Francisco Gomez.

Torro in San Domingo.

(Friends or foes, please transmit to its destination, as requested by one dead.)

Dr. Zertucha surrendered to a Spanish officer shortly after Maceo was killed.  He said that the dead leader was discouraged by the continual failures of the insurgents to make any headway against their foes; that, on account of his color, the subordinate officers in the Cuban ranks did not show proper respect for him, or obedience to his commands, and that he had purposely placed himself in range of the enemy’s rifles, deliberately seeking death.

These statements are manifestly false, and go far to confirm the belief that the coward who made them had a guilty knowledge concerning the manner of the death of the brave soldier he maligned.

An estimate of Maceo’s character.

A gentleman who made Maceo’s acquaintance in Havana, prior to the present insurrection, gives this estimate of his character: 

“Maceo was a natural politician in that he had the genius of divining popular opinion, and taking the leadership of popular movements.  He was in Havana at that time sounding men and scheming for the present revolution.  He was always of the sunniest disposition, closely attaching all people to him, and a man of the strictest moral integrity.  He never drank wine, he never smoked, and that in a land where tobacco is as common as potatoes in Ireland, and he never played cards.  He had a great abhorrence of men who drank to excess, and would not tolerate them about him.

“He always dressed, when in Havana, in the most finished style.  His massive frame—­he was about five feet ten inches in height and unusually broad shouldered—­was displayed to advantage always in frock coat, closely buttoned, and he usually wore a silk hat.  He was neat, even to fastidiousness, in his dress.  He usually carried a cane.

“When Maceo took the field, however, he roughed it with his men, and dressed accordingly.  When in battle he carried a long-barreled 38-caliber revolver with a mother-of-pearl handle, and a Toledo blade made in the form of a machete.  The handle of this machete was finely wrought silver and turquoise shell, and had four notches in it, into which the fingers could easily fit.  Maceo always had three horses with him on his marches, the favorite being a big white one.”

Probably no event in the war up to that time caused such general satisfaction among the supporters of the existing government, both in Cuba and in Spain, as the death of Maceo.  When Jose Marti was killed, they were certain that the loss of that leader would compel the insurrectionists to abandon hopes of success.  On the contrary, it inspired them with greater determination than before.  But the Spanish sympathizers learned nothing from that experience, and when it was definitely known that Maceo was no longer to be feared, they were unanimous in the belief that the end of the struggle was at hand.  Subsequent events have shown how little they knew of the kind of men with whom they were at war.