Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 October 1895 — CUBAN WEAPON. [ARTICLE]

CUBAN WEAPON.

THE MACHETE A TERROR IN THE HANDS OF THE INS, SURGENTS. The Skilful User Cuts and Tears the Spanish Enemy and Sometimes Severs His Head. Cuba has a terrible national weapon. In the present conflict in progress in Cuba the insurgents have done such deadly execution with it that the Spaniards have decided to arm their own infantry with it in order to be able to meet the insurgents on more nearly equal terms. This weapon is the machete. The machete is the Central and South American agricultural tool. It is pronounced as if spelled mah-tchay-tay, with an accent on the ay of the second syllable. It is the husbandman’s implement in all sugar growing countries. There are some three or four hundred styles used in Brazil, the Central American States, Mexico and San Domingo Each country uses a different blade, and of each there are about a hundred varieties. But wherever it appears and whatever its style, it is a murderous weapon in the hands of those accustomed to its use. It has played no small part in the history of all uprisings in the Spanish speaking provinces. But in Cuba it has done such execution that if the island should win her freedom the machete ought to be included in the coat-of-arms of Cuba libra. In Cuba every man possesses a machete, no matter what else he doesn’t own. It is the tool of the Cuban workingman. With it he earns his living cutting the sugar cane. With it he cuts the firewood for his own use. Indeed, it is hatchet and knife combined for him. Every Cuban except those who live in the big cities, like Havana, is familiar with the use of the machete. The rank and tile of the Cuban insurgents, who corns from the plantations, are not skilled in the use of firearms. But they make up for it by the ferocity with which they engage in close-quarter encounters with Spanish soldiery with the faithful machete. When this is the case the Spaniard fares badly and the machete man leaves a lot of bloody corpses or wounded bodies behind him.

A young Cuban explained the most common manner of using the machete. It is entirely different from sword practice; the thrust is not employed at all. The aim of the machete user is to cut, rip and tear his opponent and disable or kill at once. Among the insurgets the who are armed with machetes, carry the weapon in the scabbard at the left side of the belt or dangling from a chain abot the right wrist. In any case the weapon is not held for use until the lines are within a few yards of each other. When the word it passed the machete is pulled from the scabbard with an upward stroke diagonally to the right, with the longest and sharp edge toward the enemy. This constitutes one stroke, and is aimed at the abdomen of the attacked person with the design of cutting or tearing the body. With the weapon raised to the length of the right arm the wrist is simply turned over, and the machete makes a stroke back to the left so as to slash the attacked person’s neck and, if possible, partially behead him. With still one more turn of the wrist the edge of the machete strikes downward, cleaving the body again. This is all done with wonderful dexterity. These strokes are the easiest form of attack to learn among edged weapons. In the hands of the insurgents who are habituated to the use of the machete and are very strong the blows are described as wicked. Many times heads are all but severed from the body, and a machete wound is usually fatal. The machete used by the insurgents at present is a very cheap and ordinary looking affair and costs less than a dollar. It is made in England and in Germany. The blades are from twenty to thirty inches long. Some of them have a blade slightly curved backward towards the thick, dull edge with a rounded point curved back to the thick edge. 'The favorite and the one that has done most damage to the Spanish forces has the thirty inch blade, about three inches wide, long, straight and clean looking, and with the end cut off diagonally to a point,as a milliner cuts the ends of a ribbon bow. The handle is of rough looking bone, the handle of the blade being run through the centre and fastened together with what looks like four ordinary nails with the heads cut off. There is no guard at all and the machete man often gets his fingers badly wounded. That is the simplest machete. Others have the bone handle curved to fit into the palm of the hand. When the Cuban husbandman gets his machete it isn’t at all sharp. He, however, whets it up until it cuts very easily. A Cuban who has been with the insurgent army described the scene after an encounter, when the insurgents sat around, each busily sharpening his machet for the next assault. Not only the privates, but the officers as well use the machete. The officers have a shorter weapon and of better stuff. The long blades of the machete of the private will almost bend double without breaking. The shorter, broader, thicker weapons have not the same elasticity. Astonishing stories are told of the force of the blow that the insurgent can give with the native knife. In the National Museum at Madrid is an American rifle, which, it is claimed, was completely split in half lengthwise, with a blow from a machete. Women have been known to use the machete, and during the Ten Years’ War there were numerous instances where women whose husbands were away fighting defended themselves and children with the machete.