The herald., 1896-01-03
But Such Victories Cost the
Spaniards Dear
PLANTATIONS DEVASTATED
And Towns Destroyed by the lnsurgent
Cavalry
Havana Citizens Terrorlzed by the Presence
OF the Revolutioni It's in the Province.
The Cause Gaining

HAVANA, dan. An engagement be-
tween Spanish troops and insurgents has
taken place at Ell Estante, south of Alfonso
XII, not far from the frontier of the prov
ince of Havana. The official announce
ment says tEe troops captured the insur-
gents position, bu; the loss to he enemy is
not known. 1t is admitted that two pam
ish officers and four soldiers were killed
and nineteen wounded. The insurgents,
following their usual tactics, did not at
tempt decisive engagement, but, after
skirmish, proceeded westward, devastating
the country. The authorities here, in an
nouncng this skirmish, added the signih-
cant statement that the troops ''were
moved closer to the province of Havana"
which would indicate that the spanish
forces are once more in retreat. Later in
the day il was announced here that fur
ther fighting between the Spaniards and
Cubans was taking place in the vicinity of
Ell Estante, which leads the people here to
believe the insurgents have been in pursuit
of the Spanish troops in that vicinity. The
latter we're commanded by Colonel Galvis,
who was also in command of the troops IN
the first engagement in the vicinity of Ell
Estante, which seems to be confirmation
of the supposition that the Spaniards were
worsted and that the Cubans are making
for the frontier OF the province of Havana.
1t was announced this afternoon that
Felipe Rodriguez, an insurgent leader, had
been killed in battle.
In view of the fine work and rapid pro-
gress of the i surgent cavalry, General
Campos has ordered the spanish officials
in all the disturbed districts to seize all
the horses they can lay hands on, in order
to prevent them from failing. into the
hands of the enemy. But it is believed
that the Cubans are al eady as well
mounted and supplied with horses as they
need be.
The damage being done by the Cubans s
terrible. They have burned the best part
of the town of Jaguey and the cane fields
of Perla, Rosario and Australia, in that
district and Navarette district. and the
plantations of Vinas, Mendez, Geray, Es-
Gallant and Haza have been destroyed by
the torches of the Spaniards' enemies.
In addition, the Cuban forces have
burned many houses in the Cardenas dis
trict of the province of Matanzas, and have
set fire to and destroyed many cane fields
in the Union de Reyes, Buena Vista, JAN
guey Grande and Macurijes districts.
In addition, the village of La Yaeua,
whose inhabitants did not receive the in
surgents as we'll as the latter would have
liked, has been bio ted out by fire.
The government officials insist that the
insurgents are robbing the poorest inhabi-
tants of everything they can lay their
hands on, even STOPPING TO take their
watches and what little money they may
find in their pockets.
Gable communications with Trinidad
and all towns on the southern coast of The
island was inaugurated today.
The news ha the insurgents are still on
the borders of the province of Havana has
increased the feeling of nervousness which
has prevailed here from the time they
entered the province of Matanzas, and no
explanations which the authorities can
furnish seem able to dispel the popular
impression that there has been no real
check of the insurgent advances, and that
ali the efforts of the Spanish troops to
drive them out of Matanzas have proven
fruitless. AS already cabled, every man
who could be spared from the regular
army and voluntary forces has been sent
to the front, but this does not seem to have
changed the situation, and the military
authorities continue working night and day
in their efforts to place Havana in the
best possible position to resist siege. But
the sentiment of the population here, as
already noted, is gradually undergoing a
change favorable to the insurgent cause,
and nobody would be astonished to find
that it has taken more decided form than
passive sympa by. The police are care
fully watching the quarters inhab ted by
peup.e supposed to he in sympathy with
the insurgents, but this has not prevented
numbers of young men from escaping
from the city and making their way to The
insurgent camps.
In addition to the trouble threatened
from the direction of the province of Ma
tanzas, it is feared ,here will be more
trouble from the direction of the province
of Pinar del Rio, on the other side of Hav-
ana. Although all news on this side is
carefully guarded, it ia known that the
insurgents in that part of the country are
rapidly increasing in number and daring,
and nobody would be astonshed to hear
that an insurgent force will advance upon
Havana from Pinar del Rio as soon as the
main body of the insurgents under Gomez
and Maceo is near enough to Havana to
warrant such a movement.
News received today leaves no doubt
that the insurgents are in large force in the
province OF Havana and are spread over a
wide space, their rear guard stretching back
to Matanzas province, while their wang ard
is at Aqua olo. a town of some importance
on the railroad between Matanzas and
Havana and only little over thirty miles
miles from Havana. Apparently the full
force of the insurgents is engags sd
in this renewed incursion toward
Havana. But they maintain the same
scattered formation, divided into col
umns, which proved SO effective
in carrying them into the immediate
neighborhood of Matanzas. The different