The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1895-09-19
REBELS CONTROL NORTH CUBA.

| REBELS CONTROL NORTH CUBA.
Boston. Sept. 1.-THE British steamer
Taft lust arrived from Cuba, Drlhes
news of n serious state of AFFAIRS Ut
| Banes. the most important fruit port OH
the Northern coast. The Taft represents
| that Banes has been evacuated by the
> Spaniards after a feeble resistance thaI
| the entire northern section of the island
| is now in the hands of the insurgents and
| that Gibra itself, which is one OF the best
and strongest fortified cities on the
| coast, is in a perilous position, although
| the Spaniards have between lOUO ana
| 5000 soldiers at this point and 2O0O more
| in the harbor. When it became known
| that the rebels threatened Banes, NJ. Du-
| mers. who practically owns the town
and is one of the wealthiest planters on
| the island, sent to the Spanish officials
at Gibra, about 40 miles distant an ur-
gent request for troops, and the Taft was
placed at the disposal of the government
| for the Transportation of the troops.
About 100 soldiers were hastily put on
| board the Taft and shipped to Banes, but
after they had arrived there they found
that the rebels had already sacked the
town and were camped on the outskirts,
to the number of about 5000.
There were only about 70 Spanish sol
ders in the fort at Banes but they maze
show of resistance until they were
forced to fall back by overwhelming num-
bers.
When the Taft arrived with the rein
forcements a council of war was held
and it was decided to at once give up
the port to the rebels and the entire force
was taken back to Gibra.
The officers of the Taft say the Spanish
,hCt 10
mere boys and yet they claimed to have
been in Is engagements in the vicinity
of Gibra. Hhe soldiers were very
poorly equipped. Some of them wore
caps, others old straw hats and still
others had nothing to wear on their
heads.
AS soon as the rebels found themselves
in possession of Banes they cut all tele-
graph and telephone wires and at once
began to harass Bibra, and the COM
mander of the fort was expecting an
open attack at any moment.
The officers of the Taft say that the
whole country is up in arms and that
everybody favOrs the rebels. Only boys
were left in the port of Banes to load
and unload the vessels. The rest of
the male population had joined the rebel
ranks. 1t is also stated that many of
the rich planters are in sympathy with
the rebels. The rebels seem to have
plenty of cash and the officers of the Taft
say that every vessel that sails to Cuba
is asked by representatives of the insur-
gents to buy rifles and cartridges in the
United States and smuggle them to Cuba.
They will pay in advance for these and
it is well known that nearly every vessel
that sails for Cuba smuggles arms to
the insurgents. The officers of the in
surgents tried TO make a baragin with
the captain of the Taft just before she
sailed.
There is rumor at Banes and Gibra
that the Brazilian insurgent De Mello
was expected with war vessel and 500
men to aid the insurgents, and one of the
officers of the Taft, who saw De Mello
lombard Rio, says there is evidently good
ground for the rumor, and he further
says that De Mello can whip the Span
ish gunboats with even an ordinary
man-of-war.