"Macosa" Acosta, also some discussion about "Cobo" or "Kobuh"
Photo is of Macosa "the Ice cream man" Acosta. Not Cobo. Macosa used to run marathons and would tell us about him running races when we were kids. Macosa is one of Moso Acosta's sons. Moso had a little business near the St Ignatius School. Macosa is famous for storytelling.
Macosa told the below story about Cobo.
Nick Pollard: Who was 'COBO'? I first encountered Cobo in the late 1950s; my memory of him describes a white man that fits the description of a Viking...rough, long blond hair and blue eyes. There he was walking in his dirty khaki shirt n short pants and pans knocking over his shoulder. One morning I saw him with a large copper/bronze looking mug with a steaming hot beverage smoking from the mug...his hair still soak from a swim in the sea near the Memorial Park. I never knew who Cobo was but he tolerated the bullying from young kids on the streets and alley ways. Many years later I met Macosa. Macosa knew Cobo; he knew that Cobo was an undercover Scotland Yard who was hunting an international criminal. Macosa tells the story of Cobo getting his meals behind the Holy Redeemer Parish; he tells the story of when he was working at the Stanley Field Airport when he saw Cobo all suited up along with the cuffed criminal he had been searching for. Other Scotland Yard Colleagues had met him at the Airport. Together they boarded a plane and that was the last time Belize saw Cobo. Let's be analytical for a minute; in the 1950s British Honduras was a Colony. British/Scottish did not reqiure a visa to enter. Neither was an extradition court order necessary. Now in the 50s there were maybe 20,000 households and maybe 8 hospitals. Cobo's detective strategy was to visit as many homes as possible asking for hot water. He probably visited 20 homes a day or 100 per week or 400 monthly. He did this countrywide until he picked up the trail of his criminal. Some people in the Foreign Service knew what Cobo was doing. He reported to his contact and his man was picked up quietly. Cobo probably visited 4,800 houses a year. If his hunt lasted 3 years the numbers tell a story.
Frederick Eugene Robinson:
Hmmm, sound like Macosa was telling a bedtime story for children. Anyhow, I remember Cobo and I can recall many years later a similar story about him being an undercover Scotland Yard in Belize but I simply dismissed it as idle conversation based on hearsay. Recalling his personality and his behavior when teased, there is one story I am sure many have heard and is reasonable for me to believe. The story is that he was a vagrant with a mental problem wandering the streets of Belize City and was rescued by the British Government and sent back home to England. And, if the pin never bend the story never end.
Hector Silva:
My version is that when Mexico expropriated the Oil Industry, many foreign Investors lost their investment there, Cobo among them, So he went shell shock and eventually ended in Belize. It was said that members of his family came to take him back. One of the reasons for his departure is, that Cobo's behavior began to deteriorate. He began to naked himself. So he was deported and his relatives were notified. ( This one of the many stories of the COBO Mystery.)
Cobo came from Ireland. He was in San Ignacio and would come to houses with a milk tin asking for coffee or warm his cup and for a powder bun. Those who knew him later stated that he got the wanted criminal and was well dressed when he was seen at the airport. Cobo was unmistakenly white. He used to just walk into yards and pour as much water as he wanted out of the vat. Rumor had it he was ‘shell shocked’ from the war. He was an intriguing presence in the jewel.
Kobuh
By Gregory B. Morrison
Kobuh dutty Whitman, with eh milk pan, with coins, he got for Free!
Saw my mom's fire and came to see.
Oh' He Glee!
Powder Bun he see.
Just in time for tea.
Oh, could I please have one, two, maybe three, for my tea. can I heat my cup on your heart, so be.
With his Cochney accent and that in pocket-- He shuffled and said thanks and off, he be.
Kobuh dutty Whitman with eh milk pan, with things he got for Free, let be.
Greg Morrison:
I believed he was sent home just when the society started to get rough and undisciplined.
At an earlier point people would just "let be" and not really bother him but, after a while when school was let out the school children would taunt him as they did many of those other individuals that did not seem to some how fit the very narrow norms of the society of at time. He always had on khakai pants, sometimes the foot of the pants was rolled up like high water pants.
Vivianni Teul:
Yes, saw him many times in San Ignacio where I grew up. And true.... he was very respectful and seemingly very educated. There were other hobos too. Only knew them by their nicknames, such as Pilinki, the deaf/mute, Bott who used to cinch up his belt way up near to his chest, Talegas de Hule, who would really stone back the students, and another one called Chimfu.... Legends of the 60s 70s and 80s. Wish someone with writing skills could research them and immortalize their life story.
Esme Anderson:
My moms worked at a Gift Shop at Radisson Fort George in the 60's. She shared that Cobo found the fugitive he was looking for in Belize. She said two Scotland yards came and stayed at Fort George and Cobo got his hair cut he shaved and looked totally different when he joined the Scotland yards at the Airport taking back the fugitive to England. We knew Cobo when we lived on Cran Street many times he came to our back door walked into the kitchen and placed his milk pan on the stove asking for hot water. Moms always gave him. About a year after Cobo left Moms said word came back that Cobo had died in England.
Francis Lizama:
I want to delight in Macosa. He is a kind gentle soul. A decent human being. He was a fit runner and beat me in a run race when I thought I was at my best and prime youth. Will always remember THE MAN MACOSA!
Anne Evans:
Will never forget watching Cobo brew a pot of tea on a sheet of zinc placed on a burning body after Hattie. Still sends a chill up my spine.
Judith Fuller:
From reading all the comments it appears that Cobo was all over the country at some time or another...I remember him as a child in Cayo...it was common knowledge that he was looking for someone named Tuluski...as children we would mess with him an sing...”Tuluski Tuluski Cobo di come”...at which time you better start running because he would chase you and throw stones at you...
Lorenzo Aldana:
I was recounting the Cobo story to some friends. At least one of them confirmed my father's story that he was a "hobo" by all standards. He appeared crazy and was bullied by the children. He stoned and chased the children away; However, my dad recounted that once passed him and he showed his respects to the gentleman who then nodded back. My dad says tgat he understood that Cobo was not crazy. Then as you stated, to everyone's surprise, Cobo was all dressed up with his capture handcuffed. Apparently, he was investigating a preacher and nabbed him when the opportune moment arose.
And the reason why we began Cobo's story, was because, a similar incident happened in Orange Walk.
An American came by my village pushing a bicycle selling pizza. Hahahaha.
My dad said that he told the guy that he knows certainly that he isn't selling for a living. My dad has that knock of identifying such characters and told him that he is an investigator. According to my dad, the guy was not to enchanted by my dad's observation. Guess what? Tgat same guy was the one that nabbed the Carabeef owner in OW.
Now This is my brief story. It shocked me to see Mocosa as a homeless. I passed by him a couple months ago. I remember when I was told that he is a long distance runner. Saw him only once near what was then called "National Stadium" but that picture stayed on my mind that he was a Belizean athlete. Hence the reason why it shocked me to see him homeless.
Bernadette Burns:
He was an English man
Drank nothing but hot tea
He walks with his own metal mug
All he asked for was hot water to make his tea
Knew him from the city as a young child
Got the opportunity to interact with him on the San Ignacio Hospital grounds
He stayed by the kitchen at the back,,Here he got some good and his hot water
They workers were exceptionally kind to this polite blue eyes gentleman
This he was
I used to speak to him,,but he did not keep the conversation going
He would just state something and let it hang there. Cobo was very unkept,His hair was dirty blond,
Very skinny, Always raggidy,,
Always with a crocus sack thrown over his shoulder. That man was only known to us as Cobo,,
He was well spoken,,Looked at you with intent,
Always respectful
Nothing got him angry,,
Seemed like he was used to rejection,
That's why he came to the hospital at certain times of the day
He knew he would get his hot water to make tea
I remembered seeing him making a little kindle fire just to boil his water,,Then he would out it
He spoke very educated,
In San Ignacio was the closest I got to him because as a child everyone was afraid of him
When you get to know him he was a gentleman. He walked all day,,He loved to go at the fort and foreshore to look at the sea
He would travel the country,,
He sat many times in the central park
It was liked he owned any where he went
I found him to be an educated gentleman. Also he always sat with this scrany legs crossed.
His favorite hangout was where the Holden Memorial Park used to be looking out to the sea.
If he was watching to land he showed no emotions when people passed.
Keith Smith:
Another thing about Cobo. He had a pretty good aim throwing those rocks. I think he use to throw rocks more to scare the kids teasing him than to harm them. He use to go in a windmill wind up and always seem to miss by a few inches with an underhand toss at the target! In my youthful days I remembered him being as far South as the neighborhood of St.John's school and as far North as the vicinity of. Wilson street back in the late '50s when I transferred to All Saint's School. Im sure he travelled the whole length and breadth of the city.
Bardy Riverol:
I remember Cobo as a little boy, we use to live in the last house in the Sabala yard, next to the Holy Redeemer play yard. Cobo would be in the playyard and ask us for some water in a metal cup. He would build a fire to make his tea. Always was respectful. And one day he disappeared.
Photograph by Pulu Lightburn
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