of a higher type were ’ three Cuban generals, veterans of the Ten Years who War , had grown so accustomed to fighting

that they could do nothing else . They had been engaged by Marco Aurelio to command divisions a of his army . Though we did not l nd them , they subsequently reached Honduras from Hali fax by way of the West Indies , and two of them

were killed there . Gen . Antonio Maceo, the

third one, escaped and lived long enough to do more hard fighting than any other commander ’ n i in Cuba s fi al revolt against Spa n , in which he

was killed shortly before it su cceeded . ’ From Turk s Island we sailed for Great Corn

Island , at the westerly end of the Caribbean Sea . It had been arranged that we would meet the Mexico B lu efi lds there or at e , Nicaragua , and put our cargo aboard of her . I was then to take [ 40 1 T W O R E V O L U T I O N S co Mexic i mmand ofmthe o, send ng her captain home in the , and land the arms at the ap pointed place in Honduras . Our course carried ’ us close to St . Andrew s Island , a Colombian blot on the face of the waters ea st of Great Corn Island ; and as we passed it I sa w an America n - i war sh p in the harbor with a stea ma , which I could not make out, under her lee . It later developed that this half- hidden vessel was the Mexicowhich ha d h war , been seized y the ship for filibustering . For some unaccountable rea son the ca ptain of the Mexi cohad put in there while waiting for us , instead of obeying orders

- and sticking close to the meeting point. His crew n went ashore and , under the i fluence of the native rum, boasted that they were waiting for a ship load of arms with which the governmen t of s Hondura was to be upset . Hearing this inter B esting bit of gossip , rooks Carnes , the American consular agent on the island , sent to Colon for - a war ship which he knew was lying there . She a u came te ring over at f ll speed , and the care fully planned expedition went by the board exico when she took charge of the M , including ho her foolish captain and his crew, w were so

enamored with the music of their own tongu es . When they saw us go by it was suspected that we were the other part of the conspiracy, but

we were not followed , as the captain of the war ship had arranged to start for Key West the next h x c day, with t e Me i o m convoy , and he did not 41 4 . [ 1 A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

h wis to go to the trouble of changing his plans . u r F rthe more, as I have observed , naval officers filibu s r have considerable sympathy for te s, as a general proposition , and seldom go beyond the strict letter of their orders in seeking to appre

n Bl fiel Great Corn Isla d or u e ds, but the captain of an American oschooner, which We met coming up the coast, v lunteered the information that ’ he had seen her the week before at St. Andrew s ha Island . With a good idea as to what had p of pened, but to make sure and take no chance missing the other ship if she had avoided cap ture,I returned to St. Andrew . We approached it carefully late in the afternoon sothat if we were observed and pursued by some watching w - ar ship we could esca pe in the darkness . The was we r coast clear, so went on in and ancho ed

r Mr. just ou tside of the harbor . The ene getic Carn es came ofl tomeet ua an d urged me soia sistently to come into the harbor and anchor close to shore that he aroused my suspicions . He gave me to understa nd that the Mexicohad been there , but would tell me nothing about her .

I went ashore to investigate, and soon had the Whole story from a stranded Ama ican skipper whohad lost his ship . From this it appeared n that , not co tent with having brought about x o of Me ic Mr. ha the seizure the , Carnes d turned m n e m s in a n ral alar . es os toa e sa e ge e s p g

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

Mr . Carnes got word in advance of the gov ’ ernor s action and promptly took to the bush . i him I could not take t me to follow , but I left word at his office that the next time we met I would kill him for lying to me and trying to trap me under the gu ise of a courtesy . When as this promise w made, I fully intended to keep it ; but the next time I saw Carnes he was so nearly dead that I let him go, never suspecting that he would recover and become a spy at my heels in the Cuban revolution .

My orders were , if anything happened to the exic to n M o, go to Ki gston and turn the cargo over to the agents for the Atlas Line, and this

I proceeded to do . Two hours after we reached

- Jamaica an English war ship came in and , plainly

orders a nchored o . under , cl se alongside of us On account of their previous experience with our unlucky cargo the Atlas Line agents refused to i have anyth ng to do with it , but I fin ally fou nd an Englishman whoallowed me to store it in his warehouse . I thought they would let us go t fil then , bu , instead , the governor sent a e of

our machinery and kept us prisoners for a week .

We would have been held there much longer, and might have been turned over to the Hon duramgovernment to fu rnish targets for some of their bad marksmen , but for a desperate blu fl which I ran on the captain of the port . I told him We had violated no law by bringing arms [ 44 ] T W O R E V O L U T I O N S

w h r ou r into Jamaica , and that e ad p oved peace ful pu rpose by turning them over to an English man immediately on our arrival . He might bu gu ard the arms, if he wished , with propriety , t it was decidedly improper for him to hold a ship flying a friendly flag merely on the strength of silly gossip and in the absence of a formal complaint of any kind . Therefore I indignantly demanded the release of the ship , failing which I assured him he might expect a protest from the Norwegian government that would involve him s s in erious trouble . The earnestnes of my argu x out ment , and my apparent an iety to keep him a ad of lb mess, impressed him , and he ordered the soldiers ashore until he could consult with the as governor . The following night w very dark , and no one saw u s as we stole out of the harbor without showing any kind of a light . When we reached New York I was met at the c o us do k by a messenger from L rd A tin , who advised me to disappear at once if I wished to avoid arrest . I took the first train for Boston , and in a couple of days word was sent to me to go to Halifax, N . S . In the hotel there at which I ha d been directed to stop I met twoof the ’ Mexim e ofli cers whohad r s fili , been a re ted for b rin uste g, soon after I left, and had j u mped their f w s bail . In a e days I received order to move ’ n -off ac on to Sydney , Nova Scotia s jumpi g pl e, e e s as the oflicers were still on my trail . Thr e w ek la ter a telegram told me it was safe to come [ 46 ] A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

w home, and I returned to N e York on the n a Mexico Mira d . I found that the had been i condemned as a fil buster and sold , and the government was willing to let it go at that . From However, when the captain of the returned him to Norway , his license was taken away from for his part in the affair ; the Norwegians are more strict about such matters than we are . With the petering-out of the revolution Gen eral Soto took up his residence in Paris , Where he died not long afterward , possibly from disappoint x i ment, while I found something still more e cit ng to which I turned my willing hands . DYNAMITE JOHN N Y

OT long after the failure of Marco Aurelio ’ Soto s revolt in Honduras I engaged in the underta kin g that gave me the sobriquet by which

I ha ve ever since been known . A Cuban , sup posedly wealthy and also suspected by some gen erally wise but always nervous people of being an so able worker in me new revolutionary plot, who h s had a coal concession on the Ist mu of Panama, then a part of Colombia, came to New York with an order for sixty tons of dynamite . In those days dynamite was not such a common com mo a w dity s it is now, and it as held in sincere respect both afloat and ashore , for the process of its manufacture ha d not reached the point where it could be knocked around and otherwise in su lted without running more risks than most x men cared to take . Si ty tons of it sounded like enough to blow the Whole of Colombia off the sh - map with one explosion . Even if a ip owner could have been found who was willing to carry

such a large quantity of it, he would have de so ul manded a prohibitive price, the caref Cuban mb r he s s bought the Ra le , t large t chooner in the [ 47 ] A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D New York Yacht Club and owned by Com

modore Thomas . The waist of the handsome craft was ruthlessly torn out to make a storage a place for the dynamite . The explosive w s in

sticks , an inch or more in diameter and a foot

- long , and was packed in sawdust in fifty pound

boxes . When the Ra mbler was ready to receive her cargo her new owner went in search of a captain ; but he could find no one whowante d the job or who u co ld be induced to take it, even though he offered double the ordinary pay and a large — bonus Which latter was to be paid on the de

livery of the dynamite . I was then back at my old occupation of piloting ships through Hell wa Gate , but the Cuban heard of me in some y

and came after me . It did not require much persuasion to induce me to take command of

the expedition . There was quite enough danger

about it to make it attractive, and , being of

Irish parentage , I was favorably disposed toward

dynami te on general principles . The size of the

shipment was not appalling , for, except as to the number of fragments of disintegrated hu manity which would suddenly be scattered over

could se e no differen ce between sixty tons and was only six ; the ship , though old , still a stanch

craft, and I felt sure that if I kept my mind on navigation rather than on her cargo we would find our lives in our vest pockets and undamaged [ 43 ] D Y N A M I T E J O H N N Y

The cargo was taken aboard while the schooner was in ly g at anchor off the Statue of Liberty . i When it came to shipp ng a crew, I was forced to do some lying , which I regretted , but there seemed to be no other way out of it . If I had let the truth be known I couldn ’t have secured te a crew on any rms , so I told the men that the Ramble r was a private yacht going down to Colon to meet her owner, and that the improvised hold , in which the dynamite was stored , was filled with stores, as it was intended to start out at once u as on a long cr ise . In a sense this w at least

- partly true, for the Cuban coal dealer returned to Colon by steamer . He earnestly explained that this was not due to anything of fear as to e the safety of the schooner, but becaus he wished to get there ahead of us to make some arrange M i ments . y opt mistic friends insisted on bid ding me farewell , for they assured me I would never see them again , but that worried me not f e su at all . We le t N w York early in the mmer 888 w wa of 1 , and had good eather all of the y down the coast ; but in the Gulf of Mexico we ran into as severe a tropical storm as I have ever t o s we r seen . For w day had a howling no th sea eas ter, which kicked up a savage , but we ran before it under shortened sail, and I felt

no great anxiety . At sunset on the second day the wind fell [ 49 ] A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

toa dead lm and in half an hou r away ca , we r n a terrific we e i the center of electrical storm, while the rain fell in solid sheets . The re was

s c of nothing to do but take in every tit h canvas, to prevent the ship from threshing it and her

have I seen su ch a brilliant display of electricity, r nor one that laste d so long . F om su ndown to streaks of fire ; it was a marvelous exhibition of the heavens in a fury . To the—innocent mates and crew it was awe-inspiring i t was strange to see a ship ’s company silent in the face of

r to me it came close to being te rifying . The falling rain picked u p the electricity and carried it down until the air we breathed was filled with n I ran m han d h h m it . Whe y t roug y hair it snapped and crackled like a hickory fire , and every time I touched a piece of metal I felt a slight shock. There seemed to be enough of the mysterious current running through the ship fir to set her on e, and when , now and then, the rain ceased for a moment and one of the men struck a match in a futile effort tolight his z pipe , I imagined the expected bla e had started . Though it was dou btfu l if our small boats could have lived long in the sea that was run n e ing , I would have been t mpted to abandon the ship but for my disinclination to frighten the crew . It was of them I thought rather than [ 50 ]

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D M getting . y anxiety on this point beca me so keen that along toward the middle of the night

I went down into the hold to investigate . I “ could not send any of the crew, for DYN A ” MITE was stamped in large letters on every box, and at sight of that all of them would have been over the side as quickly as they could lower did l a boat . I not wish to see them go to a most was certa in death in the raging sea , nor I anxious to be left to navigate the ship alone . It turned out that I was none too soon with my inquiry, for some of the boxes were just beginning to work loose and rub against each other . It was no easy task to secure them , single-handed and with the ship consta ntly try t ing to turn turtle, but wi h the aid of fenders and strips of canvas I finally made everything fast again , so that I had no further u nea siness

e . s on that scor That was , I th—ink, as tickli h a position as I have ever been in with boxes of ’ dynamite under and around me and the ship s timbers screaming and groaning like ten thou as sand devils just out of hell ; cr hing thunder, blazing lightning, and a deluge of water above, and outside a mighty sea that was tossing the vessel around like a washtub . It was not a situ ation in which one was in an y danger of fall ing asleep . m With the co ing of the sun the lightning , thunder , and rain ceased as suddenly as they had opened hostilities ; the sky cleared until soon [ 62 ] D Y N A M I T E J O H N N Y the re was not a dond msight an d the trade wind breczed np over ou r q ua rte r. Tha t is a w vn in l m s a ve he r s vthe enli e g e e en t h in t t opics . We re achc olon in tw elve an d a ha lf da

we re

toin the s orm an d an the one w e n hove t , o r h we went tothe other ex tre me an d were he

c l h m tmm hi im . a med, w ich was tra p s s p t e Whe n the crcw sa w the hu n dre ds of boxes of

a mite comin ou t of the ol some he dyn g h d, of t m probably wou ld ha ve tried tomurder me if ' they had not fou n d the mse lves su fle ri ng con v n siderably from hea rt fa ilure . Their e ide t rror when he re wa s no r ca se a a r te , t fu ther u for l m , was calcula ted toprovoke mirth ; but I did not u h mu for m oscie ce wa s ro la g ch, y c n n t ubling d was not at all com r a the me, an I fo t ble under re proachful a nd accu sing gla a tha t were be ing h e rs i if levele d at me . For t fi t t me in mv l e I ' h hbe ra l l a n the rea za a a d de te y ie d , d li tion of th t fact produ ce d a ne w a nd deci de dly unpleasa nt e W e h ee w w l s nsation . If ad b n blo n up I ou d ha ve bee n as much responsible for the dea th of every ma n on the ship as though I had mur ' ofl red la na i ns dere d them. I e no exp t o or oies as a t he ead ca r apol g , but, I w c d our d ly go hore te rm ne a re be going as , I de i d th t the would - oo no more en tries of tha t kind on my log b k . w orn w t a re a ver si ce I as b i h h t d for a li r, and ne n i then ha ve I told an untruth tha t could poss bly When it has been a ease of te ll hurt an y one . [ 53 1 A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

ing damaging truths or lying viciously, I have ’ ’ l o ou kept my ips cl sed ; what y don t say can t come back to accuse you . R amble With our cargo discharged , the r carried a few cargoes of ice from Jamaica to the Isthmus , apparently to give her a reputation for t eepee ili B tab ty, and was then ordered to oca del Toro, two hundred miles west of Colon , where I turned

- her over to a ship keeper . Not long afterward l she went into the smugg ing business, in which trade I had refused to accompany her, and after a short career she was seized by the Colombian n o M gover ment and bl wn up , off the Pacific ail B dock at oca del Toro , as the surest means of ending her activity in that direction . While I was waiting at B oca del Toro for a l ship to take me back to Co on , I was greatly n B surprised to meet my old frie d rooks Carnes , the America n consular agent whohad tried to ’ cause my capture at St . Andrew s Island a year as m before , when I w atte pting to deliver a cargo s of arms to the revolutionists in Hondura , and whom I had promised to kill the next time I saw him . He had been promoted in the mean time and made consul at Colon , probably as a reward for his activity in capturing the Mex ico f and his earnest e fort to trap me . When I saw him he had been out in the mountains with a surveying party of some kind . The trip must have been a hard one , for he was a physical

[ 54 ] D Y N A M I T E J O H N N Y

m s e o into e on the treet before he r c gnized me . T i hen he began to beg for his l fe , and he was su ch a picture of misery that I let him go . He looked as though he could not live a week, but

Su bseque ntly he beca me a spy for the Spanish a a n government, and eight ye rs l ter, whe I was n smuggling arms into Cuba , he braze ly wrote

me a letter requesting me to mee t him. B etween the lines it was plain ly a proposal to bribe me et s did to b ray my friend , so I ignored it , as I several other communications of a similar char te on of ff ac r, e which, involving a specific o er of u a small fort ne, ca me from an accredited diplo

matic representative of Spa in . Some months after the receipt of this letter from Carnes he e a di d in J cksonville, where he was one of a num ber of spies whowere trying to keep track of

my movements. There were plenty of Cuban enthusiasts who would have considered it both a duty and an honor to kill him if they had known hi s of proposal to me ; but they did not know, s and he died from natural cau es, which, after was all , the better way . On my return to Colon I caught the Chagres fever and nearly died from it before I could get a a b ck to New York . When I re ppeared at the headqua rters of the pilots and along the water “ a D front, my old friends bega n to h il me as yna mi ” te Johnny , and the na me stuck ; it did not in come, as has often been stated, from carry g [ 56 ] A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

dynamite to the Cubans , years later . After I had fully recovered from the fever I rejoined the Hell Gate pilots and followed my old calling l 1889 unti the spring of , when I took command of the steamship Carolirw Miller and began

Hippolyte used them with good effect agai nst L D . his old enemy , Gen eral F . . egitime Hip polyte and Le gitime had been plotting for the presidency throughout the latter yea rs of Gen ’ “ ” eral Salomon s term in the execu tive mansion , and had divided the country into two rival camps . They rose in revolt about the same 1888 time, and in December, , at Port a u Prince , Legitime had himself elected president by the D epartments of the South and West . Hippolyte , whowas supported by the Departments of the

North and Northwest, promptly organized a pro visional government at Cape Haitien , and the two rivals settled down to fight it out . “ Hippolyte shrewdly secured the moral sup port ” of the United States government by promising that when he became undisputed president he would cede to it a coalin g-station Me a at l Saint Nicholas , made famous during the Spa nish -American War as the place off which heavy firing was heard every day, according to the abnormally attuned ears of the very capable corres pondents for the N e w York news ’ papers . This country s active sympathy with Hippolyte made it such a simple matter to get [ 58] D Y N A M I T E J O H N N Y away with our cargoes that there was no attempt e at secrecy in our clearanc s . For the same rea son the expeditions were not attended by any great amount of danger , but the absence of excitement was in some degree compensated for by my interest in observing the manner in which the Washingmn government exerted its friendly as influ ence . It w a novel experience to feel that I had the American navy at my back in of h as stead at my t roat, it had always been before and was again a few years later . The Caroli ne Miller was owned by the McCal din B rothers , of New York , and was no new hand at carrying mun itions of wa r to Haiti . For six months before I took command of her she had been under charter to Jiminez Husted , u N w Y whowas the Haitien cons l at e ork, a member of the Hippolyte faction , and had been carrying arms to that party . Husted wished to renew the charter ; but the McCaldins con cluded they could make more money by running

es so . her themselv , they turned her over to me

- Frank Elliott, a ship broker on Sou th Street, was

the agent for our cargoes , which , to avoid open conflict with the customs regulations , were con i Ka r s gned to Theodore yne , at Port de Paix ; to a German named Gustavus at Cape Haitien ; to an American of the name of Orr at Gonaives ; and to another American at Saint Marc, all of

whom were agents for the provisional government.

[ 57 1 A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D o dred t ns net, we carried twelve hundred tons on our first trip . Our scuppers were awas h e w when we left N York , early in the summer of 1889 l , and the Plimso l mark was on our smoke stack . We were so heavily overloaded that it was out of the question to insure either ship or car go , but that caused no concern . Among the sup l e p i s on board were ten thousand rifles, tons of a ammunition, and a gre t lot of stores , fresh beef , and ice . We stopped at Great Inagua Island to pick up a crew of natives to handle the cargo , as I fea red the Ha itiens were so filled with the martial spirit that they would refuse to do any

Twenty-five miles 0 3 Cape Haiti en we found

Commodore B ancroft Gherardi , of the United fla - States navy , waiting for us on his g ship, the r famous old Kea rsa ge . He had been sent to “ Haitien waters to give Hippolyte his moral ” and support, , having been advised of our coming , had put out to watch for us and convoy us into port . His instru ctions were not to fire a shot in our defense ; but in the event that we ’ were attacked by one of Legitime s gunboats he was expected to put himself between us , so that Miller would a shot fired at the , have to pass Kea rsar e through the g before it reached my ship . s Le gitime understood the ituation , and the com manders of his war-ships had been warned that in firing on the Miller the y must be ca reful not to hit the Kearcarge, which latte r eventu ality [ 58]

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D earnest support in violating the same law against ’ b ri B fili uste n . ut g , if we ve got to aid some tra ngressor of the strict letter of international ’ ’ whohas law, I m glad it s a man had experience ” and knows how to do it . This frank expression of sympathy did much to establish cordial relations , and , with the con ditions of our conspirac y well understood, the Kearsa r e g led the way into Cape Haitien . The arms which were to be left there were quietly i unloaded at n ght , to escape the vigilance of ’ e i e L gitime s sp es , and in exchange for them w of h took on a lot coffee . We also shipped eig t h hundred soldiers for t e next stop, which was

Port de Paix . We arrived there without inci e d nt, and unloaded the troops and more arms, and took on another consignment of coffee and

five hundred new soldiers for Gonaives. f We le t Port de Paix in the evening, and late in n Mo the ight, off the famed and fabled le Saint e Nicholas , we ran right into two of Legitim s — gunboats the Dessalines and an old Mallory

- liner that had been converted into a war ship , so called . They were exchanging signals when Kea we made them out . They had seen the r sa e rg go by and knew we were not far behind.

Our lights were all doused, of cou rse, and we — were hugging the shore so closely most of the time a biscuit could have been tossed ashore — from our pilot-house that I hardly expected u see us u soe s a of they wo ld ; but, thro gh m tre k [ 00 ] D YN A M I T E JO HN N Y

Des ali nes u s luck, the s picked up and blaze d away at su ch short range that with decent gunnery the Millcr might easily have bee n sent

The first shot, which was the best aimed of

the lot, stru ck the water one hundred and fifty n s yards ahea d of us . Half a doze more eemed ou r a d to have bee n aimed in gener l irection , but that was the most tha t could be said of a them . With such cr zy marksmanship , how a ever, there is always a chance th t a misdirected s a shot may do seriou d mage, so with that in

mind, rather than through any great fear of hit being or captured , I ordered full speed with the crack of the first gu n a n d set out after the r Kearea ge, which was around a point ahead of h a us . She ad slowed down to steeragew y when

h ul . s e heard the firing, so we soon overha ed her Day was just brea king when we put her between D i 1111 us and the essali nes, which scorn y gave up

the chase . We discharged our cargo at Gonaives and i M Kearsar e went on to Sa nt arc, the g leading the wa y . At those two ports we took on eight s in i hundred ton of logwood , add tion to more cofiee our d and rum . All of hol s were so full that we had to stretch the hatch-covers to get as them on , and the rest of the cargo w piled up sohigh on deck that the man at the wheel

could just see over it . When the pilot met us 0 3 Sandy Hook he thought the Miller was the [ 61 ] A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

island of Haiti coming up under steam . We had been away just a month , and the trip netted the McCaldins exactly so they were well satisfied with the results . I made three rofit more trips of the same kind , and equally p hi able to the owners of the s p, before Hippolyte, him with the aid of the arms we delivered to , gained complete control of the country . On each trip we carried ice and fresh meat for who Commodore Gherardi , continued to serve i as our protector and gu de . We caught him in napp g once when we reached Cape Haitien , to find that he had gone to Nassau for coal . so He had not expected us back soon , and , not s i wi h ng to delay . matters , I went on without ’ M s x c e him . y previou e perien e with L gitime s ar- w ships had bred contempt for their gunnery , and had also shown that we could outrun them ; so I did not consider that we were taking any great risk in making the circu it alone. We made r Po t de Paix without any trouble, but on the wa n Dessalines y to Go aives we encountered the , in broad daylight, near where she had used us as a target two months before . She was stand ing close inshore , to head us off, and as soon as as sure she ha d made u s ou t ore off toward the open sea to try out her speed . Our courses converged , as I was trying to cross her bow, and she let go at us when we were about half a mile away . Her first shot went wild , but to my surprise the second one went through our [ 62 ] D Y N A M I T E J O H N N Y

ain - o r e m b om , abaft the engines, and car i d away

- the guide band for the derrick boom . Seeing our n f that they ha d ra ge, and hal suspecting they ha d an American gunner aboard , from the r unexpected accuracy of that one shot, I tu ned tail to give them a smaller object to shoot at a and made a runaway race of it . The shot th t hit us must have been fired by a man with his l eyes shut, for none of the fo lowing shells came anywhere near us, though they kept burning up powder, and the more furiously when they saw a us pulling away from them . When it was cle r that there really had been no improvement in n our their gu nery, I changed course until they 3 wu a were 0 our quarter, and s ng around in ci l n wide rcle toward Gonaives , gradua ly droppi g ul ssali the spitef De nes astem . Mc a ldin On my last trip Captain James C , one “ n of the owners , accompa ied me, for the fun of ” i s the th ng . In addition to the u ual cargo of arms, we carried five hundred tons of coal for ’ — Hippolyte s wa r-ships the Jacmel and another — craft known as the TwoStacks which were t M r lying a Saint a c, where the President then had his as headquarters. As soon we came to n a an a chor at Saint Marc, in the w ke of the old o-of- l slo p war Ga ena , to which Commodore Ghe rardi had transferred his flag, an aide came aboard with the in formation that General

Hippolyte wished me to call on him at his palace . The in vitation wa s accepted for Captain McCal [ 63 1 A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

din and myself , and as soon as we could get into our shore clothes the ceremony was per formed , for it never would have done to show any lack of respect for the man whose business was so profitable to the owne rs of the ship . Hippolyte received us with imposing honors in a large room in a big building which was called a palace only because he occu pied it . His suite was composed of twenty-five women of all colors e and all equally ugly to American ey s, but clearly they were all beautiful to him . That he much preferred their society to that of his own sex was su ggested by the fact that he was the only man in sight until we arrived . Hippolyte was enthroned on a platform at h one end of t e long room, and it was there he welcomed us with a dignity that would have l been painfu if it had not been amusing . He m was as black as da nation , short , fat , and with the eyes of a fox. On his looks I sized him up - as n much more of a scoundrel than a statesma . u t B there was no doubt he was brave , as tha t quality is reckoned in that part of the world , and he had the blacks at his back, which gave

was on the other hand , was yellow, and hated by the fu ll -blooded negroes because of his frac tion of white blood , which carried with it a more progressive spirit .

Haiti was then , and still is, in an constant state of warfare between the blacks and [ 64 ] D Y N A M I T E J O H N N Y

are the yellows. The negroes firm believers in s a s s voodoo , and in tho e d y , at lea t , they were insanely devout in their can nibalistic worship “ ” ns as i of the goat without hor , the ch ldren sacrificed to their unholy rites were known . I have no personal knowledge of the extent to which hu man sacrifice is practised in Ha iti to n a is c day, but I am convi ced th t there mu h a more of it than is genera lly believed . H iti is is ss n n h Haiti , and it impo ible that co ditio s t ere can ' be mu ch improved over what they were — — twenty or fifty yea rs agoun til the Un ited s in i affa s a Sta te ta kes a larger hand ts ir . H itien children are still rea red in the belief that if a white man ever owns a foot of groun d in their n country they will all become slaves agai . After the inky general ha d sufficiently im pressed u s with his importa nce he relaxed a lit tle an d invited us to be sea ted beside him. His idolizing females grouped the mselves aroun d u s a s so closely that, s we carried no axe , we would n in have had trouble in getti g out a hurry . Hippolyte congratulated me on the prompt and all s n safe delivery of of the cargoe of arms , a d said they had been of somuch assistance that the Opposition to his rule was on the poin t of s in collap e . He grandly promised to make me dependently wealthy as soon as Le gitime was s s a di po ed of , but, s I knew he did not mean what sa he id , it made no difference that he neglected hi u s the to keep s word . He told all about [ 66 ] A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D progress of the war and asked many questions e about the United Stat s , which he spoke of as “ a kindred nation . He referred to B enjamin “ ” Harrison as a brother President, whose friend ly influence he seemed greatly to appreciate , and B a expressed high praise for Secreta ry l i ne. His

egotism was amazing, but we indicated no sur i l prise at his vagaries, to which the th n y skirted

al . tion and approv On the contrary, we entered as into the spirit of the joke, as it w to us , and gorged him with the kind of talk he loved to

was This reception , which we were told an but s unusual honor, was the first of a serie of

diverting festivities . The next morning we were advised that Hippolyte wou ld return our call at i as noon and lunch with us on the sh p . It w diplomatically suggested that we invite Com modore u Gherardi , and he accepted witho t

. a m hesitation Our breakf st , as the noonday eal

is called in the West Indies , was what the society e report rs would call a great success. In advance of it we were somewhat nervous through appre hension that Hippolyte might bring along a lot

of his women , but he left them all at home , ap parently appreciating that we did not have room i enough to enterta n a large gathering . Captain McC aldin toasted Hippolyte and Commodore

Gherardi . In his response Hippolyte served [ 0 0 ]

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D tain McCaldin plenteously pledged the undying love of the United States and Haiti , but the phrases that were used I do not recall , though they were sufficiently impassioned and grand quent to fit the occasion . They told me later a s h that I also m de an eloquent pw c ; but, if I d it as di , w the only one I have ever delivered , and I have no recollection of it . Hippolyte, with MoC al his arms around our necks , urged Captain din and me to spend the rest of the night at the l palace ; but, having sti l some respect for our reputations , we concluded it was the part of wisdom to return to the ship , which we did with some difficulty . In parting with us Hippolyte again assured me that he would make me a millionaire and admiral of his navy as soon as the cru el war was over . On the following night our American agent of gave a dinner, to round out the exchange compliments , but, in comparison with the one that had gone before, it must be admitted that as f it w rather a sad a fair . All of us , with the exception of Hippolyte , on whom wine seemed fl' f to have no c ect, were su fering from the night before, and , while our mutu al faith was sworn - wa h to in the time honored y, t e ceremony was . n l somewhat lacking i spontaneity , in the ear y

t. r hours at leas Howeve , there was a free ex pression of the sentiment that we were all “ m for brothers , fighting in a co mon cause and ” the uplift of humanity , in whose name many [ 68] D Y N A M I T E JQ H N N Y

more and worse crimes have been committed

than those of which we were guilty . With the aid of the first mate we sailed the

next day for Cape Haitien , en route for New

York, after exchanging numerous salutes with ’ r i h o wa . Hipp lyte s sh ps T ree days later, on 2 1889 August 2 , , Le gitime, who had been unable to mainta in his authority and saw a crushing a defea t staring him in the f ce , sailed from Port u a Prince for Jamaica , and Hippolyte became the his in undisputed ruler of Haiti . Evidently eas d r of hi s cr e duties equ ired all time and thought , for he neglected to send me the million dollars so s s he had often promi ed me, or a commi sion as admiral of his navy ; but I had no disappoint as u s ments , I had cherished no ill ions . E RHAPS it was decreed by fate that I should become a filibuster in the cause of Cuban d liberty ; at any rate, the summons came, an e was responded to , in the way that distinguish s things which are foreordained . I was un ex pectedly projected into the situation when it was filled with disaster and discourag ement and the future of the “ Pearl of the Antilles ” seemed darker than it had been in any of the black days that had gone before . Cuba owes her freedom more to José Marti than to any other man , for it was his noble brain that conceived and planned the War of

Independence . After he had given his life for his country , it was the organization he had built up in years of labor that furnished the means i with wh ch to carry on the conflict . There have been no more men like Marti than there I have been others like George Washington or

Abraham Lincoln ; and , in justice to his memory and to make the whole matter plain , his work D should be understood . riven from his island ’ home at the end of the Ten Years War, he took ( 70 1 T H E C A L L O F C U B A L I B R E refuge in N ew York and immediately began to plan and work out a movement that would for ever blot out from the New World the tyrannical

his s . misrule of old enemie His chief adviser, and one of the very few who possessed his full confidence during the long years of his u nselfish hi labor, was s old friend Horatio S . Rubens , who su bseque ntly became general counsel for the

’ Marti s indomitable spirit took no notice of things that would have disheartened any but an extraordinary man . Though he lacked for s his n a time the upport of even own cou trymen , t as a resul of their successive reverses, he kept at work until he had created a far-reaching and exceedingly effective organization . Cuban clubs N h were secretly established in ew York, C icago , l Charleston, N ew Orleans , Tampa , Jacksonvi le,

Key West , and every other city where there was a s s Cuban colony . The member of these club , which

contributed ten per cent . of their wages to the revolutionary fund . With the money thus pro v ided Marti bought arms and ammunition , which were smuggled into Cuba in small quanti ties and hidden away until he was ready to strike , and perfected his plans in other ways . Though filled with the fire and fervor of the in n spired patriot, he was in no way impatie t ; so w long as he as making progress he was satisfied ,

[ 7 1 ] A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

w Finally all as in readiness , and arrangeme nts were made for the launching of the revolution 1895 i in January , , when three vessels , wh ch had

been chartered for the expedition , loaded with

arms, were to sail from Fernandina, Florida . One was to go to Santo Domingo and pick up M z comman derdn General aximo Gome , the h c ief, and his staff, while another went to Costa - M Rica for Lieutenant General Antonio aceo, ' who his a rt was to be second in command , and p y . M on The third ship, with arti board , was to s i proceed to Key We t, where it was to be jo ned r by a la ge party of Cuban exiles . The three vessels were to make a landing simultaneously

at the eastern end of the island, where the arms

were concealed . Marti had moved so secretly that he supposed no one outs ide of his organization had an in k of his was ling plans , but there a leak some

where , through which the project became known h at Washington . When the first s ip put out from Fernandina it was seized by a revenue cutter and the other vessels were prevented from li M sai ng . Undaunted by this disas ter, arti went to Santo Domingo on a regular liner and per su ad h ed Gomez to go a ead with the plan . Maceo as w summoned from Costa Rica, and the de e lay d expedition , much smaller in numbers than was it intended to be but with no less courage, landed from a little fishing-sloop near the city t oin of Santiago, close to t at which the first hegp T H E C A L L O F C U B A L I B R E

large body of American troops were landed three years later to complete the conquest of Spain in Cuba . The rebellious natives were anxiously awaiting the call to arms, and the revolutionary forces were z quickly organi ed , first in Santiago province and then i n Camagu ey and Santa Clara . Marti lived long enough to see the movement he had inaugu rated well u nder way, but it was the great est tragedy of the war that he did not survive ’ hi l r to witness the realization of s ife s one d eam . Knowing nothing of fear and disdainful of cau cos x s tion , he n tantly e po ed himself to danger, in spite of all that Gomez and his ofi cers could a do to re strain him . While far in dvance of the main body of troops he was killed by a small r Dos R s fo ce of Spaniards at io , in Santiago

r 15 1895 . c s p ovince, on May , As in the a e of Macaowhowas e , killed n ar Havana eighteen months later, his death was almost accidental , and it was some time before the Spaniards dis covered the rank and immrtance of their victim .

Then they counted themselves heroes, and were soproclaimed in Havana . The death of Marti depresse d the spirits of the revolutionists for a time almost to the point

n r were re ady e ough to continue the fight, egard realized that without active support in the United

[ 73 ] A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

l warfare for want of arms and other supp ies . w They looked to Rubens , who was a native Ne a he Yorker, to find some one to take ch rge of t or z M ha d and gani ation which arti created , , in u l ca sting about for a s itable man for the p ace , he s whowas hit on Toma Estrada Palma, then

conducting a school for boys at Central Valley , M n he New York . Like arti and ma y others, had ’ left Cuba at the end of the Ten Years War, his l r e had b confi and a g es ta tes een sca te d. The Spaniards offered to restore them if he would

return and take the oath of allegiance, but he swore he would never set foot on the island again

n b to take a y part in the revolution , which e con ’ si t o M dered hopeless , but w months after arti s

death he yielded to the arguments of Rubens, i and was appo nted Cu ban delegate at New York .

' Strictl s eakin there was noJu nta in this y p g, country during the war; there were delegates m all of the cities where there was a considerable

Cuban population . Those who were most active Mr were . Palma and J . A . Huau , of Jacksonville . They worked together harmoniously throughout war e a r the , but aft rward bec me enemies . M . Palma contributed very little of his own means

to the revolution , and was made the first Presi of Mr dent Cuba ; . Huau sacrificed hi s whole

fortune, and went without reward of any kind . There were many offices to which he might

have been appointed , in slight recognition ( fl [ 7 4 1

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

dent Cleveland and Secreta ry of State Olney by NI inister Dupuy de Lome, the Spanish at Wash on s ingt , resulte d in order to the Revenue Cutter Service an d to all cu stoms officers to exert them selves to the utmost to prevent filibustering expe ditions from leaving this country for Cuba . In his efforts to make it impossible for aid to reach De o the Cubans, L me engaged the Pinkerton D etective Agency, and also employed an army s ho c of pies, w worked independently of ea h other, to watch every one suspected of connec tion with the revolutionary movement .

The Pinkertons did legitimate detective work, but the Spanish spies were always ready and anxious to use foul means when they failed to accomplish their ends through the shrewdness they were supposed to possess ; they did not hesitate even when it came to arranging for wholesale murder . They bribed men right and left to give them information and commercial ized assassination by employing traitors to sink vessels carr in arms toCuba in the hoe of y g , p - terrorizing ship owners and filibusters. With the advance information they had purchased concerning the expeditions that were thus lost at sea , the Spaniards could easily have prevented t ur m or u heir depart e, or had the ve ha led by a [ 7 6 ] T H E C A L L O F C U B A L I B R E

revenue cu tter afta they had sailed , but they believed it would produce a more deterrent in fluence to have them mysteriously disappear wefl ofi shore without any regard tothe loss of expected that the traitor whosank the ship would take proper precautions to see that he was who fort one of those were saved , but, u

and the murderers went down with their victims . Another favorite method of the Spaniards was to indu ce the capta in of a ship that was taking out an expedition to tell them , in return for a large sum of money being the ordinary — fili price Where he was to land . When the busters and their arms had all been put ashore they wou ld find themsd surrounded by a concealed force of waiting Spanish troops, and in f i n h r massacred toa man a e w m u tes t ey we e , r for no prisoners we e ever taken in such cases . It seems incredible that captains could be found ’ whowere vile enough to sell men s lives for a few paltry dollars; to take patriots to what they knew was certa in death ; to travel with them as ship for t mates days and then put hem ashore , kn—owing they would be mu rdered in half an hour but M there were a number who did it . ost of them no be are w with the doubly damned , where they ho long, and the few w are still alive probably wish they were dead . Of course, these villain ou s ca ptains suffered no injury ; that was part [ 77 ] A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

n for of the agreeme t . If it was necessary the sake of appearance to seize the ship that lande d the filibusters, thevessel was invariably released w within a few days, and the captain as given a bonus to compensate him for his polite de

In consequence of the activity of the horde of spies and their willingness to hand out money ho was to any one w would betray a secret, there r much treache y , though never among the Cubans who had anything to do with the organization , and for some months things went strongly against

l . Mr. Pa ma Gomez and Mac eo were calling for arms and supplies with which to continue the

r m. war, but none could be delive ed to the

Numerou s expeditions were planned , but all of them were either held up just as they were ready to sail , or sunk at sea, or run into traps when they r reached Cuba, involving g eat and unnecessary loss of life, heavy and useless drains on the revo lu tionar y treasury , and bitter disappointments to the rebels .

In January , 1896, the steam fisherman Haw ki ns , under Captain Hall , was sent away from Montauk Point with a cargo of arms and a party of Cubans who were going down to join Gomez . Her sea-cocks were treacherously opened a few n off hours after her departure, and she sa k the of south shore Long Island , carrying down Jack h Lync , the chief engineer, and ten men . The man whowas paid to sink the ship went down [ 7 8 1 T H E C A L L O F C U B A L I B R E

with her , but I have always su spected that he did not meet death by drowning . The cargo,

of . course, was a total loss About the same time it was discovered that the captain of C mmodore the o , which , after having been held n up for a long while at Charleston , was the lying at Wilmington , had accepted to revea l to the Spaniards the landing-place of an expedi tion he was preparing to take out . On learning hi “ t s Horatio Rubens went to Wilmington , bor rowed ” from the captain all he had left of the —h bribe , which was $20 0 e had sent the balance to a relative in B rooklyn—and kicked him off the i sh p . The captain subsequently admitted that he had received from the Spaniards, but “ ” claimed that he had intended to double-cross them by telling them he was bound for some point i w far away from h s real destination . He as few drowned in the Gulf of St. Lawrence a years l ater , while bringing a ship around from the

Lakes to New York . In the same ill -fated month of January a cargo . of arms was seized on the steamship B ermuda ’ while she was lying ofi Bedloe s Island in N e w

York harbor, ju st as she was about to sail for r ho Cu ba with General Calixto Ga cia, w was w ’ “ ” kno n in the Ten Years War as The Terror, and several other prominent Cubans. There r uda ho was a Pinke ton man on the B erm , w sent in reports of everything that happened , and it was on information fu rnished by him that she ( 79 1 A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

as was deta ined an hour before she w due to sail . Her collection of hostile hardware was put ashore r e Ma unde a gu ard and was not rel ased until y ,

1898; and , to prevent any possibility of the ex i tion was ped getting away, the ship also seized , and deputy United States marshals were placed was s in charge of her . She ubsequently released , and before she finally sailed another ca rgo was spirited aboard . It included rifles , a

12- field- un pounder Hotchkiss g , revolvers , 0 0 2 short carbines, pounds of dynamite , mm machetes , and an abundance of a u n i f tion . All of the stu f was packed in boxes “ fi ” “ ” marked cod sh and medicines . ho General Garcia, w was one of the few men whohave ever escaped from the terrible Spanish M prison at Ceuta, orocco , had made several attempts to get to Cuba and take a hand in the i war, and th s last disappointment completely i n him as d shearte ed , it did most of the Cubans . t l There was s il more trouble in store for him, for M 13 h on arch t , nearly two months after the seiz of the B ure cargo, General Garcia , enjamin J .

Guerra, treas urer of the New York revolutionary l B e n e D . de gation ; Ber ardo J . u no ; John Hart, B ermuda B owner of the ; Captain John rabazon , master of the ship ; and Samuel Hughes , a navi gator employed by the Cubans, were indicte d in the Federal Cou rt for engaging to sail on a filibus rin te g trip to Cuba . They were arrested c s at once and pla ed under bond of each . [ 80 ] T H E C A L L O F C U B A L I B R E

This discouraging development so added to the anxieties of the Cubans that it made them des perate . x M 14 The ne t day, arch th , which was Satur

Mr. day , Hart sent for me and asked me to take i commmd of the exped tion . He explained the situ ation in detail and did not attempt to conceal as a its dangers they appe red to him , though , hav in b usinms g been in the same before , I knew more about that part of it than he did . He said the Cubans were extremely depressed by the con tinned disasters which treachery had brought upon them, and that unless this expedition could be cleared and safely landed he feared they would be forced to abandon their fight for liberty . He paid me the compliment of expressing confide nce r c that I could perform the task . Gene al Gar ia , he said , intended to jump his bail and go with the ship , and he pointed out that the arrival of i n the famous old fighter Cuba, with a large cargo

s . of arm , would put new life into the revolution He ofiered me $50 0 for the trip ; the depleted treasury prevented him from paying more.

Financially , the proposition did not appeal to was me at all , but that the least interesting fea fili rin ture of it . Any sort of a b uste g expedition would have tempted me away from prosaic f m onable piloting, provided it of ered any amount of adventure , but, above and beyond my natural inclination in that direction , my sympathies were strongly with the Cu bans , and [ 81 ] A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

I had more than once thought of offering them my services . Here was a chance tobe of real service to them , at the time when they were most in need of an honest man whokne w his

Mr. business , so Hart did not have to wait long

” When will you be ready to start? he in quired . “ ’ d him I m rea y now, I told Cle ar the ship M we for Vera Cruz , exico, and will sail in the morning . Have General Garcia and his party go to Atlantic City to-night and I will pick them u p off there . Send them down on the la st train

n there lo g, and keep them away from the town . They can arrange with a fishing-sloop to bring ' I f all s well w w the m ou t tous . goe e ill be ofi Atlantic City to-morrow forenoon ; if we are followed by an inquisitive revenue cutter I will loaf along during the day, double on my track and lose her during the night, and be standing by to take the general and his companions aboard M ” at sunrise on onday . The re was no way of proving that we were not V going to era Cruz , and , as there would be no w revolutionists on board when e left New York , the government would have no good reason for s l again seizing the hip , so I felt ittle anxiety

Mr . on that score . Ha rt was pleased with the

plan which I proposed , and after it had hm approved by the Cu ban leaders it was worked [ 89 ]

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way . We were not long about it, but before we were of u clear the Narrows three t gboats , filled with s u f deputy United State marshals , c stoms o ficers , and newspaper men , were tearing after us . They came so close that for a few minutes it looked as if they intended to board us , but they con tented themselves with ranging alongside and l peppering us with questions . I to d them noth ing more than that we did not have General

Garcia, nor any of his friends , on board . They hu ng onto us down through the lower bay and out past Sandy Hook , without getting enough information to pay for a pound of the coal they were furiously bu rning to keep up with us . I don ’t know how far they might have followed us bu , t, when ;we were well clear of the Hook, a kind fortune sent along a blinding snowstorm , which soon chased them back home . TREASON AFLOAT

FTER the tugs that set out to follow the B ermuda from New York had been lost in

the snowstorm that was sent to ai d us , we stood on to the eastward until we were too far from the shore for our smoke to be followed in case the n weather cleared sudde ly , and then turned south and ran down to Atlantic City to pick up General

Calixto Garcia and his companions . They came out to mee t us in a fishing-boat from Grea t Egg

Harbor, flying a white flag to identify them , and we got them aboard in short order and ' pro ceeded southward at full speed . The whole movement was executed so quickly that the was detectives were taken off their guard , and it not until four days later that they were sure as

to just what had happened . Then a frantic telegram was sent from Washington to all col lectors of customs on the Atlantic coast ordering the seizure of the B ermuda ; but we were half a w y to our destination by that time . who l With General Garcia , was the centra

Dr. figure in the party , were Joaquin Castillo

Mr. Duany, su bdelegate at New York under [ 85 ] A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

l n Palma ; and General Emi io Nu ez, chief of ex D r peditions for the revolutionists . . Enrique f Hernandez , who had an o fice at Ninetieth Street M n rofit and adison Ave ue, New York , left a p able practice to go along as staff - surgeon for

General Garcia . They were accompanied by nearly one hundred of their countrymen who at the last minute had taken advantage of what seemed to be a favorable opportunity to go home and engage in the war . General Garcia breathed easier when he saw the Jersey coast going down i 1n astem, with no pursuing sh ps sight, but he was still oppressed by the fear that the expedi tion would meet with no better fortune than those which had preceded it. “ ” x t u I never e pec to see C ba again , he kept - ffi telling his staff ocers. “ ’ ” Don t you worry about that, General , I “ told him . You are going to get to Cuba this time . “ ’ a That s wh t they have all told me, he te plied , mournfully . “ ou I never have told y that before, have I? ” No .

Then take my word for it . This time we will ” get you there . M y confidence impressed him a little, and he lost some of his melancholy ; but it was not until we got within sight of Cuba that he took a really cheerful view of things . At an appointed place below Cape Ha i ry We T R E A S O N A F L O A T o o hove to l ng en ugh to pick up eight la rge, fla t e e c our bottom d dori s , in whi h to land pas n se gers and the large cargo of arms . In all filibusta 'in g expeditions it is essential to put the r l cargo asho e as quick y as possible and get away , h d to t e more surely avoi detection . Using the ’ e two ship s boats, it would hav taken us days ' stu fl to land all of the we carried , and it was out of the questi on to take on the dories at N ew r h Yo k , so it ad been arranged that they should be waiting for us at a designated time and place .

With our cargo complete, we took a circuitous

course, to avoid coastwise trafi c and wandering ar- i r w sh ps and revenue cutters, for the easte n n B end of Cuba, goi g out around the ahamas

fe This involved some loss of time, but a w days made no difference as compared with the greater

to land in a little indentation in the coast be

tween Points Maravi and Aguacate , five miles of B is u west aracoa lighthouse , which abo t

thirty miles west of Cape Maysi , the eastern

end of the island . On the afternoon of March 25th I hove to off Inagua Island and looked the engines over care

fully , examined all of the be arings , cleaned the ss fires, and gave the firemen a lesson in smokele i l sta king , which is another th ng no fi ibuster can M aflord ver o. to o lo k ore than one expedition , otherwise well lanned has e p , come to gri f because [ 87 ] A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D proper precautions were not taken to preven t telltale smoke from pouring out of the ship ’s funnels . The Wise way to put on coal , when it is desired to hoist no signal which may result in capture, is to drop it in a heap inside of the furnace door, instead of throwing it far back and scattering it, and allow it to coke, after i wh ch it can be sliced up and pushed back . This

The fire that is handled in this way makes just as much steam as is produced by the ordinary off l method , and gives on y a very little thin , white smoke which can scarcely be seen even at a short dista nce . hobe We had on board two Cuban pilots w , cause of their supposed familiarity with the were tofix the course as soon as we made coast , out the land and direct the ship to the point was at which the landing to be made. One of them was a traitor, as I had suspected for some a time before it was proved , and the other w s at

soon after dark . The pilot who had been bribed to lead us into a trap declared it was the light at Cape Maysi , and insisted that we run down h -fi the coast for t irty ve miles , where I had no doubt the Spaniards were waiting for us in force, Th both afloat and ashore. e other pilot, as he r i h h a n r as toour was called, ag eed w t is p rt e location . I knew where we were, and I knew they were wrong . Aside from my reckoning [ 881 T R E A S O N A F L O A T the light at Cape Maysi could be seen for eigh h a t B as teen miles, w ile the one aracoa w only - ul an eight mile light, so there co d be no mis taking them by any man who was competent to command a catamaran on an inland lake . Vigorously and volubly the two pilots swore that we were headed for Cape Maysi , but I re fused to change the course, as they demanded . When they saw that they could not influence me , the traitor undertook to convince General whoas s was su Nunez, , chief of expedition , in preme authority on the ship, that I was betray be ing them , as they had often been betrayed fore, and that if I was permitted to have my way they would soon find themselves in a snare from which there would be no escape .

I could not speak much Spanish , but I knew enough of it to understand the argument that as discomfitu re w being made for my , and the situation was not a pleasant one . General Nunez knew nothing about me except what Ha rt ' him as suflered had told , and , the Cubans had somuch from false friends that it had become w an old story , it as natural to suppose, it seemed n to me, that he would put more co fidence in one of his own countrymen than in a comparative stranger. Still , the general appeared to have faith in me, and as the be st means of strengthen

ing it, and at the same time stopping the chatter

and saving a lot of bother, I ordered the two

alleged pilots off the bridge . The traitor did [ 80 ] " A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D not move rapidly enough to suit my rather im of two patient frame mind, so I placed or three hard kicks where they would be of the greatest assistance to him, much to the astonishment of

General Garcia and his party . General Nunez said not a word throughout this proceeding ,

all u n der and I had r at r for him from , g e espect that moment .

Setting our course by the lighthouse, I headed - we s in for the landing place . Naturally , were how n - ing no lights . The e gine room hatch was covered with tarpaulins, and there was a canvas cover over the binnacle light with a small hole through which just enough of the compass to steer by could be seen . The Cubans are inveterate l u n z smokers, but I had to d General N e there must be no smoking that night, under penalty of death , and he had given the order . When we were within about five miles of the coast I made out a Spanish gunboat coming u p from the eas tward , hugging the shore; probably she was on her way to the trap into which the rene t B gade pilo had planned to lead us . efore any on e else saw the war-ship I swu ng around in a

Wide circle to let her go by , and then stood on l h into the bight . The pi ot w owas only a fool lived close to where the cargo was to be landed, we h and when got close inshore he sa w is house, at the foot of Anvil Hill . “ !” Oh , look he whispered , excitedly ; there [ 90 ]

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r w hope of w ee ping , but wo d as brought back to me that he was literally cut to pieces by his companions a moment after he landed . He well deserved his fate . His partner was kicked and prodded with machete: all the way to the

Soon after General Garcia landed, his little force was joined by several hu ndred rebels who had come down to meet him and assist in carry ing the arms back into the mountains . While our cargo was being landed five Spanish war ships were lying just around the point in Bat a B a a coa y, not more th n five miles away . The next morning their commanders learned what had ' s r florts r happened , and de pe ate but futile e we e r made to captu re Ga cia . We steamed away as soon as the last boat-load was clear of the ship, and by daylight were around Cape Maysi and on our way to Puerto . u s e c of Cortes, Hond ra , where w took on a argo

. ez whowas bananas General Nu fi , in a hurry to get back to New York with the good news, left us there and went to New Orleans on the fast little steamer that carried the report of the

o . perforce, had been transferred to H nduras We stayed at Puerto Cortes no longer than was B necessary , for the ermuda was a B ritish ship ; that flag might drop in and make trouble for

[ 92 ] T R E A S O N A F L O A T

had landed a big expedition in Cu ba . Soon

after our departure this suspicion was verified , to the satisfaction of the Honduran govern

ment, and the old Scotch shipping agent through whom I had pu rchased the bananas was com lled pe to pay a fine, amounting to $5 for ea ch ’ e B erm a s m mber of the ud crew , for having done with a filib u business uster. I ha d paid him en ogh ' for the fruit sothat he could aflord to stand

this loss . He wrote Mr. Hart that , while he would be glad to sell him all of the bananas he

wanted , he hoped he would send no more fili

B efore leaving New York I had u rged that the ship retu rn to that port instead of to Phila

r . delphia, where Mr. Hart had his headquarte s ul I expected we wo d all be arrested , and I had pointed out that there would be much less chance of convicting us in New York than in Philadel N in phia . In ew York, with its large and flu ial ent Cuban colony, there was a great deal of public sentiment in favor of the revolution ; while in Philadelphia they didn ’t even know

, there was a war on in Cuba and the, Federal judge there believed that all filibusters ought a to be hanged . Consequently, I w s surprised when we put in at the Delaware B reakwater for orders to find directions to proceed to Phila

delphia . As I had no desire to get tangled up in

a lot of trouble that could be plainly seen, and

[ 93 1 A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D of the sort I liked I n s , co strued these order to apply only to the ship . Thirty miles below Philadelphia the tug which had the vessel in tow ce put me ashore in N ew Jersey , and I pro eded to my home near Newark . ’ B erm da s As I had expecte d , the u arrival at Philadelphia was quickly followed by the arrest M of Mr. Hart and Ed urphy, the mate, on a “ charge of violating the neutrality laws by con ducting an armed, organized expedition against ” Spain , and the crew were held as witnesses . Gen eral Nunez and I were included in the in dictment; but we went into retirement until m word was brought to u s that, if we would sub it to arrest, our cases would be transferred to New was us York for trial . That satisfactory to , al and we furn ished bail . Our tri came on in the h ul . B w o following J y Good old Judge rown , would have been a noble filibuster if he had not i been a great jurist, again defined the d fference “ ” between an armed , organized expedition and one which simply carried arms . Horatio Rubens, in our defense , argued that as the men and arms had been taken on board and put ashore sepa ratel y, they had no relation to each other, so e far as had been stablished by the evidence, and he contended that at the most we were guilty only of smuggling arms into Cuba , an offense with which an American court had nothing to do . He pleaded so eloquently that the jury disagreed ; it was said to have stood eight to [ 94 1

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been ashamed to admit it .

saw his way out of the muddle . In ways of which he was a master, but without making any definite statements , he conveyed to the judge and jury the idea that at the proper time he would attack the authenticity of the alleged con

on . fessi Mr. Hinman got the same impression and made the fortunate mistake of not putting the confession in evidence . From what had been said he figured that the capta in would go on the stand and deny that he had made any n confessio , whereupon he expected to tear the

Mr. defense topieces . Rubens encouraged this belief by stating to the judge in open court , in Mr response to a question from . Hinman which “ that gentleman considered adroit, that the defense would not take up more than half a

When the governmen t closed its case, Rubens set off a bomb himself by announcing that he f would present no defense, the in erence being that the evidence introduced by the prosecution was so weak that he did not consider it necessary al to combat it . This together unexpected move r left M . Hinman with a useless confession on roce his hands , for, under the rules of legal p

record . Rubens made the opening argu ment to the [ 96 ] T R E A S O N A F L O A T

jury . He denied that there had been any con “ ” fessi n o. l It is foo ish to suppose, he said , with a courtl bow in he ir i n y t d ect ooe . Hin “ man , that so able a lawyer as the assistant district attorney would have neglected to in trodu ce such a damaging piece of eviden ce if it ” had been available . i Mr. H nman sneered audibly at this thrust ’ and tossed the capta in s signed con fession across the table to Mr. Rubens, in a theatrical manner im calculated to mess the jury . Rubens glanced through the document and saw that the captain had told enou gh to send all of the defendants to ni the pe tentiary . Without the quiver of an s eyela h he threw his head back , and roared : “ ” There is nothing in this , referring probably to the method which had been employed rather than to the confession , though the jury got the “ meaning which he wished to convey . I ask the court to direct the jury to disregard this

Whole incident, except for the fact that the assista nt district attorney has acted improper ” ly . This instru ction was promptly given by

Mr. the judge, who was plainly annoyed by ’ m n Hin an s tactics . The judge did not k ow

Whether there had been a confession or not . His attitude indicated the belief that if there was such a confession as had been testified to, r i it was very strange that M . H nman had not introduced it when he was presenting the govern

[ 97 ] A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

Rubens reta ined possession of the confession throughout his argu ment , and frequently waved it before the jury, as though he wished above all things that he could show it to them and let them see for themselves , as he inferentially had

on the defendant . He could have said all he b had to say in half an hour, but e injected ' eloquent speech on Cuban hberty simply to Mr take up enough time so that . Hinman would not have an opportu nity to reply to his argu ment until after lunch . During the noon reces s Captain B rabazon was taken in hand . He was told that in his argu ment the assistant district attorney would allege that he had made a confession , and that when this statement was made he must rise to his feet in righteous indignation and pronounce w l it wholly false . He as repeated y instructed to be very dignified, but also very earnest . He learned his les son perfectly ; but as soon as he could get away from his instru ctors he proceeded n to take co siderable red liquor aboard . He wanted to make a success of his part of the per formance as , and , besides , he w filled with remorse . i When Mr. H nman reached B rabazon in his

closing argument , he turned slowly around and hi m faced , drew himself up to his full height , “ ” : D D and dramatically declared He I confess . In an instant the captain was on his feet an d s haking his fist at Hinman . With his eyes [ 98 ]

OUTWITTING AN ARMY OF SLEUTHS

HEN I returned to New York , after having ’ landed General Garcia and the B ermuda s l Mr . cargo of arms in Cuba, I found that Pa ma and his associate s were so pleased with the man ner in which the expedition had been handled that they were disposed to be enthusiastic . They insisted that I become a pa rt of their organization and remai n with them until the close of the war ; and I fin ally gave them my word that I would was do so . This decision prompted by nothing but sympathy with the cause for which they were fighting and the love of adventure ; for their treasury was always too low to permit any large l salaries , and I cou d have made much more money f as a pilot . If I had not by this time had a wi e and family to provide for I might have served without pay, but I had to consider them . It was agreed that one hundred dollars shou ld be sent to them every month , which would cover their expenses , as I owned my own home, and that I would be paid three hundred dollars for every expedition I landed . This latte r, I may u n add , was not always paid when funds were [ 10 0 1 O U T W I T T I N G T H E S L E U T H S available ; but that did not in any degree lessen my enthusiasm . When it is re membere d that the owners of the tu gboats We u sed were paid ten thousand dollars for every cargo that was no w shipped on them , whether or t it as landed u s in C ba , and that they ri ked only property , mi at a very high pre um , while I risked my life repeatedly for practically nothing i n the way of

financial reward , I think it will be conceded that I contributed something toward the freedom of

Cuba. I wes appointed navigator for the department ‘ as of expeditions, which w reorganized by General ' Nunez and made a really eflective instrument The other members of it were : Jose Eliseo

Cartaya and Pablo Rojo, aides ; Laureano Prado Frank P lu chi i and ag , eng neers ; and Justo Carillo , secretary to General Nunez . Colonel Federico

Perez Carbo was included for a time . It is worth while here to tell something of the char his r acter of Cartaya and sketch romantic ca eer, for he was one of the real heroes of the war and i one of those whosacr ficed most for their country . He was with me on practically all of my expedi tions , and a better or braver compa nion no man could want . Often have I seen him at hand s grip with death , but never have I known him to flinch or falter; he cared no more for whistling

as z He w born in Matan as , that home of the rugged old Canary Islanders whence come many 10 1 A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

187 6 of the best Cubans ; and in , when only eighteen years old , he was arrested , along with eight or ten others , for taking part in a revo ’ lu tiona ry conspiracy incident to the Ten Years

War . On account of his youth , and the fact that he could not be made to talk, either about was himself or the others , he eventually re r leased ; but his friend , Ca los Lopez, who was n one of the chief co spirators , was sentenced to eflo death . After all rts to secure his release had failed , Cartaya adopted a most daring method ' efl c l to e t his iberation . He joined the Spanish a ll Volunteers , who did guard duty at govern in ment buildings , includ g the prisons . The Volunteers were composed of Cubans whowere i r loyal to Spa n . They were mo e bitter and more n brutal than the Spa iards themselves , and were the more cordially hated by the rest of the

Cubans . Therefore there was much cursing of

Cartaya when he became one of them .

His real purpose was not suspected , and he was made a corporal as a reward for his supposed change of heart . He had to wait several months before an opportunity to carry out his plan pre sented itself . Then the sergeant of the guard a was taken sick one evening , and C rtaya found himself in command of the squad stationed at the prison in which his friend was confined . He s oz ou went to the prison and tarted to take L pe t, explaining tha t he was taking him tosee his family and would return with him before morn [ 10 2 1

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D launched he was making more than ten thousand dollars a year ; but he at once resigned his position ' fi Mr oered . . and Palma his services , without pay He was assigned to the department of expedi tions , where he served with such distinction that a t the close of the war hé was the only man whom Mr. Palma recommended to the War Department for a position in Cuba un der the in American occupation . He was made an s sto was pector of cu ms at Havana , and rapidly promoted until he was appointed collector of the port by General Wood . After abolishing graft and putting the service on a high plane of efi ci n him l e cy he resigned to go into business for x f. Du an who Dr. Joaquin Castillo y, ranked next was man to Mr. Palma in the delegation , a of the same type . He had been a surgeon in the

United States navy , and was a member of the B ea r his r polar expedition . He esigned com mission to fight for his own country . Through out the latter part of the revolution he suffered from a malady which demanded prompt su rgi cal attention ; but he refused to take time to be operated on . When he went to Paris , at the close of the war, and placed himself m the hands E u roan al it was toolate of the best pe speci ists , , un u alifi l and he died there . He was q ed y honest, and if he had lived he probably would have su c

as . ceeded Mr. Palma President of Cuba Gen w eral Nunez was another true patriot . He as e s clean , brave , and shrewd , and the thing d are t [ 10 4 1 O U T W I T T I N G T H E S L E U T H S

to his heart was the freedom of Cuba . He ’ fought valiantly through the Ten Years War, s and , like Cartaya , would not con ent to remain

in Cuba under Spanish rule . men Made up of such , it was natural that the department of expeditions should accomplish

what it set out to do . We had our own agents at different points , and our own method of com m i in un ca t g with one another . It was all very i simple, but also very effective , in prevent ng any of our plans from becoming known in advance to men who might betray them . Our secret cipher

code, which was used for both telegraphic and

mail correspondence , was based on a lot of pocket dictionaries , all exactly alike, which we - r picked up at an old book store . In deciphe ing a message one would look up the code word in his dictionary and then turn to the word in the same position on the second page following,

which would be the true word . This system permitted any number of changes 1n the positions was of the two words . The key carried in our l heads , so the loss of a dictionary cou d reveal no secrets, nor even suggest any , though it could il cause inconvenience . I lost mine once in W u l mingto , North Caro ina , just as I was prepar

ing to get an expedition away, and I had to go back into the bush and hide until a new one

was sent me by a messenger . When twomen ff were sent out separately by di erent routes , with

instructions to meet at a certain time and place, 8 [ 10 5 ] A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D each of them was given half of a card which had been torn in two so as to leave irregular edges . The matching of these halves served to identify ho the men , w often were strangers to each other, and vouched for each to the other . B e e y th se and other similamr methods , sugg sted by some experience in ha ing detectives, we guarded against the successful operation of the who spies were constantly at our heels . From the day that I returned from the B ermuda ex pedition until after the United States declared war a l o e against Sp in , my home in Ar ingt n, N w

Jersey, was watched night and day by at least two detectives , and for a part of the time by h four . W en there were only two of them one watched the front of the house from a patch of woods across the street, in which he ridiculously i tried to conceal h mself, while the other stood guard over the rear . They never bothered me much except when they sou ght to pry into the privacy of my home life by peering through the ’

Mrs . O B rie shutters at night . n rather broke them “ ” of that bad ha bit when she inadvertently threw a pot of boiling water over one of them when she heard him sneaking around in the dark on the ba ck porch . After that I had a few powerful bea r-traps concealed i n strategic pom n tio s about the house every night, and the de tectives lost much of their interest in my strictly u private affairs , tho gh they relaxed none of the ir

[ 10 0 ]

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

i drink and tell them where I was go ng . Their chagrin , when they saw that I knew them , was highly amusing . They were always puzzled to know how I picked them up so quickly ; but, though they never suspected it, all of the credit was due to Fisher . The detectives and spies were active enough ll to earn a they were paid , but they rarely found out anything we were not willing they should was know . The result that until our plans were ready for execution there was no one outs ide of the littl e inner circle whohad any definite idea as to what we proposed to do . When the time came for action we knew whom we could trust ; but we trusted them only so far as was required by their share in the proceedings. The treach ery from which the Cubans had suffered on every hand prior to the landing of General Garcia practically ceased from that time . 896 On July 27 , 1 , just as we had the depart ment well organized and were preparing to get down to business , President Cleveland issued his as second neutrality proclamation , which w much more vigorous than the one that had preceded “ n it a year before . In it citizens of the U ited States and others within their jurisdiction ” were warned to abstain from violating the neu “ trality laws by in any way contributing to the armed resistance to the established government ” of Spain then prevailing in the island of Cuba . They were notified that they must not furnish [ 10 81 O U T W I T T I N G T H E S L E U T H S

a arms to the rebels , nor aid in the transport tion of any military expe dition , and that all vio la tion s of the la w wou ld be vigorously pu nished . “ To that md the co-operation of all good citi ” zens was invoked and all executive ofi cers of “ the Uni ted Stata were enjoined to use the u t in most diligence preventing , prosecu ting, and h punishing infractions t ereo. This plain-spoken pronu nciamfantoassured us that we could expect nothing but active hostility w from Washington ; but, as e had cou nted on nothing else, we were not unduly depressed . h r. c w o Neither M Cleveland nor Mr. M Kinley, him w e succeeded , as influenced in the slight st degree by public sympathy for the Cubans . They complied with both the letter and spirit of the law and did everything in their power to pre

b . u n vent and punish fili ustering If , in their offici al hearts , they wished well of the brave fight that was being made to establish a sister repub~ lie in Cuba , they concealed that sentiment so well that no one ever suspected its existence . ’ Clearly enough , Mr. Cleveland s second warn ing was aimed particularly at the Cuban delega tion in New York ; and it had the efiect of con siderably upsetting and u nnerving Mr . Palma . He was for leaving this country at once and

establishing headquarters in Santo Domingo, where there is always much sympathy for a

revolutionary movement , domestic or foreign . our or However, with full confidence in new [ 100 1 A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D ganization and its ability to handle things in u a manner that would avoid any serious tro ble , we persuaded him that such a course was both u unnecessary and unwise . Instead of r nning wa away , we argued , the proper y to reply to ’ as Mr. Cleveland s proclamation w to send to as a l Cuba , quickly s possible, the argest expedi tion that had ever been landed there . The f im e fect of this, we pointed out, would be to press the Admi nistration at Washin gton and the whole country with the strength of the re volu fi h tion , gain public sympathy by showing a g t

' s iri ing p t, an d at the same time revivify the rebels . There was much discu ssion of this plan ; Mr i — a but . Palma finally—approved t though I fe r th some misgivings and we proceeded to carry ' it into efiect. From a firearms manu facturing company at B w ridgeport, Connecticut , e ordered three thou sand rifles , three million rounds of ammunition , three twelve-pounder Hotchkiss field-guns and six hundred shells , several tons of dynamite with which to blow up railroad bridges and a all do other dam ge , and a lot of machetes , of which were to be ready for delivery with

in five days . This was much too large a cargo to be transported in one of the tugs

we were compelled to use , to negotiate nar row passages between the reefs and go close inshore where the arms were to be delivered ; r - - so the Lau ada , a one thousand ton steamship [ 110 ]

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

the delegation in New York , though they were

. Mr not so much in the limelight . Huau was never called on for money that he did not re ond was n or sp , and his home always ope to sick

f . Mr Fri . tot otherwise un ortunate Cubans , who was was his nephew, cast in the same mold . He was born in Cuba of French- American paren who t tage . His father, had been mas er mechanic M s of the Savanilla Railroad at atanzas, wa driven intoexile after having been twice im prisoned for his revolutionary tendencies . He fi n died from the e ects of his co finemen t, and the son grew up with a bitter hatred of everything

Spanish . Fritot was the active worker atJacksonville, and in the ways that were open to him he was the most useful member of the whole revolutionary organi za tion ashore . He was at that time joint agent n for all of the railroads runni g into Jacksonville , and his position made it possible for him to do things of tremendous value which no one else could have done . He had the advantage, too , of living in a hotbed of Cuban sympathizers ; it was not safe to speak a kind word for Spain e anywhere in Florida . The detectiv s who were assigned to watch him had many trou bles . When he sa w a stranger whom be suspected of bein g a spy hanging around the depot , he would have the special officer at the sta tion arrest him on a charge of vagrancy or on general principles—it made no difference which . The prisoner was ( 112 1 O U T W I T T I N G T H E S L E U T H S

ca r u searc l ef lly hed at the po ice sta tion , and his r oom was alsoransacked . If anything was fou nd toindica te that he might be a detective he was con victed of vagrancy without ceremony or de la y and sent to the rock pile or the turpentine r r hi r n u fa m for f om t ty to inety days, witho t n the option of a fine . In aggravated cases co spiracy charges were framed u p against the

detectives , the proof was promptly produced in u ab ndance, and they were sent away for as long as six months at very ha rd labor . If any there be who profess to feel shocked by a frank sta tement of these methods, let them re member that the Cubans were fightin g an enemy that was still living in the dark ages in its principles of governing its colonies ; enemy which resorted unhesita tingly to bribery and murder by the wholesa le, and one from ff whose bru ta lity all Cu bans had su ered , direct ly or indirectly . They were fighting, too , with the fury of desperation in what they believed to be a final effort to achieve their freedom , for they realized that if this revolution was sup pressed it would be followed by a policy of extermination so complete that a new genera tion must come up before the fires of liberty u could again be lighted . Tho gh it may seem ’ that Fritot s way of dealing with the men who - e were se nt to spy on him was high hand d and a generous with unlawful , he was , in re lity , a an them ; for he had but to raise his h nd . and y A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D of the all i detectives , or of them , would have been lynched in five minutes . No fear of pu nish ment deterred him from going to this extreme, for public sentiment would have unanimously approved the lynchings . It is supposed that “ all is fair in love and war , and , if the Cubans sometimes went beyond the letter of the written law, it can never be truthfully claimed that they were nearly so lawless, so treacherous , or so murderous as the Spaniards .

James Floyd , a Jacksonville pilot who had a ’ master s license, was placed in command of the a ntless D u , and in a day or two she left B runs wick and proceeded leisurely down the coast l to the mouth of the Sati la River, sixty miles north of Jacksonville, ostensibly in search of a wreck . Under her coastwise license she could go anywhere without regard to the Custom- House regulations governing ships bound for foreign was ports . Floyd a negro ; but everything was about him except his skin white, and he had a great deal of shrewdness . As soon as Rubens telegraphed us that the Dmmtless i had been purchased , th ngs began to

- move rapidly . Twothirds of the arms were ordered to New York at once ; the other third , which filled two cars , was shipped to Jackson Lo' rada w ville by express . The u , which as re in ported to be go g to Jamaica for fruit, left Philadelphia with instructions to proceed to B i of arnegat Light , forty m les south New York, [ 114 ]

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

l was going on , we began hust ing our cargo out of the steamer and across the pier into the n lighter , with the aid of a large party of Cuba s who had been concealed on the latter craft . At midnight , by which time all of the arms had d been transferred , a tug slipped up , quietly ma e fast to the lighter , and towed it away . I went aboard the tug to direct operations , and we Lou rada steamed to B arnegat Light to meet the , which had left Philadelphia the previous mom n a ing . General Nu ez came out from Atl ntic

City in a launch and joined us . We met the Lou ada r at the appointed place , well outside of

- the three mile limit, and our cargo was put on ar bo d of her , along with fifty Cubans who were w to assist in landing it . She as ordered to pro c eed slowly to Navassa Island , where I told Murphy I would meet him in twelve days with

Dau n l s u fi z Dr. the tes ; and General N e , Castillo, and I returned to the city on the tug . The empty barge was anchored in the upper ba y , and e we were landed , late at night , at a d serted dock as on the Jersey side of the Hudson . It w not until I got home that I was picked up by the detectives, four of whom were anxiously watch ing the hou se . They knew I had not forsaken them for nothing , but they had no idea. what I had been Up to . When they discovered that we were planning another expedition to Cuba and got on our trail , they were thrown off the m scent in a way that was new to the . [ 116 ] HOW FRED FUNSTON WENT TO CUB A

HE day after the good ship Lau rada left N w e York with a cargo of arms , of which she was to be relieved by the Dau ntless at sa n Navas Island , General Nu ez and I , with two detectives at our heels , sta rted by rail for Charles Commodore ton , South Carolina, where the , which was owned by the Cubans and had done filib rin some uste g work , was lying , with a revenue cutter standing guard over her . She had no so w s s s arms aboard , there a no excu e for eizing her ; but the government was determined she shou ld not get away again . Soon after our ar rival I sent word to the captain of the Commo dore s s was to get team up . Thi done to convey s the idea to the au thoritie , who were so excited over the presence of rea l filibu ste rs that they were ready to believe anything, that we would h try to use her . I wanted to make su re that t e cutter wou ld stick close alongside of her . In the mean time Horatio Rubens had left a B runswick , where he had concluded the de l for the purchase of the Dau ntless so qu ickly and h quietly that no unfriendly eyes ad seen him, [ 117 ] A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

and had gone to Jacksonville, where he paraded himself so prominently that the spies were on his track in no time . He consulted openly with ac Mr. Huau and other tive revolutionists , and quickly caused the immession able sleuths to conclude that an expedition was to be sent out tu Three Friends on the g , which had made one w trip to Cuba for the rebels, and as then lying in the river in front of the city . Hence it followed that the only other revenue cutter which was near enough to the scene of action to give us any trou ble was hurriedly su mmoned to watch the Three Friends; this was before ou r continued success had caused the force of cutters in those waters

- to be enlarged and augmented with war ships . The detectives must have thought we were moving very awkwardly ; but they soon knew better . I will say for the Pinkertons , and the famed Secret Service Operatives and special

Treasury agents , that one could seldom do the same thing twice in the same way , right under a their noses , without almost cert in detection . That is all I can say in commen dation of their e on shrewdn ss ; and , as , with e exception , I never tried to trick them twice by precisely the same n ff method , their o ly e ectiveness was in compe l i u l ng us to think p new ideas , which was not difficult . At Charleston we found General Rafael Cu brera in command of a force of seventy-five n who Cuba s , were to accompany us ; previously [ 118]

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

Late in the afternoon of the day they arrived we rounded up our little party and hustled to the Atlantic Coas t Line depot (then the Plant

Line! just in time to catch a train for Jacksonville, leaving the Commodore with smoke pouring from c her funnel . We occupied a coa h at the rear of

had . the train , which been reserved for us The detectives divided their force when they saw us start for the station , and a dozen of them wished to join us as traveling companions ; but they were as told that ours w a private car, so they were obliged to content themselves with the coach ’ w ahead . About ten o clock that night e reached w c Callahan , t enty miles north of Ja ksonville, where the Seaboard Air Line (then the Florida r ss s Central Peninsular! c o e the Coast Line. As we fca me to a st0 p our coach was quietly u n coupled , and when the train pulled out we were

. B left behind y the time. the detectives dis covered we were no longer with them they could not jump off without breaking their necks , and the train had orders from the general manager to run through to Jacksonville without stopping for any one . B efore the train was out of sight an engine backed down and coupled up to our car, switched us over to the Seaboard track , and headed for the coast . At a blind siding in the woods some miles east of Callahan we stopped to pick up the had been shipped from Bridgeport to Jackson ( 120 1 H O W F U N S T O N W E N T T O C U B A

ff ville. These cars had been dropped oat Cal lahan, through a private order from headquarters, an d the detectives were still waiting an d watch ing for them in Jacksonville . All of this jugglery n r a was in tra spo t tion due to the astu te Mr.

Fritot who us a . , joined at Ch rleston At Callahan we picked up two Cuban pilots whowere su p posed to have an intimate acquainta nce with the s a s coa t at the pl ce where we were to land . We ’ Fritot s were then in territory , and he was re sponsible for the safe departure of the expedi Th w tion . e first thing he did as to look the l sa s s party over carefu ly , to ti fy him elf there were u s no spies aboard . When he reached F n ton he showed some suspicion . “ ” Who are you ? he sharply inquired .

Fred Fu nston . Where a re you going? o ” T Cuba . What for?

To fight Spaniards, the same as all of these ” other men . “ How do you know they are going to fight ” Spaniards? “ They told me so in New York, and they told mi me I ght come along . “ Who told you tha t?

Mr. ! . ayas, the secreta ry of the Junta ’ s Funston s answers had the ring of hone ty, and the interview might have ended there if a who as young daredevil named Welsford, w 9 [ 121 ] A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

sitting beside him , had not sought to help matters along when he saw that Fritot sti ll

’ We re not only going to fight Spaniards , he “ ’ e said , with offensive braggadocio ; but w re h w ’ fi’ going tokill t em. Then e re going tocu t o ’ h B ef re e an trin em on a lin e . o v their ears d s g t I been 1n Cuba a month I expect toha ve a string ” to r that long . And he spread out his arms thei full length . Fritot studied both men for a long half- min “ l u te . That sounds ike spy talk, he told Wels “ ford . We are not depriving any Spaniards of their ears; but I thi nk we will deprive ourselves of the company of you two gentlemen right ” here . He reached for the bell -cord to stop the train but paused before giving the signal to discuss the situation with some of the Cuban leaders . After an earnest exchange of opinions it was de cided to allow the twoAmericans to accompany the expedition ; but thoey were to be closely watched , and if it devel ped , after the landing , that they really were spies , they were to be shot without further ceremony . Formal and strict instructions to this effect were given to General whowas Cabrera, admonished to keep the two men 1mder his own observation and see that hi m they did not give the slip before we sailed , if su ch was their intention . “ e We will see that you g t to Cu ba, all right, [ m l

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D an extra su l of coal whi ch was crammed pp y , into our bunkers and piled on deck ; and before the sun was far up we were off for Cuba , with never n a sign of interfere ce . When our departure he came known , the Spanish government entered a in scorching protest at Wash gton . The special Treasury agent in charge of the horde of sup posedly shrewd men who had been assigned to prevent us from getting away stated , in his f “ official report of the a fair, that the expedition had been so artistically handled that detection ” was . had impossible He , he said , every rea son to believe we would attempt to start from of Charleston or Jacksonville, and both these ports were guarded by revenue cutters . 14 We left Satilla River on August th , and three days later General Cabrera and his men and the cargo were put ashore close to Point

n ] as . Are a , twelve miles east of Nuevit In mak i ng this landing our experience with the previous was expedition repeated , when it developed that r as at least one of ou volunteer pilots w a traitor . He tried torun the Dau ntless on a reef an if , d I ha d i not been keep ng a sharp lookout, partly as a resu lt of what I had seen of Cuban pilots on B ermu da the , he would have piled us up high and dry . I sa w there was no water where he was s toos heading for, and I was not a econd oon in signaling the alert Paglu chi to go fu ll speed s m t h a te . Just as the ug lost way er how stru ck the reef and stuck fast ; but by getting all [ ml H O W F U N S T O N W E N T T O C U B A

hands aft we managed to back her off . As in erfi o the previous instance , the p di us pilot was ll ki ed by the Cubans the moment he landed , and his partner narrowly escaped the same fate . No native pilot ever accompanied me on an ex pedition after that ; I preferred to take chances on finding my own way into strange places rather than run the risk of repeated treachery . The coast was clear when we made out the landing-place ; so we went close inshore before an d l w dark began to un oad , though it as an ex tre mel s y dangerous place, for there wa no cover of ’ a . B ny kind etween nine and ten o clock , while we e e were getting the rifl s ashor , a Spanish gun boat , all lit up like an excursion steamer, hove in sight around a point seven miles to the east ward . We were not showing any sort of a light, but it was ce rtain that if we stayed where we she were would see us as she went by, hugging

so . the shore, we had to get out in a hurry The situation was such that we had to take a course parallel with hers for several miles before we could get far enough ahead to cross her bow without being seen . Then I ha uled out to sea l and watched her go grand y by . We stood eight miles offshore u ntil daylight and then went back in and finished the unloading . “ ’ ” h n You ve got a lot of c eck, said Fu ston , whohad stayed on board to help get the cargo

- into the landing dories, when I started back for

[ 126 1 A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

’ You ve got to have cheek to succeed in this ” business, I told him . Twohours after we had cleared away another gunboat showed up from the westward ; but its officers must have been sound asleep , for they detected none of the evidences of the landing which had just been made . It took three days to get the field-gun and all of the arms back into the bush , but no part of them was lost . fift - The cartridges were packed in y pound boxes , lined with tin and sealed , so they could be dumped out in shallow water and taken ashore when it was convenient. From Nuevitas we went to Navassa Island u r - to meet the La ada , arriving there thirty six hours ahead of time . She showed up exactly at the appointed time and anchored close to ' e took fl half of her r f the rock . W o pa ty o

Cubans and half of her cargo , which we landed in broad daylight on the afternoon of Saturday , u 22d oN iaco Aug st , at Santa de Arg , a little cove twelve miles west of Santiago . There were sev war-s eral hips at Santiago , and the city was full of Spanish troops ; but I had discovered that the gunboats which patrolled the coast made a practice of ru nning into some large noon on Saturday and lying there un D n morning . uri g this unwatched interval it was reas onably safe to make a landing at almost any place that was not in plain sight of some

- Spanish blockhouse or watch station . We re [ 126 1

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D negro will gladly perjure himself for a sufficient consideration . With the landing of our last cargo the La u rada went to Jamaica to load fruit for Charleston , Da u ntless and the headed up for Key West . She ' ufi ez Rolofl steamed up north of the city , and N , , and I rowed ashore in a small boat, while the tug went on to Jacksonville ; we knew she would be r seized , and we wanted the t ial held in a friendly l fl' . n R oo port Nu ez , , and I drifted into Key Wes t after dark and went to the home of a rich e Cuban , where w were secreted until I had part ly recovered from a fever brought on by having been on the bridge continuously for a week , when we went on to Jacksonville . her load of fruit the detectives got hold of the six who Jamaicans were in her crew , and , in return n for their evide ce , agreed to pay them seventeen s dollars a week until the case was di posed of . Gen ’ D - al N u ii ez . rt La mado er , John Ha , owner of the , M and Ed urphy , her commander, were indicted for filibustering . Hart was tried in Philadelphia B who before Judge utler, the man hated fili busters , and convicted . He was sentenced to i n n sixteen months the pe itentiary , and event ua lly served four months before a pardon could be secured for him. Of all of the men whoen gaged in filibusterin g during the Cuban revol u was tion , Hart the only one who was convicted, ' and his only oflense consisted of owning two [ 198 ] H O W F U N S T O N W E N T T O C U B A ships tha t were used and employing me to take a command of the B ermu d . ne M Nu z and urphy were tried in New York , w ith Horatio Rubens to defend them , and got off without much trouble . The Jamaica negroes told their story , which was damaging enough so long as they stuck close to the truth ; but one ho s a i of them, w was e pecially anxious to e rn h s e pay, went farther than the rest . He swor that “ ” “ ” he ha d read Dynamite and Fuses on Lau rada boxes which the carried , and that he “ ” Dau ntless B had seen , runswick , Georgia, on the tug that took off her cargo . Rubens made him repea t these:statements on cross-exa mina “ s D tion , and then a ked him to spell yna I t o mite . developed that the negro could n t a fol read or write , and a verdict of acquitt l lowed . The Dau ntless was seized as soon as she poke d i her nose into Jacksonv lle, and the authorities undertook to confiscate her, on the ground that — she had gone to a foreign port meaning Navassa

Island, for they could not prove she had gone — n s to Cuba o a coa twise license . Rubens ex ploded this theory by producing the Revised s i Sta tute , wh ch , much to the surprise of the ’ s government lawyers, gave the United States t he jurisdiction over Navassa Island . Then n d government determined to indict me ; a , as I chose to remain in Jacksonville, where the cli mate at that particular time was most congenial , [ 129 ] A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D the Jamaica negroes were taken there to testify before the Federal grand jury . When the train on which the Jamaicans were traveling reached ias Callahan , a crowd of enthus tic Americans in t i off sisted on ak ng them and lynching them . n Fortunately for the be ighted blacks , Rubens happened to be on the same train , and he per suaded the would-be lynchers to abandon their plan , but not until after he had argued with them more earnestly than he ever had to plead with a jury to secure an acquittal . The negroes identified me easily enough and a told all they knew , but the jury un nimously refused to vote an indictment . Negro testimony ’ didn t count for much in Jacksonville, and anti of Cuban testimony , no matter what the color ’ the witnesses, didn t count for anything at all . u z After his dismissal in New York , N fie was taken filibuste to Jacksonville and tried again for ring, c Dau ntlesa and this time with referen e to the , again acquitted . This left the government with no legal ground for holding the Dau ntless, and as she w released .

With all of thes e little annoyances removed, we turned our minds to the shipment of more “ ” aid and comfort to Cuba . The next expedi tion was noteworthy from the fact that it in cluded one of the recently invented Sims - M Dudley dynamite guns . y recollection is that this unique W eapon , which had been tried out o l on L ng Is and some weeks before, was the first ( 130 1

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

cabinet, and more recently speaker of the w house in the Cuban congress , of which he as — one of the dominan t figu res whowas to aecom D r. pany him ; General Nu fi ez ; Castillo ; Cartaya, and I started south from New York . We were e trailed by a dozen detectiv s, and for their bene

fit we first went to Savannah, as though trying to dodge them , and then to Charleston , where Comm d re we repeated the bluff of using the o o , which was still lying in the harbor under guard of a revenue cutter . While the sleuths had their eyes glued on the Commodore i , wh ch was getting steam up and sending black smoke streaming out of her stack in a way that would have been criminally care e less under other conditions, w slipped away to Fritot had m Jacksonville, where ade arrange ments for us to continue our journey in style .

The private car of Mr. J . R . Parrott, vice president and general manager of the Florida

East Coast Railway, had been placed at our dis al was pos , with an engine, and the special train n Mr s waiti g for us . . Parrott wa una ble to ac company u s ; but he sent his general su pe rin ' Mr . G fl . . o tendent, R T , to make it appear that a few of his friends were goin g down the line on an inspection trip . Fredericks rode with us ; but it was not long until several members of the party wished it had been possible for him to make the trip by some other route . He carried a shabby old valise to which none of us had pre [ 139 1 H O W F U N S T O N W E N T T O C U B A viously paid any attention ; but it seemed so much out of place in the han dsomely appointed private ca r that every one took a good -na tured d kick at it . Fre ericks laughed so loudly as he saw it being knocked around that some one i asked him what it conta n ed . “ Nothing but fulminate-of-mercury de ton ” i ators, he repl ed . “ What are they for? se t off n To the shells from the big gu . Are they more explosive than dyna mite ? n O ly ten or twenty times as much so. This sta rtlin g information put t he la ugh on the a oc us, much to the enjoyment of di b li a l Fredericks ; and the first man whorega ined the use of his legs tenderly deposited the r e ve r e ntly respected gripsack in a state - room a nd locked the door . It seemed a miracle that fulminate of mercu ry could be subjected to su ch brutality w n ithout explodi g, and there was enough of it s in the vali e to have blown all of us to bits . we s a The fact that ran as a peci l , a nd that the train as it left Jacksonville consisted only of M ’ r. the engine and Parrott s car, prevented any inquisitive persons from surreptitiously aecom panying us ; and there was no train on which

they could follow us until the next day . A short distance below the city we picked u p the two

- ca r loads of arms and ammunition , which had been run down and placed on an obscure side track ; and at New Smyrna we added twoday [ 133 ] A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

-fiv who coaches containing seventy e Cubans , had been brought over from Tampa on a special B i was train . At Palm each , wh ch deserted at that time of the year , the train was run out on the Florida East Coast dock alongside of the

was u s . w Da u ntless, which waiting for It as an easy matter to get the cargo aboard of her , and she wa s steaming toward Cuba in a few n hours . Nu ez and I were barred from aecom panying her by a ru se of the Spanish minister who at Washington , , having become suspicious was that another expedition under way, had usterin a the filib g charge ag inst us , growing out B ermuda h of our trip with the , moved up on t e

docket and set for trial within a few days . Con Dr s sequently . Ca tillo took charge of the ex

ition ai . . Three ped , and Capt n W H Lewis , of the Da u Fri ends, went in command of the ntless . The expedition was landed on the night of 26th October , at the mouth of the San Juan f River, fi teen miles east of Cienfu egos . While it was being unloaded a little Spanish gunboat went by close inshore ; but she failed to notice n the Da u tless . General B etancourt was so slow in getting the arms back into the bush that a

large part of them were lost . They were left

lying around on the beach for four days, with the natural result that they were discovered by

- a passing war ship and captured . The dynamite

gun was saved , largely through the energy of the untamed Fredericks ; but half of the rifles

MIKE WALSH DRAWS B LOOD

HR E E cargoes of arms and ammunition landed in Cuba by the Da u ntless within a week , followed by another one two months later ; and the government ’s inability to convict any of those whoplayed an active part in the ex peditions se t the Washington authorities by s the ears . Pre ident Cleveland was thoroughly angry over the way in which his neutrality n proclamation had bee defied ; and , by his di rection , peremptory commands were issued which he believed would assuredly put an end to fili in b ter . us g The Spanish government, which had been complaining bitterly of our freedom of u action, was advised of these additional preca i t ons , and the chiefs of both capitals took fresh hope that there would be no further straining of their diplomatic relations . Increased activity by the Reven ue Cutter D Service was ordered , and the Navy epartment was called on for assistance ; the latter we re garded as a great compliment , even though it added to the difficulties we were obliged to over

- . Vesuvi us u come The dynamite cru iser , nder [ 186 ] M I K E W A L S H D R A W S B L O O D

Li n ~ der e u ten a t Comman . i John E P llsbury , was sta tioned at Jacksonville to prevent any more

expeditions from leaving that port . She remained ofl' M there, the arket Street wharf , for more

Mr. than a year, and Pillsbury and Lieutenant fli . oc r John E Quinby , the executive e , did all they had todo ; if anything escaped them it was i - becau se , making no pretense at m nd rea ding, they could not always tell what was about to arb ad happen . The fast cruisers M lehe and Raleigh and the l ight- draft gunboat Marietta were assigned to patrol the coast from Key

. ad West to Jacksonville In dition , half a dozen revenue cutters were directed to watch the ports north of Jacksonville and cruise along the n coast . The authorities were confide t that a barrier had been esta blished which it would be

impossible for us to break through . On shore

the force of detectives was largely increased , and all customs offi cers were cautioned against slu mber when any suspected filibusters were in

sight . This activity against the Cubans produced

one particu larly amusing incident . Early in 189 6 D November, , Mr. Rubens heard that onald McN eil] , a machine and engine builder of B ho as rooklyn , w w on my bond for on the old filibu stering charge resulting from the B ermuda expedition , was getting nervous ; so he advised me to disa ppear for a few days until he could find some one else to furnish secu rity 10 [ 187 1 A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

Hol rod B m for me . The y o , a ritish tra p steamer , B was just then in need of a pilot to oston , and B e I took the job . efore w had made fast to the dock in B oston the vessel was surrounded by l detectives , Secret Service operatives , specia

Treasury agents , deputy United States marshals ,

ofi ce rs z n . customs , and Spanish spies by the do e The enraged ca pta in and his mate s actually ' kicked them ofl the ship until they were ex ha uste d. The funny part of it was that the Holyrood was actually bound for Cuba with a i perfectly legitimate cargo, for wh ch she went to B oston ; but no power on earth could get the idea out of the wise heads of the detectives that she was to be loaded chiefly with munitions of r war. They were the most inquisitive and e — p sistent bloodhounds with apologies to all fou r —I legged bloodhounds had ever seen , for they were positive they had , at last , made a real dis covery . I enjoyed the joke until the captain could no longer kick hard enough to make a detective howl . Then I returned to New York , where I was met with the cheerin g news that my bondsman had no fear that I would run away . I then wen t to Jacksonville to arrange to get another expedition away, for the Cubans were

l . cal ing for more arms General Weyler , who had succeeded the comparatively gentle Martinez n his Campos as Captain General , was buildi g famous trocha across the narrowest part of the [ 138 ]

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D but after that the price was reduced to

‘ ou t The crew got double pay while they were , an d from $50 0 to was distributed among them after each trip . B y devoting the B ou nties: to lawful naviga for m tion the greater part of the ti e, she acquired

and the authorities were confused . It never would have done for us to use one ship all of i h riends a the t me . The T ree F w s also towing between Jacksonville and the bar when I reached B the city . oth vessels were closely watched by Vesuvi s s r was the u, but unles the e something suspicious in their movements or in the general i - s tuation , the war ship did not follow them up r r r and down the iver on thei outine trips. My presence soon started some talk that we were planning another violation of the neutrality b no law ; ut I pretended to be sick, and was t Fri o much in evidence . The unfailing t t, for whose geniu s for deception I had come to have o r great admirati n , and I were wo king together , and our tracks were sofaint that no one seemed able to follow them .

The clever detectives decided that, if there really was anything doing, we would use the Dau ntless of r un , on account her ecord of v success ; sowe natu rally selected the Three

F iends . . to r George L Baltzell , collec r of cus -fi toms at Fernandina, twenty ve miles u p the s who coa t , was the most faithful kind of a pub M I K E W A L S H D R A W S B L O O D lic scrvan t and one of thc fe w men in Florida

Cu bana had bem indu lging in much lou d talk

sonville wha i eva the wan t to he fre u en y , q tly “ declared ; but l wou ld like tosee the m try toget - ’ ’ on e out ofFei nandina b y gosh ! I ll na il emtothe cros in a hol minu te if the sta rt an ‘thin h r s y y y g e e . ” Fernandina was as good a place as we kn e w to t ro sowe o d accommo of star f m, c nclu ed to

l . date the e xplosive Mr. Baltzel When our r o l plans we e c mp ete d we telegraphed Mr. two - d u Palma , and car loa s of revol tionary ss equipment, including one Hotchki twelve u r one us r fl s u r po nde , tho and i e , and five h nd ed lo s thousand cartridges , and a t of mall arms,

( l ni ai nnts i nnit inmacimetes. veerer en resssxl to» y ; , qp r rc te Jacksonville. They we e inte ep d , in the Fritot as on t f hi , at a siding nor h of Callahan , and their con te nts were trmsfcrred toother cars . The twomrs which had started from the e s ac or fir arm f t y , and of which the sleepless s h sleuth ad the lines and nu mbers, empty but e r run s aled , we e on into Jacksonville, where the waiti ng detectives proceeded to gu ard them day and night . The twocars which carried the arms were switched ofl at Callahan and run to over Yulee, between Jacksonville and Fer nandina, where they patiently waited for some one to claim them . [ 141 ] A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

M whohad General Rafael Perez orales , lost ’ w an eye in the Ten Years War, as to command as the landing party . He w summoned from New hi m York , and the fifty men who were to go with B were selecte d in Jacksonville . etween two and three hu ndred Cubans whowere anxiou s to go home and engage in the war were constantly held at Jacksonville and Tampa u nder waiting orders . They were allowed five dollars a week

to cover their living expenses , and were ready ’ to sail at a moment s notice . Colonel Carbo came down from New York with Morales to accompa ny the expedition as the representative

l . of Mr. Pa ma It was arranged that the expedition should f leave on a Sunday night . The on e thing o

which our friend Mr . B altzell was especially fon d

- was draw poker . One Sunday afternoon Na oleon B Three p roward , one of the owners of the ie nds Fr , and afterward governor of Florida ,

happened to be in Fernandina ; and , as he could

not leave until the next day , he had no trouble

in fixing up a poker game for that evening, at i h Mr. w ch Baltzell was to sit in . At about the ’ same time that this pleasant little aflai r was arranged the Three Friends left Jacksonville

8. schooner in tow . She reached the bar i n late the afternoon , and , after casting off the

schooner , stood up the coast , apparently in

search of another tow . Soon after dark General M orales and his men , one and two at a time , [ 143 ]

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

the clock , started for home but instead of going there he jumped on his bicycle and rode rt out to a crossing no h of the city, Where , having eluded the dete ctives who were supposed to

. few shadow me, I met him In a minutes the special train with General Morales and his party came along and stopped for us . We boarded it and proceeded to Fernandina , stopping at Yulee

- to pick up the two freight cars loaded with arms . On our arrival at Fernandin a an unobtrusive signal told us the poker game was in full swing w and there as nothing for us to worry about . The special train was ru n ou t on a dock towhich the Three Friends had quietly tied up an hour was before. The cargo transferred to her with out any u nnecessary noise or delay , and at day Mr light we were out of sight of the town . . B altzell raised a grea t motion when he discovered that an expedition had been despatched from the bailiwick of which he had done so much boasting ; but it was too late then for anything save bitter regrets , with which he was well supplied .

Our destination was the San Juan River , east n Da ntless of Cie fu egos , where the u had landed her last cargo , much of which , on account of the delay in getting it away from the bea ch , had i fallen into the hands of the Span ards. The loss of these arms had interfered with the operation s z whowas s of General Gome , cattering death and destruction through Santa Clara province, and he wanted others in place of them . However [ 144 ] M I K E W A L S H D R A W S B L O O D

much he was in need of supplies , it was a great mistake to send them to San Juan . If I had been with the Da u ntless on the previous expedi tion I never would have consented to go there was e again , for it an xtremely bad place to make n ot roxim a landing, so much on account of its p ity to Cienfuegos , where there was a large gar su r- rison and u ally one or two wa ships , as on account of the shallow water . There was a narrow channel running out from the mouth of the river with dangerous shoals on both sides of it for eight or ten miles , which made it a dif ficult f place to get into , and a much more di ficu lt one to get away from in a hurry . We made bad weather of it almost from the we rc time left Fernandina , and were fo ed to lay to for all of one night inside of Sombrero Light , B ’ between ahia Honda and Knight s Key . We were off Cienfuegos on the morning of December 19 h r e so t , and laid the e all day, fifteen mil s out , as to be safe from observation from the shore . As soon as it was dark we steamed at full speed w for the mouth of the river . When e were within twomiles of the shore a Spanish gun boat came sneaking slowly out of the river . To my surprise she was showing no lights . Pag luchi picked her up first . I stopped the engines “ until I made out her smoke ; then it was Hard ” a -port and full speed to sea ! Colonel Carbo and some of the other Cubans wholacked sharp

eyes had not seen the Spaniard and were skeptical . l 145 l A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

You are running away from a shadow, sai d

Carbo, throwing out his chest . “ ” Do so? m you think I inquired , with so e “ ’ ’ sarcasm . We ll wait and see . I jerked the hell with a stop signal ; but be fore we had lost way the gunboat banged away - s at us with a one pound hell , which splashed not far ahead of us . “ That ’s what you might call an animated shadow , I suggested to the subdued Carbo , as I hooked her up again at full speed , without s the faintest ign of an objection from any one.

A moment later I made out two more gunboats, six or seven miles away, coming up from the ' s east and west to head u ofl . Their appearance . made it plain that there had , for once, been treachery in our camp . Some one who knew where we were bound for had communicated with the d enemy , an the trap had been nicely set for us . i See ng the fix we were in , I ordered the Hotch - as kiss twelve pounder, which w lying boxed up on the forward deck , into immediate service ; all of the deck aft, where it could have been used w to much better advantage, as taken up with he the dories in which the cargo was to landed . There were several adventurous Americans on board , and among them was a praiseworthy o a M pers n n med ike Walsh , who had been a n gunner in the U ited States navy . When M ks learned that the big box contained a brand - new gun , he stepped up and offered his services . [ 146 ]

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

was the deck . That one of the times when n Provide ce was kind to us . As a ru le , boxes of high explosives , even when their conten ts are z l f fro en and comparative y sa e to handle, are not opened with an ax . The dynamite was sea gathered up and thrown into the , and a more careful man was assigned to get out the Hotch

I had thought we could run away from the gunboat astern of us without much trouble ; but

I soon saw that she was rapidly gaining on us . It developed that our boilers were so badly fouled with grease and salt that they could not make steam enough to send us along at more than e ight or nine knots an hour, when we should have been doing half as much again . D Three John u nn , the regular engineer of the

Friends, was regarded as a competent man ; and Paglu chi had made the mistake of accepting his statement as to th e condi tion of the machinery instead of making his own investigation . When the pursu ing gunboat got within a lit tle more than a mile of us she open ed a savage fire with her one-pounders ; Spanish gunnery was as notoriously bad , and hers w no better than the average ; bu t she was literally hailing shells at u s , and some of them came uncomfortably close. In a few seconds I found myself alone “ ” - two in the pilot house, the Florida crackers who for , on account of some local reputation 11 vi bravery , had been 8 8 8 as helmsmen , ha ng 342? M I K E W A L S H D R A W S B L O O D

taken to cover on the run , along with most of the others . Some of the Cubans were out on the stern peppering the Spaniard with an ani mated rifle fire ; but they might as well have saved the ammunition for all the good it did . B oxes of dynamite , and companion boxes filled with the much more dangerous fulminate-oi mercury detonators , with which the explosive ’ was to be set ofl under Spanish troop- trains and in other favorable places , were piled up every where about the little ship . With only our boilers below deck it needed but one well -placed shot to produce an explosion that would leave nothing but a big hole in the water , or disable the machinery and place us at the mercy of our su rrou nding enemies, which , for some of us at n least, would amount to the same thi g as de struction by dynamite . If Mi ke Walsh and hi s us gun failed , there was but one thing to do ; that was to turn quickly and ram the gunboat Three F iends amidships . The r was a stoutly built t - craf , and I figured that we would go half way through the Spaniard and send him to the bot tom by the run . If we were lucky we could back r out of the wreckage, run the Th ee Friends on the beach before the other gunboats could reach ho us , and join General Gomez , w was not far away . There was no thought of surrender, for e w knew perfectly well what that would mean . The Spaniard was not more than half a mile astern , and I had about determined to turn and [ 149 1 A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D sla m into him when a shout from Paglu chi told me the gun was ready . It was trained between

- the deck house an d the shrouds , so the tug had to be swu ng around three or four points to get it to bear . I put the helm hard over to star board by climbing up on the wheel , which should have been handled by two strong men instead of one little Irishman , and waited for the report . As we altered our course I was exposed to the s full force of the Spanish fire . Rifle bullet sang rifli t merrily through the pilot-house ; but not one of them so much as grazed me, though they h chipped the wheel and stan c i ons . I had expected tohear th e roar of the gun as soon as it bore on our enthusiastic pursu er ; but in place of it a lot of vigorous profanity e floated up from the deck, which told me som

thi ng had gone wrong with its mechanism . Without waiting for the particulars I climbed h u p on the wheel again and strai g tened her out . B y that time the other war-ships were only a short distance ahead of us and close together

at the end of the channel , and it began to really

look ticklish . In less than a minute, while I was rapidly calculating the chances of esca pe had after we rammed the gunboat astern ,

Walsh sang out that everything was all right. Using what seemed to be the last of my

strength , I climbed up the spokes of the wheel a

third time . As we swung around the gun r im roa ed . At the t e it appeared tome that it [ 150 ]

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D had torn loose the lashings with which it wa s

made fast to the deck, and kicked it almost

through the bulwarks . It was a lucky chance

that it did not go overboard . When we looked Three F iends the r over the next morning , we found evidences of Spanish bullets everywhere ; but none of them had done any serious damage . The Spaniards are about the only people on ' earth whocould have failed to sink us that

With the best speed we could make we pro ’ c ed i eed to No Name Key, north of Kn ght s Key , where we landed the cargo and General Morales and his party on Christmas Day . We left i enough provis ons to last them a week , and the Th ee Frie nds s r went on to Jack onville, while Colon el Carbo and I chartered a small schooner to take us to Key West . From there we went to Tam livte pa on the O et , and slipped into Jacksonville, where we met General Nunez . We got away on the Dau ntleaa as soon as we could sneak her n out of the harbor, and picked up the expeditio ’ w- Da 1897 on N e Year s y, : The reloading of the cargo was delayed by a surprising interruption , which , while it had an amusing side as viewed in the light of history , an seemed tragic at the time , for it threatened other and more serious disaster . On account of her draft the Dau ntleas was obliged to lay three l or four miles offshore . The patro ling cruisers and revenue cutters that were looking for us [ 152 ] M I K E W A L S H D R A W S B L O O D ma de it n ecessa ry toget the stufi aboard as d i quickly as possible ; so , in a d tion to the dories in which it had been landed , we engaged ten little schooners and sloops , belonging to friendly “ ” l th d konks , or wreckers , iving on e a jacent e keys , to bring it out to us . Just as w were e ho g tting things well started Ralph Paine, w had arranged to rejoin the expedition , came tearing and up from Key West, where Carbo I had left Va m ose - him , m the o , a fast steam yacht belonging

l . to his employer , Wil iam R Hearst, who was then beginning to cut a newspaper swath in “ ” N ew York . The konks took the strange white craft to be either a revenue cutter or a torpedo boat, and the moment they made her ' ou t they scurried in all directions , takin g our

- . Two arms with them boat loads of Cubans , who r we e just leaving the shore, put back in a hurry and lost themselves in the bush . Nunez

' was so angry I feared he would explode before he relieved himself with as fine a burst of im passioned oratory as any one could wish to hear .

Paine, seeing the unintentional havoc he had l wrought, tried to fo low the fleeing flotilla to l explain things , but that on y made matters worse ; “ ” the konks thou ght he wanted to capture them and ran in among the shoals where the yacht Af a moose could not go . ter the V had departed , lea ving with us the dejected but determined ho r Paine, w proposed to see that ca go landed if it took all winter , I made the runaways under 11 [ 1681 A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

l was stand , by means of the whist e, that there no cause for alarm , and they warily returned ; but we had lost several valuable hours , and it was r dark before we got the last of the arms aboa d .

A southea ster was kicking up a nas ty sea , and Nunez wanted to stay in the lee of the island until next day ; but I knew if we remained there the Marblehead or McCullou gh would be down l we l on us at day ight , so went out into the ga e .

We passed Key West at sunrise , eight miles out. They must have seen and recognized us from the naval station , but they knew they could not catch us and did not ca re to try . We ran on around Cape San Antonio , at the west end of Cuba ; and on the morning of January 3d put the cargo and party ashore in Corrientes Bay , just inside of Cape Corrientes . This final performance was more like a Fourth oi -July celebration than the secretive landing of a filibustering expedition . As we came to an anchor I intended to give one short blast of M ’ the whistle to summon some of aceo s troops , who were waiting for us near the cape ; but something went wrong with the siren , and it boomed its loudest for a full five minutes before 3 Da u nt we could shut it 0 . The less had a siren o i that would have d ne cred t to an ocean liner , and if there were any Spanish troops or a gun boat within ten miles of us they ought to have heard it . Our nerves had hardly recovered from this shock when a careless Cuban dropped [ 160 ]

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

Technically , that may have been what it amount ed to , for the United States had denied the Cubans belligerent rights , but morally it was a very we different matter . When got back to Jack n a - Dol hi n so ville we found the desp tch boat p , which had been added to the protective force Bou twell in our absence , and the revenue cutter off watching for us the mouth of the river . We were all hauled into court and solemnly informed that we were under arrest . The grand jury investigated the case with great care , but decided , by the usual unanimous vote, that there was not sufi cient evidence to justify any l indictments . Plain y stated , there was no chance of convicting us save out of our own a mouths , and there w s not a man aboard the Three Friends whom the govern ment cou ld n h i duce to talk either by t reats or promises . we fired on could not have sworn that the shot r came from the Th ee Friends. The most they could have testified to was that the shot was fired from a ship which closely resembled the Three Friends ; but all tugboats look alike on a dark night . Therefore the friendly grand jury merely saved all hands the expense and bother of a trial that wou ld have been only a farce . WHEN OTHER MEANS FAIL

Y success as a filibuster resulted in nume rous attempts to bribe me to betray the

Cubans . These propositions , which came to me in many different ways , were all inspired by the Spanish governmen t ; but the only one tha t was distinctly official was made soon after the landing of the expedition at Cape Corrientes . Possibly it was attributa ble to the little affair off the San Juan R iver and a fear that we might fall into the habit of shooting u p Spanish gunboats ; it might have been suspected that the mas terly marksmanship of Mr. Michael as o Walsh , compar ed with their wn marvelously i misd recte d gunnery , had made a deep and lasting 1mpres sion on the Dons . n 97 One afternoon in Ja uary , 18 , at my home i as in Arl ngton , N ew Jersey, while I w finding delightful relaxation with my children , of whom as my armed activities let me see too little , I w rudely interrupted by a visit from a mysterious stranger . He walked up to the house as though he knew where he was going and what he was n l ai r after, and he had about him that indefi ab e [ 167 ] A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D which stamped him as a detective—J could smell l . as sleuths in those days He w tall and s ender, and even his physical appe arance suggested a corkscrew . Though he looked as innocent as most of his kind , there was more to him than was displayed on the surface, and I sized him up as a man with whom I would have to be careful . He gave me the name he chanced to be using at the moment ; but I paid no attention to it, as I knew it meant nothing . As soon as we were alone he handed me a formidable-looking docu ment sealed with wax . It proved to be a letter from José Congosto, the Spanish consul at Phila

f - delphia, of ering me twenty four thousand dollars to reveal to him the landing -place of the next ex s edi i n m p t oI took out . In one way I found yself d r s a miring Congosto , for he neither wastedwo d nor minced them . He proposed that I indicate the point , close to the Cuban coast, at which it would be most convenient for me to have a gun u boat intercept and capture us , with the ass rance , of course , that no harm would come to me . I was n to be protected in every way, and the Cuba s were never to know nor have reason to suspect i that I had betrayed them . If I accepted th s proposal I was requested to visit Philadelphia on the second day following and receive the money , which was to be paid in advance by agents for Congosto at a time an d place that would be in dicated by the bearer of the letter . The com [ 158]

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D he did not understand that it was not for money alone that I was working with the Cubans .

Several minutes of strained silence followed . Each one of us was trying to get the other to

was . talk, an d each afraid of saying too much f The detective re used to show his hand , except was in response to suggestions , so I forced to lead him on a little . “ if It seems to me , I said , that I were to do a thin g like that I ought to get more money for it . While it might not become definitely ‘ ’ known that I had leaked , it would be suspected , and my usefulness in the kind of work I have n i bee do ng , which is the work I like best , would be destroyed . Therefore I should be paid enough sothat I could retire and do what I pleas ed . I seem to be the only man who is able ts an to land expeditions whenever he wan to , d if you should buy me off it might so dishearten the Cubans that they would give up the fight . If they can ’t get arms into Cuba they can ’ t ” continue the war .

The detective thought he had me going , which “ w as some reward for such a long speech . That ” is just what we want ! he exclaimed , almost “ - with enthusiasm . The offer of twenty four thou sand dollars is simply a basis for n egotia tions . I have no doubt they will pay you much more than that if you will do as they wish ; they ” might even pay you twice as much . After some general discussion as to how the [ 100 1 W H E N O T H E R M E A N S F A I L

i th ng might be accomplished , the detective went away with the understanding that I would meet ’ Congostos agents in Philadelphia twodays

u . later , tho gh I had not told him so He gave me a card on which was written the time and place of meeting , and it was intimated that I would find Congosto himself there . ’ My wife s sympathies for the Cubans were as strong as my own . When I told her who and what my visitor was and the nature of his

i as . bus ness , she w furious “ she If I had known that, declared , I would have thrown a bucket of boiling water ” as on him. Hot water w her favorite weapon in shooing detectives away from the house . Instead of going to Philadelphia on the ap pointed day , I went to the revolutionary head in 86 quarters New York , at New Street , where

Mr. Mr. nii I found Palma , Rubens , General N ez , Dr in and . Castillo closeted together one of the private rooms , earnestly discussing some ques tion of policy . I listened to their conversation for a few minutes , and then handed my interest ing letter to Nunez . His mind was filled with u i the s bject they were discuss ng, and after open s ing the letter, but carcely glancing at it, he laid

. r it on the desk M . Palma carelessly picked it up and began to read it . As he grasped its pur port he became greatly agita ted and his hands shook so that he had to put the letter down on the ta ble to finish reading it . He read it to the [ 161 ] A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

and others, they joined in his excitement , with ho the exception of Rubens, w never lost his head , no matter what the provoca tion . “ ” Where you get it , where you get it? shouted

Mr. Palma , in the broken English he always us ed when he was disturbed . I told him it had been delivered to me by a

Spanish agent two days before, and gave him a résumé of our conversation . “ s Well , what you do, what you do? a ked

Mr . Palma . “ ’ ” I m not going to do anything about it, I “ replied . I brought it over to give it to you . ” You can do what you like with it . “ n We will have Se or Congosto arrested , ex “ u claimed Palma . We will p nish him for try ” ing to corrupt our organization . “ Rubens smiled . We will do nothing of the ” “ kind , he calmly said . We are not in strictly legitimate business ourselves ; let us not forget ” that .

The force of his argument was apparent . The question was then raised as to whether it might not be permissible , under all of the conditions , for me to give the Spaniards a false tip as to ou r next destination , take their money , and tu rn n all or a part of it into the revolutio ary fund . I refused point-blank to be a party to such an arrangement , and the others agreed with me .

It was our opinion that , while we might be vio lating the written law to the extent of giving [ 139 ]

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

a big expedition , and the month following the visit of his emissary was filled with activity . Ge neral R olofi had been indicted in 1895 for taking a filibu stering expedition out of B alti l ou a me . more the J s Woodall, an Eng ish steamer They tried to make a landing near Nuevitas but after one boat-load of arms had been sent ashore the captain wen t into a panic over an

- imaginary war ship and ran away . The balance w of the cargo as dumped overboard , and the ship B al returned to timore, where the captain turned ’ ' l al state s evidence against R oofi . His tri had was been postponed from time to time, but it to come up in February , and it had been announced that there would be no further adjournment . ' When Rolofi retu rned from his trip with the La u r as Danni ada , whose cargo w landed by the s les during her busy week , he did so much talk ing that he was indicted in New York . His trial on this charge was also set for the latter a u a er p rt of Febr ary . In m king parlor conv sa he ha d told somu ch he had don e tion about what , and what he thought he had done, that the government had him dead to rights in both

0 8888. The Spaniards re garded Roloff as a dangerous man and were determined that he should not who ima go to Cuba . We knew him could not g ine where they got the information on which they based their estimate of him , but it would never do to have the secretary of war in the [ 164 1 W H E N O T H E R M E A N S F A I L

’ provisional government and Mr. Palma s - in - brother law go to jail , no matter what the as circumstances . Hence it w decided that he

should go to Cuba, even against his will , to get him out of the way and at the same time worry

the Spaniards . However , the expedition which he was to accompany could not be sent away

until after the dates set for his trials , so I ar ranged tota ke him on a cru ise throu gh Long as n Island Sound , the o ly sure way of keeping

him out of the hands of the law . We knew his bonds would be forfeited in both cases ; but l they amounted to only a few thousand dol ars , and from the standpoint of sen timent alone his a liberty w s worth that much .

One afternoon early in Febru ary , a few days a B before he w s due to go to altimore for trial ,

l . B Roofl Dr. . and I , accompanied by J A runet , a young Chilian friend of his who had been of considerable service to us , and wished to go to

n . . who Cuba, we t over to visit F E Fonseca , lived B on Pacific Street , in rooklyn . Half a dozen detectives followed us and posted themselves

in the front and rear of the house . Among .

s . ho was tho e w were waiting for us a barber, and Roloff was relieved of his heavy black beard

and mustache, the loss of which so changed his appearance that his most intimate friend

would not have recognized him. Soon after w a dark e went up to the roof, made our w y

[ 165 ] A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

about the same height , and descended into one occupied by another friend of the revolution , was who waiting for us at the open scuttle . From this unwatched residence we stepped into a waiting carriage and drove off into the night , leaving our other conveyance standing in front had of the house we first entered , with the de tectives hanging closely about it so they would be sure to miss nothing . ’ At Hunter s Point we went aboard the tu g Volu nteer , which had tied up at the dock a few minutes before we arrived , and proceeded slow l u y p through the familiar swirls of Hell Gate. For nearly twoweeks we zigzagged back and forth across the Sound , putting in at White O r B a stone, Cow Bay, Glen Cove, yste y, B N ew ridgeport, New Haven , London , and

Greenport . All of these landings were made at night , and at each place I sent a man ashore to Mr n telephone . Palma , over a private li e which w w e knew as secure from eaves droppers , to keep i n ew in close touch with developments N York . f B Rolo f , runet , and I kept out of sight when we were inshore or close to another vessel . It was as a u about unpleasant a trip s co ld be imagined , for the weather was very cold and stormy , the accommodations were cramped , and Roloff was seasick every minute of the time that we were 0 not made fast to a dock . Finally 3 Montauk Point the tug Commander met us and took off f u she st m fo Rolof and Br net, with whom ea ed r [ 100 ]

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D produce an involved situation by having the ta al B expedition s rt , technic ly , from ritish soil . uda To that end the B erm , in command of Ed M urphy, was sent to the island for which she was m disch na ed with a cargo of coal . After arg ing the grea ter part of her loa d she was directed h to await orders, w ich were to be cabled to M r n urphy . Gene al Nu ez , Cartaya , and Chanler - muda m B er . ado sailed secretly on the The La , w was which as lying at Baltimore, to tow a schooner carrying arms and Cubans to Watlings B Island , or San Salvador, east of the ahamas and two hundred and fifty miles due north of the east end of Cuba, where they were to be transferred to the B ermuda and landed by her . ’ The La u rada s machinery was in such bad shape that it was not safe to transport the cargo in her ; but she was good enough to tow a ship, which cou ld proceed under sail if the steamer happened to blow up . When we started to get the La u rada away B o s from altimore, a successi n of libel were filed i clai n aga nst her, many of them on unjust ms , a d all inspired by the Spanish minister . Though o i we could have beaten m st of these cla ms , we could not afford to fight them on account of the time it would take, so they were paid as in quickly as possible . Then the government spectors held up the ship on the ground that she wa s unseaworthy . They finally consented to allow her to go to Philadelphia to have her boilers [ 108] W H E N O T H E R M E A N S F A I L

h - rebuilt, but limited er to a steampresume which gave her a speed of only seven knots an ‘

u . ho r In addition to this , her owner, John D . r o Ha t, wh had not yet been sent to prison for ’ La mada s fili the previous bustcring trip , was

o:n . e to promise that she would 11ot go to u C ba, which he readily did , as we did not then

It not until February 26th that she at

« s . . ofrom B altimore ; bu t we had known A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D brushed against us as we boarded a ferryboa t

sleuths went forward , while Fisher and I stayed aft ; and as the ferryboat pulled out of her slip I jumped as hore and went aboard of another ferry that was just leaving for

- Twenty third Street, New York, three miles north of where the other on e landed . The dis comfited detectives held a conference and clever l s h y concluded to tay wit Fisher and my bag, as h r as nothin f r th o t e e w g else o em t do. I had instructed Fisher to shake off the sleuths , if pos sible, and meet me at B roadway and Twenty ’ third Street at eight o clock . When I cautiously approached him at the appointed place he sig hi naled that the detectives were watching m, so I slipped away minus my baggage . B ri s s to After seeing the gg away , I went acros the Jersey side of the Hudson in the tug Jose

hi ne B . a o . p , to pick up the dyn mite and b mbs s We got the cargo aboard without being ob erved , sofar as we cou ld see; but when we started down the river we discovered that we were being followed by another tug , which evidently was well loaded with detectives , deputy United f States marshals, customs o ficers , and Spanish agents . We ran close enough to her to make out some of the men who were on board , and cruised e around until we w re sure she was trailing us. was This rather an unexpected development, bu t we r for were not entirely unp epared it. [ 17 0 1

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

secrecy . Her captain carried out his orders saw was splmdidly . When he that he again x under the an ious eyes of the encouraged sl euths, he started off up the Hudson at full speed , with the Spanish tug in hot pursuit . The chase con or n tinned for twelve fiftee miles , when the cap Jose hi ne tain of the p , apparently convinced that u he could not shake off his purs er , turned around and ran back down the river and into the lower bay , where he suddenly came to an anchor .

The delighted detectives , who were by this time convinced that they had prevented our de parture , ordered the commander of their craft to follow suit, and the . two vessels laid close together until the next forenoon . Then the Josephine stripped off her mask and resumed her customary pursu its , and it dawned on the fussy foxes that they had overlooked something . When the two tu gs started on their race up the river the lighters steamed out of the basin and down through the Narrows in pursuit of ri s n the B gg . We had been delayed so lo g that by the time we caught up with her, off the Hi gh

- lands , she had taken the towing line from the da Lou a . r , and they were waiting for us The dynamite was transferred to the schoon er ; but most of the party went aboard the steamer, where there were better accommodations . “ Throw me a line for my trunk , I shouted ho Lau rada to Sam Hughes , w was captain of the . I had the laugh on him when his men hauled [ 172] W H E N O T H E R M E A N S F A I L

- e aboard a cigar box filled with pip s and tobacco , which was the only dunn age I carried on that expedition . In addition to General R olofl and who Dr. B runet, had been brought down from Commander Monta uk Point on the , we had on boau i M Castroverdi whowas re ajor Salvador , turning to the field ; Augustin Agramonte, of the famous fighting family , who was in charge of a corps of dynamite experts ; and Emory Fenn , a young American electrical engineer in command of a torpedo corps . Hoisting the dynamite aboard the schooner was slow work , and it was well along in the day before the last lighter left us and we set out

a » toward Cuba . Officers and passen gers on p ss ing coastwise steamers had recognized the La u rada and witnessed the transshipment of the cargo . When they got up to New York they talked about wha t they had seen . In that Way the Spanish agents secured their first tan ibl g e clue as to just what had happened . The revenue cutter Manha tta n was at once de s a p tched in search of us . Luckily she ran into a thick fog an d then into a blinding snow-storm off B arnegat , which delayed her long enough to permit us to escape . On her way back to

New York , after having wandered aimlessly about for three days , she blew out a boiler tube an d o ul had to be t wed to her dock , which sho d have ta ught her something about chasing fili busters . 173 ] A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

On account of the ste am -pressure towhich we to were limite d , and with the schooner in w , we made what seemed tobe very slow progre ss; a lin t we yet we were off W t gs Island in jus a ek. It had been su ppw ed that the B ermuda wou ld be had c l waiti ng for us there, as orders been ab ed to Mu rphy to start from B ermuda three days after we left N ew York ; but she was nowhere her e n in sight . We waited for a week ; and wh there was then no sign of her it was cle ar that something had gone wrong , and we were forced to we revise our plans . I proposed that make the

Lou ada . a i e landing with the r Capt n Hugh s, who s e e , of cou r e, represent d her owner , demurr d

at this on account of the strong probability that, s i ca in her crippled condition , the h p would be p r for tu red. I knew the vessel had been offe ed w sale for eighteen thousand dollars, so it as agreed that if she was captu red or sunk the Cubans would pay twenty thousand dollars for - h u her . If we ran afoul of a war s i p and co ld

not get away , I announced that I would open ’ La u rada s - the sea cocks and sink her , in which case all hands would have to take to the small boats and do the best they could to escape to the Cuban coast or lose themselves among the shoals and keys of the B ahama B ank ; if we were discovered while making the landing we were to blow u p the ship and go into the bush i was with the Cubans . Th s plan agreed to , and

the cargo was put aboard the La u rada . Captain [ 17 4 ]

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

tere d the little river . To guard against attack from the rea r we mined the mouth of the ch ann el twofive- with gallon demijohns of nitroglycerin , which were connected up with wires running ’ n to the shore , where one of Fe n s Cuban expe rts

ship that tried to follow us . B y the time this Welcome to meddling war-ships was completed it was so dark that from the bridge I couldn ’t see was o the bowsprit, so it a case of g ing in enti rely ’ by the chart . I hadn t a great deal of faith in

Spanish charts , for on my first trip around the east end of Cuba I had discovered that Cape Maysi was fifteen miles east of its location on the chart and sore orte d on m return to , p y N e w r u lt York , with the es that a new and correct chart was soon issu ed by the United Sta tes

Hydrographic Office . That there were not more wrecks when the old chart was used was du e tothe fact that the hi lls at the east end of the island were easily made out during the day , and at night the cape was indicate d by a powe r ful light . r was i However , in this case t—he e noth ng to do but tru st to the chart and to luck . The engines were slowed down to a speed that gave a w us a bare steer geway, and e literally felt our way through the invisible lane of endless twists M and turns . any times we heard the bow and stern scraping overhanging branches of trees we could not see as we squirmed around sharp cor [ 17 6 ] W H E N O T H E R M E A N S F A I L

e ners . At the speed at which w were going as n n there w not much da ger of goi g aground , for the channel , though very narrow, was deep ; we was but shaved the sides of it repea—tedly . It daylight when we entered the bay it had taken us ten hours to go three miles—and tied up to trees on the port hand , alongside of an old wharf . oodt On the pp e side of the beautiful bay , less than three miles away , was a detachment of one hundred Spani sh troops in a fort built of rail road iron . From the manner in which they ran around and waved their arms when they saw us pushing our nose through the trees I judged that they at first took the La u rada to be a c she phantom ship . Becoming convin ed that e n was a reality , they wait d a lo g while for us

toset a fl hich l declin ed todo. Then a ag , w dozen of them jumped into a boat and started

- to row across to us . When half way over they n cha ged their minds and returned in a hurry , -

Which was disappointing, for I had hoped to captu re them and put them towork unloading as w e n n m the ca rgo. As soon e b ga tose d en ashore with bundles of rifles and boxes of a mmun i e filibu s tion , it struck them that w were ters ; and they fired off their guns and raised a grea t hullabaloo . They might better have saved their powder , for the sound did not carry far enough to give the alarm , and they lacked the courage to attempt to fight their way through the Cuban [ 17 7 ] A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D line and summon the fleet of war-ships in Ni pe

B ay . I t took u s all day and all night toun load ou r r was ca go, and when it all piled up the old dock u looked like a wareho se . As soon as we ti ed e n who up, a m sse ger was sent to General Garcia, few e the was encamped only a mil s back in hills , and he came down with three thousand men and got all the stuff away before the Spaniards could ta h get together a force that dared to at ck im. ’ Roloff and his party joined Garcia s forces . i Through it all a cloud of th ck, blue smoke rising from the little fort across the bay indi cated tha t . its cowardly occupants were giving themselves h up to muc futile chatter . They might have l we di made it live y for us while were unloa ng , before General Garcia appe ared with his troops but to attack us effectively they would have had — to move around the bay a nd they could not

i . take the r fort with . them M We went out at daylight on onday , an d when I saw the channel I won dered how we ever got through it . The Cuban explosive expert, tired and sleepy , but none the less watchful , was still on guard at the mouth of the river . I sent word to him to be careful not to blow us up if n we were chased back into the s aky stream , bu t to set off his nitroglycerin under the pursu ing was ship . This precaution taken beca u se of the possibility that we would run into one of the gunboats from Nipe B ay sta rting out on its [ 178 ]

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

island for three days, a came up and chas ed her away, and she pro ceeded to Philadelphia . The party aboard of her was small , but it harbored disgust to supply a multitude . few mfles th i of a away on the o er s de us. I n

n have me ha ged at the first opportu nity . This

“

s 1 I l Ot i choleric was at all disqu eting, for there never was any doubt in my mind as to what my fate would be if I were captured , and the manner of its execu tion made little difler ence ; but I was a little annoyed by his sum tion that I would be sothoughtless as to allow

his men to get their hands on me . “ ’ Captain O B rien has evaded us thus far, said the diminutive commander of all the Span

ish forces in Cuba, half in reply to some question [ 181 ] A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

B concerning the landing at anes , but his ve ry l daring will eventually de iver him into our hands .

Sooner or later we will get him , and when we do , instead of having him shot along with hi s

Cuban companions, I am going to have him ignominiously hanged from the flagpole at

~ . Yo Cabanas, in full view of the city u can com mu n ica te i ou that informat on to him if y wish . He might be interested in knowing What is in store for him, for we surely will ca ptu re him

some day . n s Caba as is the old fortre s, once impregnable, but now only a magnificen t ruin , in which Cubans whowere known or suspected to be in sympathy with the revolt were lined u p against a wall and

shot almost every day during the war. The rampart along which these execu ti ons and mur

ders took place, the granite blocks spattered with blood and nicked by tens of thousan ds of Man w ser bullets , as subsequently decorated with a bronze tablet in memory of the patriots whodied

there . ’ e ler s a W y bo st was promptly conveyed to me, with an amusing description of the dramatic

the same channel I sent back this reply : To show my contempt for you and all whotake

orders from you , I will make a landing within of plain sight Havana on my next trip to Cuba. I may even land an expedi tion inside of the har a d ri na ' bor n take you away a p so . If we should [ 139 1

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D of its location it was a favorite loafing- place for the Spanish gu nboats , whom commanders were much given to graft . Instead of taking on the three or four hundred tons of coal which they were supposed to consume on a cruise, they would purchase only half as much , and put the for money the other half in their pockets . Then 0 6 they would anchor Lobos Key , with banked

fires, until they had theoretically consumed the ’ coal they hadn t bought , when they would pro ceed to the east or West . It was nothing u n to be riding at anchor in this soft spot at one

The Lobos light was kept by an old English man and his nephew, and one of the first things n I did , whe our organization got down to busi ness, was to establish an amicable arrangement with them , which was easy, for they despised the cowardice and crookedness of the Spaniards . We carried down fresh vegeta bles and delicacies for them on every trip , and in return they kept us posted as to the movements of the g1mboats . as -offi We also used the lighthouse a post ce , and messages were left there for us by our newspaper oe c rr spondent ally and by the Cubans , who, l when the coast was c ear , sailed across the nar S row channel in their little loops . Eventually the Spaniards got onto this scheme, and shortly before the Mai ne was blown up they made

[ 184 ] W E YL E R ’ S TH REA T A N S WE RE D resulted in the removal of the friendly lighthouse keepers . of l The keepers the ight at North Elbow Key , D - as or ouble hea ded Shot Key , it is known among sailors on account of the formation of l the island , a so gave us much information con cerning the war - ships that were seen around Salt as Key B ank , which w another of their idling as places , though not so popular Lobos Key , for it was not so conveniently situated . We stopped at one of these lighthouses in advance of nearly every landing, to get the latest bul

- letin s as to what the war ships were doing . With this information it was ordinarily a comparatively simple matter to dodge them . They had to be taken into our calculations , of course, but they n never caused me much a xiety . It was only when we were making a landing at some point from which we could not easily run away that

I regarded them as an element of danger . So long as we had anything approaching an even did chance with them I no worrying , for they could not shoot straight en ough to hit anything l smaller than the island of Cuba , and they cou d

hit that only at short range . Vesuvi u s When Captain Pillsbury , of the , was twitting me one day at Jacksonville about the added precautions which had been taken by both the United States and Spain to prevent fili u b sterin g , which he professed to believe would i : soon put an end to our operations, I sa d to him 13 [ 135 1 A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

If the Navy Departmen t and the reve n ue cu tters will leave us alone I will carry excursions r to Cuba with every expedition . I will adve fi se ou r the time and place of departure , and guar antee that every expedition will be landed on ” n time . I think the captain thought for oce ’ I was blufling ; but I wasn t ; I knew the Span~ I th m h n iards . ju dged e by w a t I ha d se e of them , and I may add that I have never had occas ion toalter my estimate of their fighting ability on either sea or land . They are prone to panic at the unexpected scratch of a match , c al how and have other ra i weaknesses ; which , h ever, must not be taken to mean that t e e s - are not some brave, hone t, and high minded r Spania ds . They are the strong spirits that i u u have not been fouled by the r s rro ndings, and are the exceptions which prove the rule. N ot many of this class were sent to Cuba . The trouble with the native Spaniard is that has c he lived too mu h in the past , and devote d too much time to the worship of his justly dis tin u ished g ancestors . The vengeance of a nat ural law has been visited upon him . The ' Spaniards were once the armtocrats of Europe was but that four hundred years ago, and, like B u t all aristocracies , they have deteriorated . it is significant of the dormant strength of the old Spanish blood that the Spani ard away from his native environment , and the musty traditions s of past glories , rea dily accept the spirit of the [ 19 0 1

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D trip weighed nea rly one hundred tons and was as valued at eighty thousand dollars . It w , there al fore , decided to carry our co supply on the schooner and put the arms on the ocean -going a Jones tug Alex nder , which had been engaged to do the towing . With her bunkers practi n cally empty , and taking coal from the schoo er Jones every day or two, the could carry the cargo without an y trouble . we While were patching the schooner up , to improve the chance that she would stay afloat had until she served our purpose , I received Fritot word from to get out of Wilmington , as the detectives had heard I was there and were coming in search of me . Cartaya and I prompt F ly disappeared and went to lorence , South i n Carol na, an inland town where not eve a l Pinkerton man wou d look for a filibuster . How e ever, we ran right into a r ally good detective in the person of the proprietor of the hotel at e which we stopped . He soon gu ssed who we was i i were , and the word wh spered around unt l it reached half of the townspeople ; but they were such warm Cuban sympathizers that no word of our presen ce was permitted to rea ch the outside world . o After snooping around for tw weeks, the de tectives concluded they had been drawn to

Wilmington by a false scent and went away , which again gave us a fairly clear field . Though they had been u nable to gather any information [ 133 1 W E YLE R ’ S THRE A T ANSWE R E D

was that at all definite , they left a lingering sus picion that we were planning some sort of a

move ment in that vicinity . The authorities thought it might be merely a blind to cover more serious operations elsewhere ; but to make it

impossible for us to get away from that port , was if such our purpose , two revenue cutters in were left on gu ard the harbor . The two car -loads of arms and ammunition were shipped from New York to Jacksonville ; but they were dropped out of the trai n at a little h junction point , in accordance with a telegrap ic order from Fritot which was handed to the con l r ductor at the transfer station , and s ipped ove to

Wilmington . They were run out onto the dock

of southern part the city , where, on the night Ma 13th of y , their contents were put aboard the ones i o J . Wh le the tug was being l aded , one of our scouts brought word that some customs ofli cers were approaching the wharf and that the revenue cutter Man i ll was gettin g up steam ;

so we put out at once, leaving a small part of

the cargo behind in one of the cars , which was Jones quickly locked and sealed . The steamed

slowly down the river, and , though she passed within sight of the Morrill and it cou ld be seen

that she had a lot of stuff aboard , she was not interfered with ; if she had appeared to be in a

hurry she probably would have been held up .

We anchored off the bar to wait for the schooner, [ 189 ] A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D which was loading with coal at the Wilmington Welsdon Railroad wharf while we were taking on the arms . As she was hauled down the stream s i l n a Col ax she pas ed with n hai i g dist nce of the f , the other revenue cutter which had been as

- signed to prevent any anti Spanish activity , but

- aroused no suspicions . We passed a line to the Lon Jac b B ra ndon r off g, when the tug o cast he , and started unconcernedly south , for there was nothi ng about a crippled schooner being towed down the coast to arouse the curiosity of any cutter or cruiser we might encou n ter . n General Nu ez and sixty Cubans , who were m B to land with the arms , e t us off Palm each

h n - in a fis i g schooner and came aboard . We then headed for the Dog Rocks at the northea st B corner of Salt Key ank , Where we were to meet

the Da u ntless . The wreckers and pirates who lot lived there were an inquisitive , and they bothered us so much with their idle efforts to fin d out whowe were and what we were doing d D r that we move down to amas Key, fa ther sou th on the ed e of the bank toe awa from g , g t y

. r them We ancho ed there on May 18th . Two we Da days later were joined by the u ntless,

which had slipped out of Jacksonville light, and I went aboard of her with General Nunez and

Cartaya and twenty of the landing party . We coaled from the schooner and took on half of c the argo of arms , which we landed on May l t, [ 190 1

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D un concern was due to a fear that we had another

Mike Walsh aboard . th r To keep my word wi General Weyle , the Jones balance of the cargo from the , with most of the Cubans who were going to the front , was M s landed a mile and a half east of orro Ca tle , u which g ards the entrance to Havana harbor, and scarcely more than three mil es in an air ’ - line from the captain gen eral s palace . It hap pen ed that just at that time the rebels under R odrie u ez General Alejandro g , who was com manding general of the army in the first Cuban

Republic, had Havana closely surrounded . They were in need of arms , and there was no trouble in

- getting our cargo away from the landing point, which would have been at best a difficult opera tion if such a vigorous campaign had not been R odrie u ez was in progress . General g carrying the fight right up to the gates of the city . The night before we landed Colonel Nestor Aran l guren , with a sma l party , held up a train three G n miles outside of Havana , on the line to ua a a ul bacos , in the hope of captu ring a p rtic arly Fondevilla cruel Spanish officer named , whom it was intended to shoot on the spot . The man Aranguren wanted was not on board ; but he captu red a dozen Spanish officers and two who Cuban officers had gone over to the enemy . few The Spaniards were released in a days , to save the trouble and expense of feeding them; but the two traitorous Cubans were hanged . [ 199 ] W E YL E R ’ S T HRE A T A N S WE RE D

We arrived off Havana on the evening of May 4 h 2 t . A number of steamships were anchored off the Morro waiting to go into the harbor at u daylight, and we went close eno gh to them to satisfy ourselves that they were all merchant ships . The fact that they displayed all of the regulation lights was not good eviden ce that there was no war-ship concealed among them; for, two years before , the Spaniards had been given a lesson in running without lights which l they never forgot . General Colasowas then planning an invasion of Pinar del Rio from f off Florida, and , in an e fort to head him , the gunboat S anchez B a rcaztequ i ran out of Havana one night without showing a light. Just off the M r ortera r or o the coaster M , of the He rera Line , ran full tilt into her and tore her Open into the

- - engine room . The war ship sank so quickly that her commander and most of the crew went down with her . This disaster effectually broke the Spaniards of a habit that is always dangerous for navigators whocannot find their way around imboa t we in the dark. Except for the g found lying in wait for the Three Friends at the mouth of the San Juan River , so close inshore that she was in more danger of colliding with an ox-cart than with another vessel , I never saw a Spanish war-ship that did not display all of the lights required by marine regulations , and generally u s a more . This gave a gre t advantage over as i them , for we never showed so much the l ght [ 193 ] A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D from a match or a cigarette when we were a ny where near the Cuban coast . We laid astern of the merchant shi ps until the moon went down , and then ste amed up the shore and landed our cargo and party by the

as Castle . We could just well have gone four or five miles farther down the coast, but I wanted to show General Weyler that if he was given to no as boasting I was t, and that it w a duty with me to keep my promises . If the distance could have been measured it might have been found tha t we were within a mile of the Morro ; cer ta inly we were not more than a mile and a half M away . The orro light is a brilliant flash that n can be seen for eightee miles, and every time it swung around one could have seen a pinon a u l s the deck of the D ntes . Over the rising ground that separated us from the harbor and across the bay the lights on the hills back of

Havana were in plain sight, and when the M t from the Morro flashed on them the sentries pacing the walls of Cabanas stood out in bold

. B n relief ack of the old Caba as , toward the sea was , a partly completed modern fort which , n with decent gu nery , could have blown us to to pieces in two minutes , but every one seemed be sound asleep . While we were putting the arms ashore a steamship stood off an d on about fou r mile s

e u s. away , and seemed , at tim s , to be watching [ 194 ]

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

M n s manders at the orro, Caba a , and the shore - h battery court martialed , and i s naval chiefs were hauled over the coals in a way that put

. on gray hairs in their heads The Cubans, the other hand , were immensely elated , and the delegations in the United States made the most of the event in their educational campaign . The unopposed landing of an expedition within pistol shot of the Morro was evidence to the American who people, always like to see the little fellow winning out in a fight, that the rebellion was a real war , and that the Cubans were rapidly gain ing ground . The effect of the cordial sympathy thus created was soon made apparent to the

Spa nish minister at Washington , and as a t e e r su to sult of it w we e not rprised learn , throu gh our agent in his establishment, that, in the most u l diplomatic lang age, but none the less plain y , he had advised his government that the recall of Weyler would create a favorable impression in the United States and go far toward counter acting the gains which the Cubans had made in public sentiment . To some of his influential friends in Spain , to whom he wrote urging the

- recall of the captain ge neral , Mr. de Lome used stronger language . He told them , in effect, “ ” that we had made a monkey of Weyler, and said he had abundantly demonstrated his u nfit ness tocommand in Cuba . The fact that we had landed every expedition i wh ch we took out had counted against Weyler, [ 196 ] W E YL E R ’ S T HR E A T A N S WE R E D and there is no doubt that the one which we put ashore in response to his threa t to have me a hanged contributed very l rgely to his downfall . Though he did not lea ve Cuba until the middle was s of September, when he ucceeded by Ra mon a a ra B lanco , who ttempted too l te to inaugu te a his a was e conciliatory policy , rec ll d cided on soon after General R odri egu ez welcomed the arms and men that were landed by the Da u nt a less . In making this landing we re lly ran no a s ss greater risk than we lway a umed , for I knew the last place the Spaniards would look for us was within sight of Morro Castle . n The Jones towed the John D . Log to Cape a sh s C naveral , Florida, where e turned her loo e and returned to Wilmington . The schooner a n Dau ntless s iled to Southport , a d the returned s was she to Jack onville . It known carried no s sh an d was arm when e went out , as there no way of proving she had been to Cuba she was f u s w not molested . The o ficers told they kne e w had tricked them , though they did not

s had . know, nor suspect , ju t how it been done W HE N THE LAW GOE S B LI N D

NE of the most interesti ng expeditions of l the war , fil ed with comedy and tragedy , ad s high lights and sh ows, in sharp contra t, quickly followed the landing of a cargo of con ’ r trabaud in General Weyle s front yard . The aggressive Fritot had everything ready to move by the time we returned to Jacksonville, and we were off to sea again with hardly a breathing spell . Two car-loads of arms and ammunition were secretly shipped three hundred miles down the - o coast to Fort Lauderdale, an old trading stati n -five M m twenty miles above ia i , where they were B isca ne - placed aboard the y , a stem wheel coaster, along with thirty Cubans in command M of Colonel endez . They were to be trans Dau ntless off R ferred to the New iver Inlet, just M 9 above Fort Lauderdale, on Saturday, ay 2 th . As an evidence that luck was not always with us , it happened that a special Treasury agent ho named Hambleton , w had been fruitlessly on r our trail for months , was enjoying a sho t vaca tion with a couple of English friends whowere [ 198]

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

unless it became necessary , I saw the rowboat D close alongside . Tom avis , the mate, tried to shove it off with a boathook , but Hambleton threw his gun in Davis ’s face and climbed over a in the rail . Pointing his we pon the general who direction of the crew and the Cubans , had ’ not paused in their efforts to get the B iecayne s cargo onto the Dau ntless in the shortes t possible time, he yelled “ In the name of the law I command you to stop putting those arms on this ves sel . You are ” all under arrest .

Every one stopped work , but only for a mo Fritot ment . stepped up to Hambleton and tickled his lower ribs with the muzzle of a re volver which he carried in his coat pocket. He did not display the pistol ; but it was sil hou tted on e by the strain his light coat, and it could be seen his finger was on the trig ger . “ ’ Don t pa y any attention to this person , said Frito t, in a voice so hard and cold that every “ ’ t word snapped . He s not going to shoo any ” one . Go ahea d and load the ship . Frito The men knew t, and they turned to on the cargo without a second glance at the threat

- e ning shot gun . Under the silent eloquence of the revolver that was pressed against him with a hand that did not tremble, the disturbed de tective concluded it would be unwise to try to e nfom his order . [ 900 l W H E N T H E L A W G O E S B L I N D

’ r a ? Whe e s the c ptain he angrily inquired , as he lowered his unsteady gun . “ ” Fri tot. On the bridge, curtly replied Hambleton sta rted up the gangway leading

- to the pilot house . I provided myself with a big revolver belonging to Cartaya, which was lying in the cabin , and met him at the door . “ ” ? s Who the devil are you I a ked , as though

I knew nothing of what had gone on below . “ I am a special agent of the Treasury Depart ” ment and a deputy United States marshal . “ ho ’ Well , no matter w you are , don t point i that gun at any one on this sh p, or you will be ” shot before you can fire it . He accommodatin gly lowered his weapon and pointed it at his feet ; but before we could con tin u e our con versation Tom Davis and Charley

Silva, one of our handy men , slipped up behind our qu arrelsome visitor and threw him down onto the deck . Some one tossed his gun over board , and half a dozen men jumped on him but before they had done him any seri ous injury Fritot i te n rfered , and the bruised and bewildered

sleuth was hustled into his rowboat . His ex to cited companions pulled back their sloop , off u R which soon sailed p New iver .

Two hours or more after Hambleton left us , by which time we had about half of the arms and whowas on ammunition on board , Cartaya , r watch , repo ted the smoke of a ship coming up

from the south . She was too close inshore 14 [ 90 1 1 A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

war- hi to be anything but a prying s p, and , knowing the approximate whereabou ts of most of th atrol boats I took her tobe the reven ue e p , i nona cutter W , coming up from Key West on Wi nona a scouting trip . The could do no more r c than seven or eight knots an hou , whi h was - a only two thirds the speed of the D u ntieae , so I thought we ha d time totake on the rest of our cargo before she got close enough to prove

d . r angm u s It was soon apparent, howeve , that the stranger was a much faster ship than i nona is the old W , so we cut loose from the B cayne and put to sea on the jump . In the last minute rush bundles of rifles and boxes of ca r tridges were thrown indiscriminately on the deck of the Da u ntlees without any pretense of stowing them .

We were obliged to run northeast , to get out of the bight in which we had been lying, before we could haul around to the southeast and head

- for the B ahama B ank . This right angled cou rse war- enabled the ship to pull up on us rapidly , and I soon made her out to be the cruiser Ma rble head , Commander Elmer, then one of the fastest ships in her class . Smoke was coming from only wo one of her t stacks , so I knew she had steam up bu wo in t t of her four boilers . Under these con ditions Dau ntless the was her match in speed , and I fervently hoped her other boilers were out of commission . The Bahama B ank was - our seventy five miles away , and only chance [ m l

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D rowed to the Dau ntlesa I found myself worl dw ing what his atti tude would be . While we never had been shown an y favors by the war-ships c assigned to wat h us, I had gained the idea that sentiment in the navy was strongly opposed to v than any other class , lo e a fight against odds, and from this I argued that the American naval f s z o ficer must sympathi e with the Cubans, though how far they would dare to go in showing al their re feeling was another question . Unless the officers of the Marblehead put their blind eyes to the telescope we were in for serious s trouble , for incriminating evidence wa piled up all aroun d us . Though as much of our cargo l as cou d be concealed had been hidden away , the deck was still so cluttered up with boxes of cartridges an d bundles of rifles that one could not walk about without stumbling over them. The rifles were strapped together in bundles of M the five and wrapped with burlap . any of covers had been torn in the hurry of getting them aboard , and the butts and muzzles of the guns could be seen through the rents . The boxes of cartridges were stamped in large letters ” I k CAL B ER, and several of them had been bro en

reved in i s . open , g the r content When the lieutenan t boarded us he was so ' gru fl and apparently so unfriendly that on e might have imagined him a Spanish officer ; but the manner in which he conducted himself made [ 90 4 1 W H E N T H E L A W G O E S B L I N D

its n me proud of my country and avy . He l “ ” stern y called for the captain , and Jim Floyd , was the negro pilot, who the titular commander of the tug , stepped forward . In reply to ques tions that were fired at him like shots from a n Gatling gu , Floyd said he had heard of a wreck t B on the wes erly side of the ahama B ank , and c was in sea rch of it . Ac ording to the reports , it was a large wreck, which accounted for his big c crew . He innocently de lared he had no idea that the cruiser was pursuing us until she dropped

the shell ahead of us . The lieutenant accepted

these state ments without comment . “ ? ” What are these he asked , indicating a box was i of cartridges on which he stand ng , and “ others lying alongside of it . Sardines , I sup ” pm .

es , assented the amazed Floyd .

I should think you would need them . With such a large crew you ought to carry plenty of ” food . r After looking the ship ove , taking care to

avoid an intimate acquaintance with our cargo, the young officer returned to the Marblehead to

. to report He ok Floyd along , and Captain

Ehner put him through another examination . “ ’ ’ ” Isn t Captai n John O B rien with you ? in

quired the captain , after Floyd had repeated all

he had told the lieutenant . “ ’ ” l I don t know, replied Floyd , who cou d lie

cheerq y under such conditions , but not other [ 50 5 1 A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

’ - wise . There s a little gray haired chap aboard ‘ ’ i whom they call Johnny . Possibly he s Cap ’ ” tain O B rien . “ ue n I g ss that is he, said the capta i , with s F a broad mile, of which loyd told me with de light. Another lieutenant was sent aboard the Daw n !e e r to lo with Floyd , and w were o dered fol w r the cruiser to Key West, whe e we were turned r ove to the collector of customs . He sent out two ho r inspectors w looked under the matt esses , - r v in the coal bunke s, in the galley , and e ery other place where they were sure no arms were con cealed ; but could find nothing that suggested fi n libusteri g . Armed guards were then se nt on r r incomuniccdofor boa d , and we we e held - l as om twenty four hours , whi e Washington w c mu nica ted with . This was done to show the Federal authorities that the situation was being l handled firm y and impartially, and also to keep inquisitive people who might testify against us Dau away from the ntless. Notwithstanding the reports of all of the a se rchers , orders were cabled from Washington i s na— to proceed aga n t which was done, no ai — doubt , to appease Sp n and General Nufi ez , M a Colonel endez , C rtaya , Floyd , and I were haled before United States Commissioner Julius “ Ottoon a charge of organizin g a military ex ” edition p against a friendly power . Otto and

Cartaya were old friends . Before we were ar [ 90 0 ]

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

s ing report . The little hip shook and shivered as i m as though she w going to p eces , and u d and was d u grease , with which the boiler ba ly fo led , were scattered all over her ; but not a man was

. of seriously injured Fortunately, that was one the very few trips on which we carried no dynamite .

We got sail onto the tug and headed due north. f l Two days later , near Alligator Ree ight, on the

Florida coast , we were picked up by the revenue M La ne w cutter c , which as searching for us to prevent us from going to Cuba, and towed back to Key West . We reported that we had been i d sabled before we found the imaginary wreck, for which we were supposed to be looking , and the government generously ordered the McLa ne to tow the tug to Jacksonville tohave her boil a '

- repaired . She went into dry dock there without e v i r mo ing her hoodoo cargo, wh ch , after all of its n vicissitudes , fi ally reached Cuba , but not until several months later . The explosion on the Da q compelled us to get another vessel with which to run the s double blockade while she wa out of commission . ree Friends w The Th as at our service , but I had as e con condemned her, so far our purpos s were

- cerned . She was a poor sea boat, had a weak

s . boiler, and always needed fixing omewhere c Having been built in Ja ksonville, she was well adverotised in the newspaper reports that were sent u t from there, and got a lot of glory out [ 90 8] W H E N T H E L A W G O E S B L I N D

of a very little work . It has been stated that she made as man y as n ine filibu sterin g trips to Cuba ; the fact is that she landed just three ex ditions pe , and two of them were handled in such a way that the Spaniards captured a large part Da u ntless of the arms . The made five times as hree F iends many landings as the T r , and withou t the loss of a man or a rifle through any fault of the ship or those on board of her . i Somers As a makesh ft we chartered the N . i n l - Smth, a Pe saco a pilot boat , almost new, which drew too much water for the service for which she -w r Donna T was built . The three asted schoone . B ri s gg , which we had previously employed in the s as ame capacity , w engaged to carry a shipment of toOran e arms ~ g Key, at the western end of the

B ahama B ank , opposite the lower end of Florida . Her cargo was brought down to New York on the B ridgeport boat and put aboard the schoon er at night by ca rrying it across the closed dock of the B ridgeport Line ; that was one of the few things which we were able to do twice in the same way in spite of the wary watchers ; Car f taya, half a dozen Cuban o ficers , Charley Silva, and one or two others of our regular men were i s sh on the B r gg . As soon as e was loaded a tug of the Moran Line, which I had boa rded several who hours before , after losing the detectives set te out to shadow me, took her in tow and star d t had her south . The u g contracted to tow six hundred miles down the coast ; but when we [ 20 9 ] A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D had gone only a little more than half that dis as tance, with Cape Hatter abeam, we ran into a nasty southwester . The wind worked around s s into the south , and increa ed until it wa blowing a living gale and piling up a terrible sea . The ’ towboat could not keep the schooner 3 head into the win d an d was in dan e of ei , g r b ng drau ed down by the stern every time the tow-line ' er w ta utened . H captain as stricken stifl with fright, and refused to go any farther . As soon as the tow-line was cast ofl Ca ptain B ri l Gurney , of the ggs, signa ed that he also ih n fo te ded to tu rn tail and run r it . There was some excuse for the apprehension of the capta in of the little tug ; but for Gurney , with a big , r was stou t vessel unde him, there non e . Whether with or without his connivance , his ship was su re to be seized at the first port he put into , which would mean trouble for all of us and a setback to the revolution . I was determined there should be no unnecessary embarrassments of that kind; but the only way to prevent them was to get aboard the schooner . Gurney refu sed to lower ’ for a boat me , and we could not get the tu g s

- life boat free from its lashings, in the budd i ng w wm to which e being su bjected . I told the tugboat capta in what I proposed to do, and he assisted me most ably, though with many profane expressions of en tire confidence in ’ i u my nsa nity . We ran p in the schooner s lee, getting as close to her as any man would ha ve [ 210 ]

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

al ho charge of Gener Rafael Gutierrez , w was M going to join aceo, was landed on Sunday, oth s rri Coen September , just ea t of Cape ta , on the south side of the west end of Cuba . The second one was put ashore on the following Th umday night at Point Tarara , ten miles east M h of Havana, with the orro lig t flashing on us. The pa rty which was landed with this ca rgowas as commanded by General Rafael de Carden , who was chief of police of Havana under General i Leonard Wood in the first American occupat on . The third cargo was landed on the night of Wed n da es y, September 15th , at the mouth of the

Arimao River , a mile and a half east of the light ou to house Point Colorados , at the entrance

Cienfu egos Bay . The empty schooner set a S mith for course for Norfolk, and the headed n w Key West , where Nu ez, Cartaya , and I ro ed ashore , while the tu g went on to Pensacola .

When we returned to Jacksonville, after the smoke created by the burning words of the Span ish agents had cleared away, we found the she had on board when her crown -sheet blew out had been secretly landed and stored after she - left the dry dock . They were needed in Cuba, as l and we contrived to get them there . It w we l Frito known that Alphonso t, who was directly in charge of revolutionary shipments at that pro u 7 th d ctive point, was to be married on October , and the detectives cunningly conjectured that [ 212 ] W H E N T H E L A W G O E S B L I N D he was too mu ch interested in that event to five serious thought to Cuban affairs . So they went B to sleep . efore they woke up the arms and a large party of Cubans had been landed , on the h of 10 t . night October , near Nuevita s Point As a result of this expedition the Spanish minister at Washington was instructed to again demand of the United Sta tes government that

tofilibuste rin . it put an end g This he did , promptly and emphatically , at the same time telling President McKinley that but for the aid American s were giving the Cubans the revolt would long ago have been suppressed . On 2d was October 2 , by which time I away with an another expedition , the President d his cabi ’ net considered Spain s latest protest at a long Dau n ss session , at which the good ship tle was the chief topic of conversation , as she had been at several previous meetings on the same general subject . Following this cabinet conference Secretary D ofi cial of the NavyJohn . Long gave out an statement in which he declared that “ every thi ng possible has been done by this govern ment to discharge the obligations imposed upon it was a by the neutrality laws . It estimated th t up to that time the Navy Department alone had spent one million dollars in attempting to pre i ex en di vent fil bu stering, in addition to heavy p tures to the same end by the Treasury Depart n t men t and the Departme t of Jus ice . The fleet [ 213 ] A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D which was then patrolling the southern coast in opposition to our activities , was composed of the - h Maw e N ewa k Ra l battle s ip , the cruisers r , mgh,

N aslwille Wilmi n t n H the gunboats , g o , elena , and

Veswvius gunboa t , and the revenue cutters — Mortal rather a formidable force to be ar inst one rayed aga little tu gboat . In the cou rse of the next month or two several additional ships were assigned to watch u s ; but the results were the same as before . While we were making the landing at Nuevitas n Point , General Nu ez was getting another ex edition Yor p ready, and I was hurried to New k to take charge of it . In some ways it was a Don B repetition of the trip of the na T. riggs ; but the delays were greater , and there were more

- things that went wrong . The two mas te d Silve Heels schooner r , a coaster from Rockland , M had been chartered tocarr a car oof aine, y g n arms from New York to Conceptio Island , on ah the easterly side of the B amas, where she was D to be met by the au ntless . One of the Moran tugs had been engaged to tow her six hundred w n miles, and she as to fi ish the trip u nder - canvas . The steam lighter Lizzie Hende rson B loaded the cargo at ridgeport, and on Sat u rda l 6th r to y night, October , transfe red it h Silver eels belovvSand oo t e H y H k, where the lmi

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

All of these negotiations and adjustments took time , and we had been lying to an anxious anchor for nearly a week when the Dau ntless hove in for i sight . To put us in a better position qu ck Silve Heels action , she towed the r around to was Orange Key , where she anchored , well out of the path of ordinary travel . The Cubans on n the Dau ntleee were transferred to the schoo er, and she was left in charge of Carta ya, while General Nunez and I went aboard the tug and l continued on to Jacksonvi le, to keep faith with was the good Judge Alvarez . Our absence u n al ex pectedly prolonged , and the inte rv was an as uneasy time for Carta ya . There w one in eident in particular that caused him concern . One afternoon a schooner bore down throu gh

- the short cu t channel from Stirrup Key , which f was known to but e w navigators , and hove to

What schoon er is that? she called . ” ilv H el-s The S er e , shouted Cartaya, for her m na e could easily havebeen made out with glasses . “ Where are you from? ” ” ho as Havana, replied Carta ya, w w ta ken off his guard by the sudden mqu iry . ” What did you take down there? ” Potatoes . What did you get for them? ”

Seven dollars a barrel . ” Thank you , shouted the other skipper, ” l his off his he hau ed m sheets and stood on cou rse. [ 216 ] W H E N T H E L A W G O E S B L I N D

When Cartaya sa w him head toward Havana after he cleared the bank , he became nervous . He feared the captain would report having spoken Silver Heels the , and that a Spanish gu nboat ' h i would be after him t e next day . H s answers tothe unexpected hails had been given a t ran dom ; he knew no more about the price of po tatoes in Havana than about the price of green

- we his long range interview, but when heard the second chapter of the story, some time later ,

The schooner that hailed the Silver Heels was bound for Havana with a cargo of potatoes which was consigned to G . Lawton Childs Co . Her captain went as hore immediately on his ar rival , reported to Mr. Childs , and asked the price of potatoes . He was told they were worth two dollars a barrel . “ ’ o u Oh , y u can t give me that, la ghed the

’ ”

ou ? u r Mr. s Can t give y what inq i ed Child ,

- - - That twodollar a barrel talk . I met the ' Silve Heels o r fi Orange Key, and she got seven dollars a barrel for her potatoes. “ Have you told any one else about having ”

il ? . seen the S ver Heels gravely asked Mr Childs , whol , ike most of the Americans in Havana , had intimate knowledge concerning the revola

tion ary activities . 15 [ 217 1 A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

No ; why ? ’ Never mind why ; but if I were you I wou ldn t mention her name again as long as you are in

Havana . If you do you are very likely to be hanged . The astonished captain took the tip ; likewise he took two dollars a barrel for his potatoes with

out further argument . When the Dau ntless returned to Jacksonville the Vesuvi us was still on guard in front of the ad i - city , and , in d tion to the war ships and cus toms craft that were rushing frantically up and

down the coast from Key West to Fernandina , two revenue cutters were patrolling the twenty

mile stretch of river running down to the se a . They watched us so closely that it was two weeks we before found a chance to slip away from them . On November 19th we left for Savannah with the Jennie Thomas schooner in tow , and , instead of l w returning at once to Jacksonvi le , e ran back i el to the S lver He s . Under ordinary conditions we would have made two or three trips with her cargo ; but it had been so long on the way that

it was decided to land all of it at once . Our scuppers were awash when we had all of the arms r and the landing party on boa d , but the sea was

smooth , and we took the chance of running into

bad weather . 28 h On the night of November t , six weeks the Silve Heels from the time r left New York , we sta rted to pu t the expedition ashore at Cape [ 218]

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

she be watched . Orders were again telegraphed the ai Captain Sigsbee, who commanded M ne, a n ss w to keep his eye on the D u tle . Six eeks later, after havin g been twice specifically di ’ n a rected to protect Spai s interests, the M ine was blown up in Spanish waters ; but I never have believed that the Spaniards had an ything h to dowit her destruction . Twith all of the close shaves that go with persistence in that plea sant profession , I com l mandad bu t one expedition on which there was any loss of life ; that was the tragic trip of the l Tillie , which fo lowed soon after the lively land ing at Cape Lucrecia of the arms taken by the illie Dau nlless from the Silver Heels . The T was an old steamer that had been ca rrying w o freight between N e York and N ew L ndon ,

Connecticut , for a New England railroad. She became too small for that trade, and , after having been laid up for a while , was sold to McAlester B who in - rothers , put her dry dock at the foot of East Seventh Street in Brooklyn for a general

r offered for sale at a bargaoin , and afte I had pronounced her hull in g od condition , and Frank Paglu chi had inspected and passed her machinery, the Cubans bought her . Her purchase was dicta ted by a desire to land a large shipment of munitions of war in Cuba as quickly as possible , to offset the capital the [ m l A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

Spaniards were trying to make out of the death M of Lieu tenan t en eral Antonio aceo, who was 1897 killed on December 7 , , five days after the Dau ntless returned to Jacksonville from the 8 h landing of November 2 t , as he was leadi ng a detachment of troops against Havana . He had planned a quick , sharp raid on the capital to - B a give the lie to Captain General l nco , who was loudly proclaiming that he had Maceo bottled in up Pinar del Rio , and that the revolt had

finally been stamped out . Forty miles south west of the city he encountered a small Spm ish force , and , in the skirmish that followed , Maceo i was instantly k lled , almost by accident. As in the case of Marti , the Spaniards did not recognize him at first . When it was discovered that the most dashing of the rebel leaders had been put out of commission there was great Mad rejoicing at Havana and rid , and General B lanco blatantly boasted that with his death the rebellion was actually at an end . It was e i f ared that this might be bel eved , and we wished to prove to our American sympathizers tha t was there no thought of giving up the fight. n General Ruis Rivera , whose la ding from one of our expeditions had been followed by one of e the most severe battl s of the war, in which the Spaniards sought to prevent hi m from joining Maceo and gave him a running fight for sixty l miles , succeeded to the command in Pinar de

Rio , and began a vigorous campaign to divert ( m l

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D tives who was i did not , knew what go ng on, imagine that I would leave at such a ti me, so m i they acco modatingly relaxed the r vigilance.

'

Mrs . O B rien ou for to come home, I slipped t i by the back way and hurr ed over to New York, Dr where . Castillo, Cartaya, and a party of ofli ce rs Cuban were waiting for me on a tug. We at once put off up through the Sound and Tillie reached the on Saturday morning . two Two tugs , towing large lighters loaded with arms , arrived from B ridgeport at the same time . They had started for N ew York, accord ing to the report that was given out , and the detectives were waiting for them there . The particu lar pride of this expedition was a beauti ful dynamite-gun which had been on exhibition in New York, and was considered the most de structive weapon in the world , as well as the most terrifying . To keep it company there were l e severa tons of dynamite, thre thousand rifles , i three m llion cartridges , several thousand ma chetes , and a lot of small arms and medical sup t a plies . I was a cargo well c lculated to arouse enthusiasm among the rebels and enable them to operate more effectively and offensively . With a lighter on each side of her the Tillie we was loaded in about six hours , and put to i - sea late in the afternoon , head ng east south east to keep well clear of the shore and prevent them from getting our di rection from the light [ m l T H E S I N K I N G O F T H E T I L L I E

th house , where e ship was so well known that z she would have been recogni ed at a glance . There was a revenue cutter lying at New Lon e don , and w feared she would try to pick up our trail as soon as the patien t detectives discovered that the arms which they were expecting in New D York had taken another course . uring the Tillie night the began to leak , but the chief

i . M i engineer, Will am H ears , failed to not fy me, as he should have done . It was his theory , he

- claimed , that as the vessel had been in dry dock e t l long enough to g thorough y dried out , the of strain of her cargo had opened some her seams , and he su pposed they would tighten up as soon as her ti mbers expanded under the action of the water , and that until then the pumps could B handle the leakage . u t the water did not seep in through started seams ; it poured in through

- the sleeve of the tail shaft . There were two theories as to the cause of the leak . The correct one , as I believed , was that there was a fracture in the collar of the shaft when the Tillie left the dry-dock ; it was not dis r tu bed when she loafed up through the Sound , in comparatively smooth water and with noth ing on board ; but as soon as she got intothe seaway outside with her heavy cargo and was r run at full speed , the broken pieces were fo ced se apart , creating a crack through which the a t came in a small river . The o her explanation was we o o who r that had a trait r ab ard , du ing [ m l A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

the night , drove wedges in between the sleeve of the shaft and the timbers . There were some circumstances which tended to support this be lief , yet I never accepted it .

as something w wrong, the water was ~ shaft , and it too late to make any investiga tion ; besides , there were other things of more importance that needed to be done, for even then the water was beginning to splash the fires ou t.

The pumps were losing ground every minute, and it was plain enough that the shi p was boun d for the bottom of the sea ; it was on ly a question she of whether sank in deep or shallow water . I immediately hauled her around and headed for . Long Island in the hOpe that we could keep her was going until I could run her ashore . It then blowing hard from the southeast , so we had the wind with us to start with ; but from the looks of things I knew it would be only a few hours until we ran into a hard northwester . In an effort to keep the fires above the rapidly rising water I ordered the cargo thrown over board ; when I thou ght of how much the Spanish minister at Washington would have enjoyed seeing the bundles of rifles and boxes of car tridges sending up bu—bbles, I fervently wished we had him on board but not for that reason

- alone . The wonderful dynamite gun , in which s so many hope had been centered , was held until s the la t , and when it went overboard I turned [ 226 ]

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

’ off Then I m three times worse than you are, “ ’ I told him, for I ve got the best wife in the world and eight children . It looks as if they are going to have to get along without me from this ’ time on , but crying about it isn t going to help ’ them , and it certainly won t do me any good . They would be ashamed of me if they thought

I showed myself a coward . Try to be a man for ’ ” a change ; you ll feel better about it .

That shot, intentionally brutal but none the t B less true, ook some of the hysteria out of erry , and thereafter he added less to the brine that was coming aboard , though he was far from cheerful . We looked in vain for another craft of any kind , and by the middle of the a fter was noon it seemed as though it all up with us, for there was not much daylight left , and with her deck almost awas h it was impossible that the Tillie could keep afloat all night . The gale had swept us out to sea so rapidly that by that time we were fifteen miles offshore , midway between Fire Island and Shinnecock light . The l wind , which was filled with icy need es , had - m kicked up a wild cross sea , and it was ore comforta ble to go down with the ship than to even think of trying to escape in the boats . Just as I had practically given up hope the

‘ Gove nor Ame s r hove in sight, tearing up the coast to windward of u s under double- reefed Amea lower sails . I knew it was the as soon as was I got a good look at her, for she then the [ 228] T H E S I N K I N G O F T H E T I L L I E

fi - in only ve masted schooner the world . I ha ve always been partial to wind -jammers and have s seen many that arou ed my admiration , but the Amos impressed me as by all odds the most

bea utiful ship I had ever seen . There was a fin e scorn in the way she stood up tothe fury of the storm and defiantly shook off the tumbling mountains that threw their whole weight against ’ her stout sides in an efiort to crush them and

bury her . 111 s We were so low the water, and she wa so

far away, that I feared she would not see us .

She wou ld have missed us , in fact, but for the good eyes of the negro engineer of her donkey n whowas n e gine, admiri g the picture of the i w ld sea when he picked us up . He called the captain ’s attention to what he took to be a large

rowboat away 0 3 to leeward , with the result

that, when the schooner was abeam of us and s it looked as though she wa going by , she sud denl n y cha ged her course and bore down on us . There probably would have been two wrecks instead of one if she had tried to get at close r quarte s with us , so it was necessary for us to take to the boats and get well clear of the Tillie

before we could be picked up . The steamer

carried only two boats , one large and the other

small . They would have held all of us ; but r ho two cowardly sailo s , w were the strongest

men in the party , jumped into the small one and cu t it adrift before we could stop them and [ 229 ] A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

- rowed to the schooner . There were twenty one was hos t of us left, which more than the other could ca rry . Under such conditions I natu r ally expected to stay with the ship and proposed to the others that they draw lots to decide who should go in the boat ; but John , the stewa rd , and seven of the Cubans refused to leave the steamer . They insisted that they would rather risk their lives where they were than to attempt to reach the schooner . No argument could change their decision , so the rest of us clambered or fell into the boat and let the Wind sweep us away from the doomed ship . Amos The stood in for us twice, and hove to only a short distance away ; but we did not have strength enough to pull alongside of her ; we were so exhausted by our efforts to keep the Tillie afloat and benumbed by the cold that it was all we could do to bail en ough water out i of the boat to prevent it from s nking . Seeing our helpless condition , Captain Waldemar , who the commanded schooner, dete rmined to sink or save us . He stood straight for us , and , when we were close aboard , dropped all of his canvas except a couple of jibs . The schooner had so much way on that in a mommt her bowsprit was directly over our heads . Even then , with the wind helping us , we could not pull to lee ward of her . It seemed a certainty that we would be run down ; but just in the nick off of time the ship paid a trifle, under the [ 930 ]

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

h It was a terrible t in—g to have to sail away and leave the four men the steward and three —e n Tillie Cubans the , knowing , as they did , that she would go down before morning and take them with her ; but that 18 the way of the sea . If they had not declined to leave the stea ma when they had the opportunity , I doubt less would have taken the place of one of them “ ’ in Davy Jones s Locker . A n The mes reached Provide ce, whither she was bound when she providentially crossed our drifting course , on Tuesday , and we returned to

New York by the first train . When we re Mr l ported to . Pa ma at the Astor House that evening , he went into hyste rics . He had some excu se , it must be admitted , for, with our clothes torn into ribbons and grime and grease from the - w engine room , where e had fought to keep steam up until the last minute, ground into our skin, and with our hands and faces cut and scarred ,

- we undoubtedly were a hard looking lot . After the story of the disaster had been told I went home to my anxious family , while Horatio Rubens took the rest of the survivors to an u p town hotel for dinner, where they attracted f h much attention , as the a ternoon papers ad s contained long account of the loss of the Tilli e . Every one concerned wa s careful not to admit that we had been on a filibustering expedition ; a nd i , as all of the evidence wh ch might have been used against us was at the bottom of the [ 239 ] T H E S I N K I N G O F T H E “ T I L L I E

l sea , there were no lega proceedings following that unfortunate trip to add to our troubles . The si nking of the Tillie involved a heavy w drain on the revolutionary treas ury , which as never at all overburdened with money ; but it was not nearly so disastrous to the Cuban cause as it would have been a yea r before, for the sympathy of the American people was runnin g l becom strong y in our favor, the Spaniards were ing disheartened , and the situation , for us , was more encouraging than it had been at any time since the war began . After having landed so many expeditions without any serious accident , it was not surprising that we should lose one, and we considered it on ly a temporary reverse . It had none of the discouraging aspects of the s repeated marine disa ters , bought with Spanish gold , which marked the opening of the war , for there was not one of us whowas not convinced that the last stage of the long struggle had been reached , though non e of us suspected how quick l y the end would come or the manner of it . Good news sometimes follows on the heels of i T bad , and with n a few days after the illie went

Mr. down Palma received word , through one of our secret channels , that a messenger was on his way to New York with an important document which he would be able to use to great advantage . When the anxiously awaited Cuban arrived it developed that he bore a letter written by Du dc o puy L me, the Spanish minister at Wash l [ 233 ] A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D in ton g , to a friend at Havana , in which he spoke “ ” Kin l of President Mc ey as a low politician . i This document, which had fallen nto the hands of the Cubans in a manner that made it appear to be a gift from the gods , was rightly re garded as more val u able ammunition than ship- loads of

- dynamite or car loads of gu ns , for it required no prophetic vision to discern the effect its publi cation would produce .

First an d foremost, it assured us of more kin d ly consideration at the one Spanish stronghold im on which—we had been unable to make any pression the White House at Washington . In “ ” of was stead having catered to the rabble , as D Kin l Mr. Mc e m charged by e Lome, y had ain tained an attitude that was absolutely correct la from the standpoint of international w, though extremely incorrect, as I believed , for the Presi dent oi the greatest republic on earth . He had never evinced the slightest sympa thy for the

Cubans , in public or private , and had exerted all of the forces at his command to prevent as sistance from rea ching them . To influential members of his own party whohad urged him n to interve e in Cuba , to put an end to wholesale murder and countless Spanish brutalities within sight of the American flag , he had repeatedly declared that he “ would not be forced into an unholy war. Having taken such a decided stand against the growing sentiment of his country, we knew the vulgar criticisms of D e [ 234 1

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

we . point were to start General Nunez , Car taya, and I went to Jacksonville , where we ran into an unusually large force of Spanish spies and Secret Service operatives . Our con tin u ed success , in spite of all they could do to block us , had driven the Spanish agents to desperation , and they were literally throwing money away by the handful m their efforts to gai n some in formation as to our plans . On the other hand, e Mr. McKinl y was most anxious that nothing ’ should happen to lend color to De Lome s bitter complaint just as he was demanding from Spain ’ an adequate apology for the minister s statements. To that end every one connected with the Fed eral govern ment had be en instru cted toexercise filibust the greatest care to prevent ering, and the stars of the Secret Service had been assigned to watch us . It was in anticipation of just such precautions as these that the arms had been ordered shipped d z to Tampa , where a o en detectives were hope fully looking forward to their arrival . The sleu ths supposed we intended to sta rt from the west coast, and we careft fostered that be

. all was Sa n uil lief When ready General g ly, whoit had bee n duly whispered around was to command the landing force, and a party of

Cu bans started , with apparent secrecy , for n z Tammi . At the same time Nu e , Cartaya,

. v and , I went into retirement The detecti es took it for granted that we had gone tojoin [ 236 1 T H E S I N K I N G O F T H E “ T I L L I E

u ill Sang y by another route , and made a ma d rush for Tampa . While they were prowling n 12th around there, on the eve ing of February , we quietly proceeded to Fernandina , along with who l the Cubans were to and with the arms , by the old trick of an unlighted train and a blin d siding at the Florida Central and Pen insu lar l depot in Jacksonvi le . At the same time the “ ” Da u ntless , in command of Jim Floyd , dropped lazily down the river . It fortunately hap i pened that there was a thick fog that n ght, ’ and under its cover she stopped at Floyd s home and took on the twelve- pounder and other arms which we did not have time to land at Cape Lucrecia before we were driven away by a

- Lustily blowing her fog horn , the revenue cutter McCu llou gh was slowly patrolling the mouth of the river, on the lookout for the Da as untless . She w right in the channel , and l Floyd , who was running at fu l speed and show ing no lights , passed within one hundred feet of her as he went out . There was great excite ment on the cutter when the Dau ntless went te aring by at such close quarters ; but she was was lost in the fog in a moment, and no attempt made to follow her . We made quick work of putting the cargo aboard when she reached

Fernandina, and got away that night. On the afternoon of February 15th we landed half of the arms and men just inside of Point Nuevas [ 237 ] A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

s as Grande, a short distance ea t of Nuevit , at almost the exact spot where we had put an ex pedition ashore eight months previously . l 6 i On the night of February th , a l ttle more than twenty-four hours after the explosion on a i the M ne , the remainder of our cargo was s M z landed in ide of the harbor at atan as . Con l w siderab e caution was necessary , for e went so close to the city that Cartaya saw the home of h is parents and pointed it out to me . General w Carlos Rojas , who as in command of the rebels in that district , was hard pressed by General M m olina , the Spanish com ander , and he had told us just where to land the arms so that he would be sure to get them . The point he had indicated was midway between a fort at the mouth of the Canima r River and the lighthouse at the entrance to the harbor and not more than two miles from either of the me The first arc light in the city which came into viewas we steamed slowly into the broad bay looked so much like the search light of a Spanish gunboat that I went full speed ' astern in a jifly ; but I soon saw my mistake and we went on in . The landing was quickly and quietly made, and we got away without having been seen , though with the glasses we could plainly see the soldiers at the fort and people moving about in the city . As we did not wish to embarrass President McKin e l y by furnishing any evidence , through our presence on board of her , that the Da u ntleaa [ 288 ]

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D learned that the Vesu vi us had been out se arch ing for her, on the belated report of Spanish agen ts that she had left Fernandina with an s expedition . She wa seized by the government s two weeks later, but it wa purely a perfunctory proceeding , and her bond was released soon after wa r was declared against Spain . We did not use her again , as we were well satisfied to let matters between the United States and Spain take their natu ral and inevitable course ; to have continued our activity might eas ily have weakened the position of the Administration at

Washington . When we resumed the fight for Cuba it was with the American flag flying over u s, and under it we found situations as stirring as any we had experienced when we were operat ing in defiance of a tyrannical law and without

. n as m any recognized flag Stra ge it may see , f I could see no di ference, for the real principle involved seemed to me to have undergone no change . UNDER MY OWN FLAG

M DI ATE LY following the declaration of

war against Spain by the United States , on 20 1898 e April , , Mr. Palma placed the servic s of the Cuban revolutionary organization at the e disposal of the War Department, and th y were accepted . Our familiarity with the Cuban coast and intimate knowledge of general conditions on the island were recognized as important co- i factors , and we operated in the sh pment of arms and supplies to the points where they were wa r most needed . Very soon after the began u ssie Cartaya was assigned to the G , an old side wheeler that was used as a transport . I might have gone with him in command of the craft , was i e but it decided , largely through sent m nt ,

I imagine, that I should take charge of the

A redo - lf , the first wa r ship of the Cuban navy , M or then bui lding at orris Heights , and I was dered to New York to expedite her completion . Thus I missed the first landin g of American troops in Cuba and the first land battle of the a r w . It is one of the mista kes of history that the landing of General Shafter ’s soldiers at [ 941 1 A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D Daiquiri and the quickly following battle of Las Guasimas are generally recorded as the

first of the war , though this engagement did not occur until the latter part of June . Until the War Department could carry out its plans for land ing an army in Cuba its policy was to stren gthen the hands of the rebels . To this end the Gussie was loaded with arms and supplies for Gene ral

Pedro Diaz , then in command in Pinar del Rio who s province , had been advi ed of their coming .

A full company of the Eighth Infantry , in com D man d of Captain Joseph E . orst of the Fou rth

Cavalry , was sent along to cover the landing . The Gu ssi e was convoyed by the revenue cutter

a ni n e . M n g, one of our former enemi s On May 12th she steamed close inshore near the entrance B a -five i v to Cabanas y, forty m les west of Ha an a, to land couriers who were to summon General s Diaz . From the ship the coa t seemed per fectly clear ; but twenty men were sent ashore to guard against a surprise . —They were fol lowed by the three couriers Charles Thrall ,

- Hayden Jones , the artist correspondent for a n — New York newspaper, a d a Cuban and their

horses . As the horses were being landed a de tachmen t of Spanish soldiers opened fire on the infantrymen from a clump of bushes not more

than a hundred feet away, where they had been

well hidden . Without waiting for a command th e Americans spread out in open order and

charged the bush . [ m l

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

r getting an ywhere near the sho e , while the dis ta nce was toogrca t tobe covere d with the big dories that were ordinarily used in landi ng filibusterin cargoes . Her g purpose disappeared ,

- before she was completed , With the blowing u p of the Mai ne ; but it was concluded totake her to Key West and use her, under direction of the

War Department, in commu nica ting with points along the Cuban coast which vessels of ordinary draught could not approach . I attended her launching, and , small as she was , I confess it was with some pride that I hoisted the Cuban

flag over her in an American port. She was the first vessel built by the Cuban republic and the first to fly its emblem . The newspapers had a lot of fu n with her on account of her size ; but she was a good , stanch craft and pe rfectly to w suited the purpose for which she as built, for I drew the plans myself . I left New York 2 with her on June 2d, and made an eas y passage l to Jacksonvi le, where W e were given an en hu siasti t c reception . There I received orders to leave her and goto Tampa to take command Wa d r of the n ere . After the close of the war Al redo Cartaya took the f to Havana, where she

was . M laid up any people tried to buy her, but the Cuban governmen t refused to sell her h and allowed er to fall to pieces . The Wanderer was a twin - screw fruiter from New Orleans which had been chartered by the army transport service . She was loaded at [ 244 ] U N D E R M Y O W N F L A G

d a m -M u mbe h nde d at thc mou th

much misgu ided trouble .

signed until nearly a month later; but Lieuten

found an unexpected opportunity todistinguish s whow themselve , and Heard , as a dashing young [ a s ] A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

as e Mississippian , displayed gr at bravery as I have ever witnessed . We raised the mouth of the Manima ni early 8d in the morning of July 2 . The reefs at that point extend so far out to sea that it was u ccea sar toet inside of them tou he c r oa hore y g p t t a g s , a so we sounded our w y in , taking the precaution , l as in the old fi ibu sterin g days, to buoy the channel as we went along with grate - bars and empty boxes . There was deep water almost u p to the beach , and We went to Within less than half a mile of the shore before coming to an h anc or . The expectant Cubans were con gre on gated the west bank of the Manimani , and we proceeded to land our cargo there in the ’ w ship s boats . So far as e could make ou t with the glasses there was not a Spaniard in sight . was B on We knew there a large fort at ahia H da, but we did not know that one hundred of the best marksmen stationed there had marched down during the night and concealed themselves in the bush a short distance back from the beach on the opposite side of the river from the Cubans . They had either secured advance information of our coming or had become suspicious, through u s so the contin ed pre ence of many natives , that

kind . The Spaniards gave no hint of their nearness until late in the afternoon , by which h e most ou r of shipment had been landed . Then they [ m 1

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D as cool about it as though he had been on dra s wo- parade at a t company post in the Far West, and his men Were no more excited . One of them had his chee k laid open with a Mau ser bullet . “ ’ I d give a thousand dollars if I had tha t wound , shouted Heard , as he took his eyes away from his glasses long enough to shoot an r envious glance at the inju ed marksman . Then “ ’ : M he added ake em pay for that, boys . It will take just ten dead Spaniards to settl e that ” account .

We were lying in a very narrow channel , and but for the fact that the Wanderer had two screws I doubt that we would ever have for made our way out of it , the tide was eh bing and the ship was headed toward the the o of the first u n r beach . At p p g l o an dered the anchor hove short, d when the firing settled down to a steady fusillade I or dered it up , and signaled the engine room to “ B l ” stand by . i ly Ross , the second mate , was hurrying the men who were tending the wind s lass when a bullet sma hed his knee, and he went '

. ski er of down in a heap At that the pp the ship, whowas D i on a fat utchman , threw h mself flat the deck and launched forth into an impas sioned but incoherent prayer for help . Wi l as The men stuck to the nd s , however, and the anchor came up on the run . As soon as it was clear I signaled the enginee r togofull speed [ 248] U N D E R M Y O W N F L A G ahead on the sta rboard screw and fu ll speed astem or to n her ar ic B on the p t, bri g ound qu kly . y that

um ers t h st of e co u ing n b , houg mo th m ntin ed

to go over our hea ds . One of them stru ck the sta rboa rd qua rterma ste r in the ba ck and grazed his r i spine . Whether f om th s injury or from z fright, he be ca me completely paraly ed , and I had to force his hands away from the spokes B ai of the wheel . efore I had l d him down the port qu artermas ter was put ou t of commission

by a bullet th at grazed his nose, and I was left

- alone in the pilot house . As I have said before , h I am not large physically , and handling t e wheel of the Wa nderer was ordinarily a job for twomen me , but it fell to me, for by that ti

there was not a sailorman in sight . A momen t later the electrical signaling ap paratus betwee n the pilot-hou se and the engine a room was shot away . That was re lly serious, for unless I could communicate my orders to the engineer in rapid fire order there was no s chance that we would get away . With reef th r n n of close aboard of us on both sides, e un i g one screw a fraction of a minu te too long meant on h r ks tofur that we would be piled u p t e oc , hi nish an ea sy ta rget for the Spaniards. Not ng could be expected from the regu lar cre w of the

who sos u ed tol enrd. ship , were in a panic , I ho t I He was quick to grasp the situation and its dan ofl o his men totake the lace gers, and told tw of p 17 ( m l A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

of the telegraph . One of them stood just out side of the pilot-house and shouted the orders to his partner , who passed them on down through

- the engine room hatch . In a few minutes both of these men were shot down . Heard hi mself then jumped into the breach . “ ’ ”

l . That s a fine place , he shouted , gleefu l y ’ ’ ’ m M . e a ch ce aybe I ll get shot too I ll give an , ” anyway . on him He refused to order any e to assist , l ab and transmitted the orders alone . I wou d ou t l them to him , and he wou d run back to the hatch and pass them on to the engineer . As he ran back and forth the things he said about the Spaniards almost burned holes 1n the deck where his words fell . In this way owe gradually worked our way out of the tight h le we were in , with ’ the Spaniards and the rest of Heard 8 men pa ; sisten tly plugging away at each other until we were out of range . When the row began the men whowere landing the cargo rowed out to sea w , and we picked up their boats , as e went along , without stopping .

It was found , when we had time to look things r we who ove , that had seven men were seriously d v wounded , though none of them ied , and se eral with minor injuries . We never knew how many i Span ards were put out of commission , for re inforce men ts arrived from the fort before we were out of sight, and all of the dead and wounded were carried away ; but there was some sa tis [ 860 ]

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D m to secure surgical assistance . Night ca e on t before we had covered half the dis ance, and the effectiven ess of the blockade was indicated by the fact that we were twice held up by tor

- pedo boats before we reached the fleet. The little scouts were running without lights and mak ing so little fu ss that I failed todistinguish e ithe r one of them until they hailed us , which ' suggested one vital point of difieren ce between

American and Spa nish naval methods . When S a n Fra ncisco was we got up to the , which the fla - g ship, Commodore Howell sent two surgeons of aboard to attend our wounded , and one them accompanied us to Key West, where those of our men who were severely injured were placed in the hospital . I was sent along to keep the m company, with a bad case of fever which had ’ been coming on for some time and hadn t been helped any by the strain of the preceding twen ty ’ four hours ; but I couldn t stay in the hospital i its w th depressing atmosphere , so in a day or two I was permitted to go to a hotel . Two a ndere weeks later, after the W r had failed to land the remainder of the cargo with which we had run away from the mouth of the Mani m mani , I again took co mand of her . We landed a lot of provisions at Caibarien, m Santa Clara

w hour from starvation . Those howere still alive were literally walking skeletons with fright l a s l fu ly distended abdomens . It w s impo sib e [ 352] U N D E R M Y O W N F L A G to prevent them from tearing open bags of beans and eatin g them raw, and no doubt some died from gorging themselves on uncooked food ; but , on the other hand , the stores We put ashore saved hundreds , and probably thousands , of i lives . The Span sh troops stationed at Cai h barie were in little better shape than the Cubans . f They o fered no resistance to our landing, and were prepared to surren der to a Cuban force that was marching on the city and was only six miles away when we steamed on down the

onfi At Key C tes, in Puerto Principe , we landed D - General ominguez Capote , vice president of the ho provisional government, w had been in New

York consu lting with Mr. Palma , and put a lot of arms and ammuniti on ashore with him . It was only by a lucky chance that the Cuban re - Fo public had a vice president at that ti me . r obvious reasons General Capote had taken pas sage for New York on a sailing-ship at a n out of- the- way port on the southern side of the island . The vessel was wrecked soon after she u put out, and while all on board were resc ed s they were taken to Santiago , where there wa a t large Spanish garrison . Next to Havana hat was the last place to which General Capote would the rd have gone of his own accord . If Spania s had suspected that he was in the party the y m e probably would have shot all of them , to ak sure of putting him ou t of the way of melting [ 368] A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

more mischief ; but , strange to say, he was not recognized , and was allowed to board a liner bound for New York . The Wa nderer was used in the transport ser vice until September, when I took her to New

Orleans and turned her over to her owners . I then returned toNew York and left the Cuban 0 1898 service on October 1 , , by which time the war was over ; the Spaniards were evacuating Cuba ; the America ns were in charge of the — government with the hope of all of the in telligen t Cubans that they would contin u e to supervise Cuban affairs for ten or fifteen years i ca at least, by wh ch time th—ey expected to be pahle of self - government and there was no further need for my services . There were many expressions of gratitude for n i what I had do e for Cuba , wh ch undoubtedly were sincere, and profuse promises of future re wards , which probably were well meant . I was also assured that a considerable balance which was due me for expeditions I had landed would a be paid when the Cub ns came into their own , or as soon as the money could be raised ; bu t this debt has never been liquidated . This is stated in no spirit of complaint ; I refer to it only because some people have believed that I profited largely through my Cuban connections . ll ts a To be in a respec ccurate , this record should show that it was with no thought of selfishness that I enlisted in the war for Cuba n indepen~ [ 354 ]

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

Tota ke her ou t tosea in the storm boat . y season was regarded as the essen ce of reckless was ness , which may explain why I asked to take command of her ; bu t those who held this view i failed to recognize her unique seaworth ness . I had the space reserved for teams bulkheaded at m n n both ends , with the ti bers ru ni g to a point, so no water could get down into the engine-room ; l and in the cabins, forward and aft of the padd e wheel boxes, every alternate board was taken up, so that the waves coulod slosh up through the open f . ings without danger upsetting us The crew , h u difi cult w ich I sec red with considerable y, two consisted of a mate, engineers , three fire

m . en , a cook , and two sailors We lived in the o - us s - tw pilot ho e , and the galley and mess table - kh were on the main deck, between the bul eads .

- We clea red at the Custom House , which was a ceremony so long neglected that I had almost D h forgotten the routine of it, on ecember 7 t , but did not sail until a week later, as I refused a fire - to le ve without a good hose, which the craft lacked when she changed hands . The wisdom of this caution was soon demonstrated , i for on the first n ght out, soon after we had raised l B arnegat ight, something went wrong with the

- electric light wires , and they started a fire in one of the cabins . The flames were fanned by a heavy northwest wind , and but for the hose, which was taken along for just su ch an emergency , the old boat-would have been destroyed in a very U N D E R M Y O W N F L A G

fir o short time . We did not get the e u t u ntil an it had done considerable damage, d I at once

put back to New York for repairs. Every man

jack on board , from the mate down , hustled as a d off ashore as soon we nchore Staten Island ,

and I had to get a complete new crew . When a ou t r s we st rted again th ee week later, after the vessel had been repaired and provided with

kerosene lights , the firemen developed frost

bitten feet, and we had to return and hunt up

men to take their places . We fin ally got away from New York on Jan

8 1899 . r uary , We left Norfolk , our fi st stop ,

in a howling southwester, and it blew so hard that we were obliged to heave to all of one - was i night, as the head sea com ng up under the wheel - guards in a way that threatened to tear

the little boat to pieces . We were not at all

uncomfortable, however , for the gale blew the vessel before it so rapidly that no seas came

aboard . Before we reached Charleston , at which

port I had intended to put in for coal , a norther u struck us and swept s along almost to Miami ,

where we arrived with our bunkers bare . The mas ter mechanic for the railroad company ' that had bought the B rinekerhofl met u s at Key s a ana West . He had expected to cros to H v was s ee n with us, but a living gale that w pi g down from the north prompted him to change l v e W his plans and make the trip in the O i ett . e

left Key West two hours ahea d of the liner, and [ m l A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D were on ly a couple of hours behind her in re ach ing Havana the next morni ng . The gal e gave the Olivette a shaking up that those aboa rd of her remembered for a long while . All of her was t - crockery smashed , and our mas er mecha nic friend was thrown out of his bunk and so badly bruised that he had to go into dry -dock for sev B rin h eral days . The ckcr ofi rode the storm ou t

- like a duck . Her wide wheel guards preve nted i her from roll ng , and , with the wind dead as tern , we hardly knew it was blowing . All of which proved again that the big things are not always the best .

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D ingly ingenious cryptogram code by which all important happenings were transmitted in the form of seemingly innocent messages of a more or less personal nature . Every code message contained a word which indicated that it was

- in cipher , and two key words which , when ap Herald ffi plied to a chart in the o ce , conveyed one of several hundred arbitrary messages whi ch covered every important development that could

- ensue . The relative positions of the key words, which were always within the first twenty words es s of the d patch , gave the e sence of the news , h w ich could be modified , if necessary , by the manner of phrasing the remainder of the mes This as f e sage . code w u sed only or th tm mission of matter which the censor would n ot pass ; routine news , to which no objection could in as . All be made, w sent plain English of these messages were cabled to Key West , where they were relayed to New York . 1898 Early in January , , there were seriou s riots in Havana following the farcical inaugura tion of the so-called autonomous government through which Captain - General B lanco hoped as to restore peace , but which w as distasteful to most of the Spaniards as it was to the Cubans. The Spanish residents of Cuba had no sympathy B l ’ i with anco s pacific policy , wh ch they con stru ed to be an evidence of weakness . They preferred the more b rutal but also more eti co tive methods of Weyler , and their disapproval [ 960 ] S O M E I N N E R S E C R E T S

’ of B lanco s pet scheme was expressed in a series of disturbances which threa tened to result in a rebellion within the Spanish section of the popu lation , and even among the troops . The Ameri l in l cans iving Cuba became thorough y alarmed , and Consul -General Fitzhugh Lee was urged to request the Sta te Department to have a war ship sent to Havana to protect them . The same plea had been made to him many s times before , though never quite so in istently as in this latter instance . Every one knew a war ship would be despatched to Havana the moment l General Le e called for it, but he dec ined to make the request , as he had assurances from General B lanco which convinced him that Ameri l i cans were in no danger . At the so ic tation of Spain no United Sta tes naval vessel had visited wa r Cuban waters during the , and General Lee well knew that to send a war- ship to Havana at that time would be like waving a red flag at an angry bull .

While the riots were in progress José Congosto , — the new secreta ry-general of Cuba the same ad man who , when consul at Phil elph—ia , had tried to bribe me to betray the Cubans c alled on General Lee at hi s rooms in the Inglaterra Hotel to implore him to prevent a war- ship from being sent to Havana . Freeman Halstead , a daredevil Canadian newspaper man whoworked l for Caldwel , had rooms adjoining those of Geno eral Lee on the third floor of the hotel . The tw [ 9-61 1 A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D doors which leaked so all that was said by Le e h r Congosto and General was over ea d .

Congosto , who was next in rank to the captain l genera , asserted that the disturbances were the work of Spaniards who were opposed tothe cifica tor B pa y policy of General lanco , and urged that the United States shou ld support this n policy, as , accordi g to his belief, it promised ac - pe e . He told of some anti American threats ai which had been heard in the mobs , but s d they came from irresponsible persons and no atten

. B tion should be paid to them lanco , he said, had ordered into the city a force of regular troops l which wou d quickly suppress the disorders . as saw The only danger, he it, was that an American war-ship might be sent down to com plicate matters . This , he said , in the disturbed n situation , might so e rage the Spanish element e l that really serious r su ts would follow, and he e begged that such a possibility be prev nted . “ ” “ As matters stand now, he said , we can f control the situation without di ficulty , and I d ple ge you not only my honor, but my life, that not a hair on the head of a single American will be injured . B u t I implore you not to allow a ” - war ship to be sent here . “ ” I believe you , replied General Lee , and you need fear no American interference . No e warship will be sent here unl ss I ask for it, and at present I have no such intention . [ m l

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D The plan could have been worked without any ’ on - trouble, for a window in the c sul general s bedroom opened on the roof of the adjoining building, from which escape would have been e easy ; but , aft r it had been much talked about in secret for several days and all of the de tails was arranged , it abandoned for the same rea son that a scheme to murder General Weyler had been given up some months before : it “ was feared it would have a bad moral ef feet . w During all of the th e he as in Havana, Weyler went nearly every evening to the Café erezano V J , at the corner of irtudes Street and the Prado, where he sat out on the sidewalk 1n plain view of the passing crowds for several l l hours . He was usual y accompanied by on y ac one aide, which proved that he had no l k of ’ person al courage . At about eleven o clock every night he drove down Obispo Street to the palace .

Obispo is one of the narrowest streets in the city, and it would have been a simple matter to drop ’ a bomb on the captain - general s carriage from the roof of almost an y building on either side of an it, with every assur ce that it would do its work well and that the man who threw it would s escape . Weyler knew that plot against his life were constantly bein g hatched ; but he seemed to have no fear that any one of them would ofl' succee d . One night a bomb was set in his palace by ' a daring young Cuban named Armando [ 264 ] S O M E I N N E R S E C R E T S

Andre ; but it was such a small affair that it

- merely mussed up a wash room . Following the interview between General Lee and Congosto and the suppression of the riots there was a period of comparative quiet . The strengthened force of regulars preserved good w - order in the city , and all need for a ar ship a p pea red to have vanished . Some timid Ameri who u cans , had given p all hope of stampeding - al the imperturbable consul gener , were sending perfervid appeals to Washington for protection ; but General Le e was as dete rmined as ever not - only that he would not ask for a war ship, but that none should be sent except over his pro test , so long as General B lanco had things so l we l in hand . In the mean time Colonel Cald hi s well , on a trip into the field , had lost revolver, and , as it was impossible to buy arms in Havana , he had written the home office to send him an other one . I t was delivered to him on January 23d a rse r Olivette by the p of the , which ran be tween Key West and Havana . It was of the same caliber as the weapon he had lost , but of ff n a di ere t make, and after the steamer had started on her return trip he discovered that his old cartridges did not fit the n ew revolver . Not i i wish ng to wa t three days to send another letter , and unwi llin g to let the Spaniards know that Herald he always went armed , he cabled the the message which started all the trouble. It

[ 366 ] A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

bu t l a Camera received, no pates . R equires speci l ' b t b i . s ze . Send y nex oat

This was plain enough to the cable editor of erald e the H , but the agent at Key W st, through whose hands all messages passed , jumped at the o was c nclusion that it a cryptogram , though it carried no code word , and , through sheer in quisitiven ess, attempted to decipher it . After wrestling with it for several hours he evolved the wonderful and momentous translation that an attempt had bee n made by Spa niards to i assassinate General Le e . Th s was soon whis s pered around Key We t, and in a few hours it was reported through governmen t channels to shi was Wa ngton , where it at once communicated l to Assistant Secretary of State Wil iam B . Day. Despite the fact that the Herald printed no e story of the all ged attempt at murder, and that nothing concerning it was received from General n Lee, full crede ce was placed in the report by the

Washington authorities , and at a meeting of the cabinet on the following day it was decided to send the battle -shi p Mni ne to Havana at once “ ” on a visit of courte sy . This precipita te as n action , b ed on an unco firmed rumor , can be explained in no other way than on the theory that the President and his advisers temporarily lost their heads . They su pposed General Lee either u nduly minimized the importance of the incident or had been prevented from sending [ 966 ]

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D ing of the 24th a torpedo- boat was rushed from Key West to the Tortugas with orders to the “ Mai ne to proceed to Havana at once to make a friendly visit for the protection of American toff m s n citizens, and a ord the an a ylum if eces ” sary . The first word of this re ached Havana on the afternoon of the 24th , through the following Herald corres on despatch , sent by the to its p dw t:

s i upply . We want it for the main sheet with n a few days . hi Translated , the code part of t s message, to : which was confined the first sentence, read “ A United States war-ship has been ordered to ” t Havana . The second sentence explained hat wine it was the M , and that she could be expected l within a few days. Caldwe l hunted up General Lee and told him of the information he had te i ce ved . Le e did not believe it . He said he had r- was not asked for a wa ship , and he sure non e him would be sent without a request from . “ “

nf . Your i ormant is mistaken , he said We may have the Mai ne or some other ship here on e ” of . these days , but certainly not for the present n Caldwell , however, expressed full co fidence in the correctness of his despatch . As General Lee was dressing the next morning he was as tounded to see the Maine stea ming into the har

. n l dinin d bor Goi g down to t g room, he foun I ’gl S O M E I N N E R S E C R E T S

Caldwell at breakfast . He walked over to him “ and said very gravely : You were right last Mai ne night, after all . The has just entered the M harbor . I saw her pass the orro ten minutes ” n ago . She had been despatched in such fra tic i haste that no intimat on had been sent to Lee , and he had consequently been unable to advise

General B lanco of her expected arrival . It is doubtful if any other war-ship ever paid ” a friendly call under such warlike conditions . Captain Sigsbee did not know how he would

find things when he entered the harbor ; but, from all that had happened and from the nature his of orders , he expected trouble of some kind ; so , wisely enough , he prepared for it . Arriving r 25th r off Havana at daylight on Janua y , he fi st steamed slowLy to the westward of the city to look over the new and powerful batteries out h toward Vedado , and he was so close ins ore that the officers could be seen studying the fortifica i t ons through their glasses . Then he went to the eastward and made the same ca reful survey of the Playa Chivo battery that was in course of completion back of the Cabanas fortress . The delay which this investigation entailed was explained with the diplomatic statement “ that the ship was putting on a port appear ance but, like the official declaration of Sec

re ta r was . y Long , it well understood When the Ma i ne finally entered the harbor her decks were t r cleared for ac ion , her crew we e at quarters , and [ 969 ] A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D she was in complete readiness to fire explosive shells or a salute with blank cartridges . A pilot met her off the Morro and guided her to the buoy at which she was destroyed three weeks later . When she had made fast, salutes were exchanged and every requirement of naval etiquette was complied with ; but the cere monies ended there . I t is not for an American and an ardent Cu ban sympathizer to question the wisdom of all of the precautions that were taken by Captain Sigsbee ; but at this late day it involves no lack of pa triotism to admit that there was some foun dation for the Spanish contention that, as it was we ll known that none of the guns which he so care fully located could be brought to bear on a shi p in the harbor, they savored somewhat of swash ’ buckling . I t cannot be denied that the Mai ne s whole attitude was threa tening rather than con cilia tor was y ; no doubt this partly , and perhaps largely , due to the vagu e orders that were sent in such a hurry to her commander , for they were l wel calculated to cause apprehen sion . So far as the officials and the greater part of the population were concerned , there never was a more unwelcome visitor ; and the impression ’ created by the manner of the battle-ship s arrival n was heighte ed by what followed . The first of her officers who went ashore devoted themselves to inquiring into the condition of things in

Havana, from a purely military standpoint.

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D u o ninvited and unannounced , were the last pe ple on earth whowould have injured the Mam or allowed her to be injured . They recogn ized m r that they were responsible for her safety . A e i can intervention was the one thing they were — most anxious to avert and they never were quite so solicitous in that regard as just at that time, when they professed to believe, and probably th e of h rea lly did believe, that suppression t e revolt was close at hand—and they knew that the surest way to bring it about was toshow some

- discourtesy to the white war ship . To suppose that the Spanish element which was opposed to Genera l B lanco could have placed a mine under the Mame and set it off without the knowledge of the port authorities is ridiculous. Beyond that, our spy system within the palace of the captain - general and throughout the Spmish if organization was so complete that, the Span iards had had any hand in the historic tragedy ' or possessed any knowledge concerning it, the facts certainly would have been reported to us . As to the exact cause of the disaster I do not l assume to speak with authority , but my be i ef is that it was due either to an explosion of her boilers, which set off her magazines , or to de teriora tion of the powder for the forward ten and i s x inch guns , which produced a spontaneous ex

. a i plosion . The M ne carried the old brown pow to der, which was more liable disintegration than the smokeless powder now in use ; and at that [ 27 9 ] S O M E I N N E R S E C R E T S time the chemical changes which high explosives undergo under certain conditions were not nea rly

- so well understood as they are to day . The nitro compounds then in use as the essential con stitu en ts of powder were much less stable than n the substa ces that are now used , and much more liable to spontaneous chemical decomposition e f under any circumstanc s at all un avorable , such as excessive heat and variable atmospheric Ma me conditions . The had been in tropical waters for some time, and her forward magazine was separated from her boilers only by a coal bunker , twelve feet wide, extending across the ship . In such a situation it is quite conceivable that the powder reached a state that caused it to explode spontaneously , which I regard as more probable than that the boilers let go . The fact that a part of her keel near the magazine was blown upward , almost to the surface of the water, has never been accepted as good evidence that the ship was blown up by a mine by any one familiar with the unaccountable ways in which the forces of nitroglycerin explosions are often exerted . Ma n It should be remembered , too , that the i e and the Texas were the first battle-ships built by D i the Navy epartment . The plans from wh ch they were constructed were reported to have been stolen from England ; but it is more likely that the B ritish Admiralty was glad to give them B s away . oth vessels contained many defect , [ 27 8] A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

which cau sed much severe criticism, and both h were regarded as hoodoo s ips . To what ex tent, ii any , the structural shortcomings of the Mai ne contributed to her destruction I donot know ; but my theory 13 that she happened to be the first big war-ship to suffer from powder decomposition . Several years later the magazine of a French battle-ship blew up from the same - cause while she was lying in dry dock , with no one aboard , and there have been other si milar instances . As a result of these experiences greater precautions are now taken on all naval n vessels, and the mome t powder shows signs of

The inqu isitive blunder which caused the Mai ne to be sent to Havana was not the only fortuitous mishap that advanced the cau se of in the revolutionists . It was through another De e quiring accident that the famous Lome lett r , which would have resulted in Ama ican inter ven tion without the resentmen t born of de ’ stru ction of Captain Sigsbee s historic ship , fell i into the hands of the Cubans . This pleas ng but unexpected development of a war that was filled with surprises has al ways been surrou nded with mystery ; but there is now no reason why the story should not be told . s s for The letter was written to Jo é Canaleja , merely minister of justice, and in recent years i the powerful premier of Spa n . In the fall of [ 97 4 ]

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

rabble ; and , besides , a low politician . Recog n izing the importance of this declaration and E the use to which it might be put , scoto slipped the let—ter into his pocket a second before Canale jas re entered the room . Fortunately it had been sent in a plain envelope , so it had escaped the notice of Canalejas, and he finished with his no suspicion that hi s most interesting communi e r tion had been intercepted . That lett was the only one he received which would have been of any value to the revolutionists ; whether it was Providence, Fate , or Old Nick that placed ’ E scotos it in hands, out of the hundreds that were on the table in front of him , in the single brief period that he was unobserved , one guess is as good as another . Escoto told the revolutionary committee in re~ Havana of the prize he had captured , but fused to surrender it to them ; he insisted on delivering the letter to Mr. Palma in New York . was This involved some delay , for it known that Escoto had acted temporarily as secretary for l Cana ejas , and while he was not regarded as an active sympathizer with the rebels , it would have aroused the suspicion of the secret police if he had attempted to leave Cu ba at on ce. After enough time had elapsed so that de .his was parture unnoticed , he went to New —York and proudly presented the stolen letter the — Mr fruit of a most justifiable theft to . Pal ma. ( 27 0 1 S O M E I N N E R S E C R E T S

as i It w given to the newspapers , wh ch displayed it with all of the expected prominence , on Feb r 8 1898 w ru a y , , and the original as placed in the i ’ hands of the Pres dent s old friend , William R . Da ho y, Assistant Secretary of State, w was the actual head of the department, though John

Sherman was the titular chief . On the follow D ing day Mr. ay called at the Spanish legation

n Mr. o and confro ted de L me with the letter . “ ” Did you write this letter? he asked . ” D o I did , replied e L me, with hardly a glance at it, for he had seen it in the morning papers . “ ”

Mr. Da as Thank you , said y, he turned on an his heel , without the formality of a bow, d k h wal ed out. He hurried back to t e White D House, and from there to the State epartment, with the inten tion of sending the Spanish min h ister is passports , which , under the circum stances , would have been almost tantamount to a declaration of wa r; but before they could be made out and presented to him D e Lome cabled his resignation to Madrid and left hurriedly for

. n Ca nada He remained there a short time , u der guard of a squad of Pinkertons and also watched v O by Secret Ser ice peratives , and then returned to Spain .

Mr. McKin ley and his cabinet were made ’ furiously angry by De Lome s false and bitter ri c ticisms of his official attitude, and their resent ’ ment was intensified by the minister s uneste [ 277 ] A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D mon ios as i u departure from W h ngton . In stru ctions a d were at once c ble to Stewart L. f i M Wood ord , the American min ster at adrid , to demand an instant apology from Spain for the words and actions of her diplomatic representa tive . This apology, though repeatedly called for in sharp notes , was not forthcoming until 14 it February th , and even at that late doay was purely perfunctory . There is reason t believe that this disclaimer would not have been ae ce ted t e p , and hat further exchang s of notes on the subject would have led to a breaking -0 6 of

» diplomatic relations with Spain , and the inter ve ntion for which the Cubans had been fighting and waiting ; but the next day the Mai ne was D blown up, and e Lome was forgotten . had Young Escoto , who rendered his coun try was such a valuable service , subsequently dis of graced , though probably through no fault h his own . He was appointed to a clerks ip in the s u i lo department of public in tr ction , in wh ch a t of crookedness was discovered during the second

American intervention . Escoto , though his frien ds a inn ocmce was were cert in of his , made the scapegoat, and ran away to Europe , where he remained until the general amnesty proclamation of President José Miguel Gomez left him free

There had always been a mistaken belief , which was preached and complained of by the [ 278]

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

D m r. in l Mr. ll g y Pal a , Casti o , General N uses, and one or two others put on their best bl ack clothes and attended the following mee tin g of

the committee . They sat around with long faces,

but spoke never a word . Mr. Croker reported n m o the unexpended bala ce , and on his oti n it was donated to the Cubans for the aid of the ” i sick and wounded , wh ch was the stere otyped form for all such gifts . It was the Cubans living in the United Sta tes who furnished most of the sinews of war . The patriotism they displayed and the sacrifices they made would be a credit to any people in any age ’ l of the world s history . Fu ly half of the re volu tionary fund came from the clubs of Cuban . cigar- makers that had been organized by José M arti in all cities having Cuban colonies . Their members were pledged to contribute ten per e c nt. of their weekly earnings ; but most of them gave more than that, many as much as a i e quarter and a th rd , and ev n half of their wages . Tribute amounting to several hundred thousand dollars was levied on Spanish plantation-owners in who ax Cuba ; those paid their t es promptly , as all good citizens should , were not molested , but most of those who disregarded the assessment notices saw their fields of sugar-cane go u p in smoke when they were ready to be cu t.

Mr. In one way and another , Huau , the dele l gate at Jacksonvi le, contributed his whole for tune of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars to S O M E I N N E R S E C R E T S

e the cause . There were many others who , with l ss to give, gave all they had . Juan Fraga , of l B rooklyn , one of the ear iest associates of Marti in building up the magnificent organization which w made the long war possible, as one of those who sacrificed most . He had a prosperous business, but so neglected it in his devotion to his country i that he died almost penniless , whereas he m ght 0 have been wea lthy . N one ever knew how was much he gave, for his purse always open ; but it was a goodly fortune . Another of the same type was F . E . Fonseca , of New York . as Like Mr. Fraga , he kept no record of his ce e less contributions ; but they easily amounted to

fifty thousand dollars . He gave so much time to aiding the revolution and so little to his business that he narrowly escaped bankruptcy . Where there were so many who made noble sacrifices , without any thought of reward beyond the freedom of their native land , it may seem i unfair to s ngle out a few by name, yet these are only examples within my own knowledge of the spirit which animated thousands of Cubans .

The largest contributor of money , outside of

Mr. Huau , was the revered Marta Abreu , who owned large esta tes in Santa Clara province but lived in Paris during the war . She responded liberally to every call that was made on her, and gave altogether more than one hundred thousand l do lars . All of her contributions were made in who the name of General Ignacio Agramonte, was 19 1 A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

’ killed in the Ten Years War, and by her req uest the identity of the giver was not revea led until

r . a fter her death , several years late Her hus E sta vis band , Pedro , was appointed minister of i justice in the cab net of General Wood , in recog ’ a ition of his wife s generosity and his own u n was assailable integrity . He subsequently elected - e vice president of Cuba, but r signed soon afte r ward on account of a disagreement with Pra i

dent Palma . B onds of the Cuban republic were offered for

sale , away below par, all during the war ; but

few of them found purchasers . They were n largely used , however , as part payme t in the u m -five i p rchase of ar s , at from twenty to s xty cents on the dollar . With the final establish me nt of the republic these bonds became as goood as gold , and those who had accepted them pr f i o h ted pr portionately, w ile many clever financiers regretted their failure to buy them when the y were offered at bargain prices .

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D smuggling of a very different kind from that

. on with which I was familiar In e scheme, r r which was most pe sistently u ged on me , it was suggested that I reverse the contraband route by surreptitiously importing Chinamen into the United States from Cuba in wholesale qu an tities , but at retail rates . r The plan , as it was p w ented with more or less to com eloquence , provided that I was be given mand of a smart schooner with which to carry cargoa of Celestials from an obscure point on the south coast of Cuba to an equally remote M place on the north shore of the Gulf of exico . The shipments were to be assembled and plac ed m as on board by y proposed partner, and , China men were free to come and go as they pleased ffi on in Cuba, there would have been no di culty that point . While I was to advise on every move that was made, I was to be directly re l filibuste rin fo sponsible on y, as in the old g days , r the navigation of the ship and the landing of the cargoes . Our passengers were to be met by representatives of the Chinese syndicate in N e w

e . York, who would supply them with forg d pa pers giving them the right to reside in the n a U ited St tes and attend to their distribution . Our contract would be completed the moment they set foot on shore . I was to be paid several hundred dollars—I have forgotten exactly how much , but I believe — it was three hundred dollars for every China [ 284 1 A P L A N T O R E S C U E D R E Y F U S

man we landed , and , as we could have carried

several hundred of them on each trip , we could soon have accumulated a fortune . In fact , by flying the Cuban flag and changing the point

of debarkation often enough to avert suspicion , we could have imported as many Chinamen as .

were wanted . I needed the money , right enough , and I had no prejudices against the Chinese oh themselves , but I did have a pronoun ced jection to making money in that way . This objection extended to other suggestions of a similar nature, which came from men wi th visions

of dishonest or dishonorable wealth . w i There as one propos tion , however, while it might have been said to contemplate the setting

at naught of another international law, did no a nd en offense to my sense of right and wrong , I l te red into it cheerft and enthusiastica ly . It f D was the rescue of Captain Al red reyfus , the D ’ martyr of France , from evil s Island , and I have always regretted that the French govern

ment , though doubtless without any suspicion w e of what as afoot, prevent d me from carry in in g it out . Incidentally, this unintentional r te ference deprived me of half a million dollars , which wou ld have earned me the rest to which I

sometimes felt I was entitled . 99 In the spring of 18 , soon after my return B rinckerho from the trip to Havana with the fi , I was summoned to Jacksonville by a message from

r. u o u M Hua , wh was in charge of revol tionary [ 285 ] A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D affairs in the South when the Cubans were fight » ing for their freedom . He told me he had bee n approached by a Frenchman who, to protect him from any embarrassment , will be known here M n h ur only as o sieur ! , who Wis ed to sec e the D f him release of Captain rey us by kidnapping . Monsieur ! represented a party of wea lthy

French Jews who , despairing of ever securin g a fair trial for the famous exile, had raised a fund of one million dollars with which to procu re his n release from his revolting confineme t . They he proposed that he landed in the United States, i e ncognito, of cours , and go to some quiet place where he could live in peace and comfort pen di ng the outcome of their con tinu ed efforts towa rd hi s vindica tion . The reward for his release w as was so to be paid when he landed on American il .

Monsieur ! had come to Mr . Huau through channels which carried confidence ; but, bein g h a prudent business man , the Cuban patriot a d investigated the Frenchman thoroughly before n sendi g for me, and satisfied himself that the

Mr. facts were as they had been stated . Huau knew the names of at least some of the me n whohad contributed to the million-dollar fund ; but I did not ask him for them, as his gu arantee that the proposition was genuine was all I needed . From what he ha d heard of my activities Monsieur ! believed I was the man to plan and command the expedition ; bu t bd ore making

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

’ cerning the conditions of the captain s confin e ment ; the number and habits of his guards ; the hours at which the men whowere su ppom to keep their eyes on him , day and night, were changed ; the paths patrolled by the sentries , and the location of all the buildings and the charac ter of the ground around them . This enabled us toattack the problem with exact knowledge of the situation . The detachment of troops on the island at that time nu mbered less than fifty n men , and it was co sidered in Paris that even that small force was larger than was really necessary . It had been stated in the press that Dreyfus was tobe shot if somu ch as an attempt was him made to rescue . We had reason to believe that this report was circulated only to discourage any activity in that direction , and that no su ch

‘ order had ever been issued . It was tru e, how in ever, that the command g cificer on the island had instruction s to shoot the captain rather than to e rmit him toesca e or be rescu p p ed . This made it necessary for us to strike so sud denly and decisively that Dreyfus would be safe in our hands before the command for his exe cu tion could be given and carried out. Anything i l ke a secretive rescue was out of the question . What was required was a quick and un expected blow delivered by a force large enou gh to take command of the situation in a moment, or, at “33 1 A P L A N T O R E S C U E D R E Y F U S

hi the worst, cause the guards to t nk about saving their own lives in place of sacrificing that of

their prisoner . w The only practicable plan , I concluded , as to throw seventy- five or one hundred heavily

armed men ashore at night , without any warn i ing , and take temporary possess on of the island ifl . n in a j y Fifty men , of the kind that I k ew where to put my hands on , would have been enough ; but I proposed to overwhelm the Frenchmen rather than to take the smallest B n chance of things going wrong . y co sulting the chart I found there was deep water right u p to the bank on the side of the island which it was necessary for us to reach , and I figured tha t we could ru n a ship well inshore and land our men in boats close to the i mpro vised prison before we were seen . After that it would be a rush for the house m which Drey as fus w confined , and , perhaps , a fight, in which the odds would be all on our side . With the rescue accomplished our men were to return to the boats as quickly as possible, and, to cover their retreat , I expected to mount a couple of

Gatling guns on the forward deck of our ship , in with which we could sweep the shore . I tended to make the landing about one o’clock n in the mor ing , at which hour all but the cap ’ tain s personal guards would be sound asleep, and the chances were that the work would be done so quickly that there would be little oppo~ [ 989 ] A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D sitiou ; but our men were to be prepared for a battle . In casting about for a suitable vessel I found just what we wanted in a private yacht that was laid up at Charleston , South Carolina . She belonged to a New York man who had tired of h . S e her , and was open for charter or sale was ul a beautif craft, two hundred feet over all , and f with a draught of a little less than fi teen feet, and could do nineteen knots an hour or better, which was fast enough to keep clear of any French war at r Gu ian a or ships stationed Cayenne, F ench , i Martin que that might try to follow us . She could n ot carry coal enough to take her to the island and back again ; but that was not an oh

c ion we . je t , as had to have another ship anyway in I proposed to charter her , the name of a friend wh i of Mr. Huau owas willing to enter nto the i or consp racy to that extent, without knowing suspecting what the conspiracy was , and put all of own myo men aboard of her, so that, with her missi n accomplished , there would be no talk

of we . P lu i what had done Frank ag ch , the

Cuban revolutionary marine expert , was to have been her chief engineer ; and he was actu a ny engaged to serve in that capacity . After Cap tain Dreyfu s had been rescued the yacht was to have been turned over to the man in whose name had te she been char red , and he and Mr. Huau were to have gone on a cruise u ntil the end of the r charter pe iod .

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D might have returned to my old occupation of a i Hell Gate p lot ; but, on account of my age and i rheuma tism , wh ch had resulted from much ex osu re p , I preferred an easy berth in a warm climate . So I ran the steamship Lassells in the fruit trade between New York and Jamaica for D nearly three years. uring the latter part of ofi cials this time Cuba elected her own , hea ded l by President Pa ma, and they were preparing to take over the government . The last thing tha t was in my mind was toask the Cubans for anything m the sha pe of a reward i for my services to the r cause. I much pre ferred to leave it entirely to them to act on the promises they had made, when they saw fit . I had not even intended to visit them during the cele bration incident to the attainmen t of their in dependen ce ; but it happened that I was se nt to — Ma 190 2 ih Havana in y , which month Pre siden t Palma was inaugurated and the govern ment transferred to the Cubans—to bring the wreck i B ones of the steamsh p to New York .

Mr. was Palma , hearing that I in the city , sent for me and made me promise to return to

Cuba as soon as possible . He said one of his first acts as President would be to send a messag e to Congress recommending that my services to the revolution be memorialized ; and he inti if did mated , he not say so in so many words, that as soon as a navy could be established I

w u d u t its . o l be p at head In the mean time, he [ 299 ] A P L A N T O R E S C U E D R E Y F U S

assured me, I would be given a good position among my war-time friends and with the gov ern ment toward the establishment of which I had ” t d as ss contribu e so much , he expre ed it . Natu a as rally , I was ple sed , as I felt that he w displayin g a real gratitude ; a quality so often neglected that it has come to attract attention , wherea s a n in the it should be the most natur l thi g world . I may add that though his subsequent deeds fa iled O n Mr to square with his words , my pi ion as to . ’ n Palma s feeli gs and intentions has never changed . I shall never forget What Horatio Rubens told n a Mr. Palma on the night before he was i u

t . n gu ra ed. Mr Rubens arrived that eveni g from Key West by a special boat to attend the ’

Mr. a a s ceremony , and was summoned to P lm s n in room , where he was lyi g bed , exhausted by ll the preparatory festivities . He was a excite l s a ment, and ta ked half hy teric lly of the cele ll bration that was goin g on a around him . “ ” i s a The great moment s clo e at h nd , he de l i fi ht c ared. The hour for wh ch we have been g in g for years is almost here . Cuba is coming in to her own . And such enthusiasm ! The ” n world has never seen anythi g like it. “ ” - a Yes, assented Rubens, in his good n turedly ” - un . cynical way , til to morrow ” ll s a . a . No, no ! houted Palm For time You do not know ; you have not seen it ! Why ” do you say only until to- morrow? “ B s ecau e the reaction will begin then, [ 293 ] A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

plied Rubens , seriously . Patriotism is ma n ’ kind s most latent virtue . It is displayed only n in a crisis . The it becomes dormant again .

Cuba has passed through a great crisis, and the reaction will be just as great . That is the law

. o of human nature So l ng as the war was on , every man who fought for Cuba was as good as any other man . With the acquisition of what they fought for, every man will return to the n e i n thi g he was doing before he enlist d the war . m ou The de ag g e will return to his mob , the out la w to his violence and crime, and every man who does not get what he considers his ' share of the spoils of conquest will become your active — be all right to- morrow ; but after that w ho knows? Your people are still ignorant of self government . They have got to learn the sov i nt l h e re g y of the popular wil , wit out which no free n gover ment can be maintained . The very rich ness of the island will prove its greatest danger - there is wealth enough to arouse the Inst of

every ambitious leader . They cannot all be sat

isfied. I hope it may prove that I am mistaken , but I fear there are still dark days ahead for

Cuba . I do not congratu late you , but I most ” r es ' ea n tb wish you well.

Mr. Palma vigorously combated this view , ’ n but he was unable to shake Mr. R u be s s con vic n tions . Rubens conte ded that the Americans shou ld have retained supervisory control of the [ 994 ]

A C A P T A I N U N A F R A I D

B . u t apparently ended , appreciating the diffi cu lties which he soon encountered and the com plexities of a new government by a people who had known nothi ng but despotism until a short now time before , I did not blame him , nor do I , for his inability to keep his altogether volu ntary promises . w Subsequently a law as passed , and became operative during the second American occupa tion , requiring that all pilots should be Cuban citizens . It was suggested that I comply with it to retain my post ; but I refused to surrender h my American citizenship . Some of t e Cubans who had served with me durin g the revolution M reported the facts to Governor agoon , with new out my knowledge, and , by his direction , a h license was issued to me, in whic the require ment of Cuban citizenship was waived. 18 And so I am still a pilot . The work not hard, for piloting at Havana is as simple as transporting in New York Harbor at slack water, and I like the Cuban climate . I have no

s . regrets , and cherish no disappointment If I c i a have not a qu red a great deal of m—oney , I h ve accu mulated that greater treasure a fund of c satisfa tory memories . I have done the things which came to my hand in the best way that ’ I knew how ; and that, after all , is ambition s best fulfil ment .

THE EN D

Toavid fine this bok should be retu rned on o , o or before the date last stamped below