The Great Round World And What Is Going On In It, Vol. 1. No. 23, April 15, 1897 | Page 5

a certain place, and when they reach the spot where they expect the enemy to be, they find that the Cubans have made a forced march and escaped them, and are making war in quite a fresh section of the country. The Cubans have accomplished some of the most wonderful marches in the history of war, and have won many of their advantages by stealing past the enemy that was advancing to fight them, and capturing towns and stores left unprotected in the enemy's rear.
It is therefore not to be wondered at that there is a report in Havana that Gomez has slipped past Weyler, and is advancing upon the city to capture it.
If Gomez feels himself strong enough to fight a real battle with Weyler, it may perhaps be the decisive battle of the war.
All the Cuban generals have had good luck lately, but the most successful and brilliant work has been done by General Calixto Garcia in Santiago.
Lest you should feel confused when hearing of so many generals, and so many provinces, it is perhaps as well to explain something about the formation of the island of Cuba.
It is a narrow, mountainous strip of land, 760 miles long and in some parts only 28 miles wide, the very broadest part being 127 miles.[A]
You can readily see that no one general could control the whole of such a country.
The Cuban army has been divided into three parts:
The Eastern Division, under General Calixto Garcia, which is fighting in and has brought peace to Santiago de Cuba, the most eastern part of the island.
The Central Division, under the leadership of General Maximo Gomez, against which Weyler has set out, and which is supposed to be in Santa Clara.
The Western division, consisting of the bands that have been raiding the suburbs of Havana, and making so much trouble in Pinar del Rio, the most westerly province of the island.
The brilliant feat that General Garcia has accomplished is that he has made a force of nearly three thousand Spanish soldiers come out to meet him, and after pretending to fall back before them until he had lured them to a certain place, he has turned upon them, and chased them into the mountains, until he has finally forced them into the Algones Valley.
In this valley they are completely cut off from their friends, and he has them at his mercy. News is hourly expected that the entire Spanish force has either surrendered or been killed.
If this is true, it will be a very severe blow to Spain.
Reliable news has come that another part of Gomez's force has captured the town of Holguin, an important town in Santiago de Cuba, and one of the few strong-holds the Spanish still held in that province. It is said that quantities of stores and ammunition fell into the Cubans' hands.
A telegram from Havana says that Fondeviella, now a lieutenant-colonel, has been made Chief of Police in Havana. The Spaniards must certainly approve of this horrible man's conduct, and Havana is likely to feel still more uneasy with such a person in power. A later telegram reports the capture of General Ruis Rivera, who was in command of the Western Division. If this is true it will be a sad check to the Cuban successes.
[Footnote A: A very good map of Cuba may be purchased on news-stands for 10 cents.]
* * * * *
Reports have come that the dynamite-gun, of which the Cubans were so proud, has proved a failure.
The various nations, all over the world, are watching the trial of this gun with the greatest interest. It can be so easily handled, can be carried by ten men, and put together and made ready for firing two minutes after it is unloaded, that other nations are anxious to see if it is really the valuable weapon it is claimed to be.
Besides the advantages of being light and easy to handle, it can be fired without noise or smoke, and therefore its whereabouts are not easily discovered by an enemy; and moreover, if it has to be abandoned in a retreat, it can be disabled with one sharp blow of a stone, so that it can never be turned on its fleeing owners by a victorious enemy.
If the report about it is true, it has one fault, that is so serious that it outweighs all the virtues. This fault is that the dynamite-gun has a habit of going off at both ends; that is to say, it is liable to explode both at the breech and the muzzle. It may therefore be quite as destructive to the army firing it, as to the enemy at which it is fired.
Of course this will render the gun very unpopular, if it is true; but people who understand the weapon declare