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

and preventing the landing of help
and supplies, the war will last a good deal longer than it ought.
The Spaniards are very uneasy, and Havana is greatly alarmed over the
last expedition of General Weyler. The Spanish general has determined
to force a battle on General Gomez, and to make one great effort to
subdue him.
It is reported that General Gomez is in Santa Clara, and Weyler has
gone thither with all the troops he can mass together to meet him.
[Illustration: The Filibuster Bermuda near the Cuban coast]
All Cuba has, however, learned by this time that the whereabouts of
Gomez and his army are never to be relied on. The Spaniards go out to
fight them in 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,