Omaha daily bee., 1896-12-19
SPANISH SOLDIERS SUFFER
Fourteen Thousand Of Weyler'S Men Crowd
Havana's Hospitals.
DISEASE DOING ITS DREAD WORK
yellow Jack, In Niruein, Fever and
Aguc, Rheumatism and Bad
Colds Join In DccimntinE the
Imperial Army.

HAVANA,
Dec. 1S-(New York World Cablegram-Spe-
cial Telegram)-There are about li,OOO sick
soldiers in hospitals in and about Havana.
Tho regular hospitals speedily became over
crowded and warehouses and other large
buildings are now used for the purpose.
Four hundred and thirty-eight cases of yell
low fever have been reported in this city
in the last seven days, proving that the
disease is epidemic. Smallpox continues
epidemic, but chiefly among civilians, only
a few cases being reported among the sol
diers The disease has assumed the hemor-
rhagic form, severe type and there are
many deaths daily. No attempt Is made
to isolate smallpox. l saw child suffering
from the disease in a cab yesterday. The
chid's face was covered with postules.
The army has had a great lot of sick
ness to contend with. There have been
numerous yellow fever eases and cases OF
simple Chills and fever have exceeded the
usual figures 10 TO /. The country has
been rank with malaria and the unacclimated
troops have suffered severely The gov
crnment was compelled to temporarily dis
possess the hundreds of orphans in La
Benefcencia asylum, on the beach OF a
western suburb, and about 1900 cots were
placed in its dormitores and corridors. The
in from Pinar del Rio. | visited all the
wards and found fully four-ffths of them
suffering from malaria in some form. There
were about sixty cases of yellow fever, but
no attempt was made to seclude the pa
tients. The hospital is thoroughly infected,
of course, and there are numerous patients
there to be treated for malaria or other
comparatively simple disorders who will con-
tract the yellow fever and die
LIST AND CAPACITY OF HOSPITALS.
Here is list of the military hospitals
OF Havana. Alfonzo hospital, on the hill
near the Principe fortress, has 1000 beds;
La Bene6cencia has 1900 beds; San Am
brosio. the hospital in the city near the
arsenal, provides 1920 beds. This great
building has been used as a hospital dur
ing most of the present century 1t Is
saturated with the germs of contagious dis
cases and was abandoned last spring by the
medical department of the army. The influx
of sick soldiers necessitated its use again,
and the cot beds are all occupied. II Is a
wretched place, unfit for the purpose of
curing the sick. The infant hospital near
the Cerro is a small affair with 400 beds,
all filled. The Madeira barracks on the
Juan Peseo have recently tecn utilized as 4
hospital and have about 1,l20 beds. The
Santa Catalina hospital was formerly a
great warehouse 1t puts out into the har-
Dor from Regla, opposite Havana Two
thousand beds were placed there and they
ware filled yesterday. Two other houses
near by are also in use for hospital pur-
poses.
As far as it is possible the medical de-
partment, presided over by the chief in
spactor of sanitation, General Dorido, fur
nshes good treatment and care OF the sick.
At the Alfonzo XIII hospital l found the
wards clean and beds in good order. There
were numerous attendants. The same may
be said of La Beneficencia and San Am
brosio, but at the recently improvised hos
| pital of Santa Catalina | found bad con-
| dtiOn of affairs. There was difficulty in Sc
curing a competent force of attendants The
| nurses are mostly Cinnamon, who do the
best they can but who are far from being
trained. The place is unclean and unwhole-
some. Yellow fever cases are sardwiched
between the patients afflicted with common
colds or rheumatism. | saw the body Of
a soldier who died a few minutes before
of yellow fever lying on cot next to bed
occupied by a soldier with a swollen leg.
lie was sitting up playing cards with
soldier well enough to walk. The cot on
the other side contained a soldier down with
bronchitis.
tour OF the hospitals shows compara-
lively few soldiers suffering from wounds.
There are less than 400 wounded now in
the hospitals and many of them have been
here several months. The largest number
of wounded under treatment at any one
time in the whole island was 6O4.
SCENES IN THE CITY.
The picturesque park in front of the
palace, an ornament to the lower part OF
the city for century or more,
has been destroyed. The fine old trees have
been cut and space leveled. General Wey-
Ter was led to make the change because the
windows of the palace were commanded from
the thick growth of vegetation In front OF
it, A. Wilkes Booth or Guiteau could do
mischief with a rifle. Therefore the park
was SWeDt aWay a military DreCautlOn.
A stranger landing in Havana would not
know the country is in state of civil strife
and that the city Is under martial law.
No soldiers are on duty. The usual spick
and span police oiter on street corners
The familiar guard of volunteers is posted
in front of the palace, the Spanish bank and
the prison. The shops are wide open, but
the clerks and porters do Lot display much
activity, principally because there is moth
ing to be active over, for trade Is Ian
gushing. The Stock exchange the Produce
exchange the sugar and tobacco markets
and all business that depends for success
oil agricultural prosperity are at a standstill
There is little shipping in the harbor. The
wharves are usually lined at this time of
year with vessels loading with sugar. There
are none now. One only secs Spanish liners
that have brought troops from over the sea
and tramp steamers discharging coal or
military supplies. There are small garri-
sons in the harbor, forts, the Moro, the
Cabanas, the Atartes and the Principe, The
theaters are Open presenting Spanish farce
vaudeville and comic opera. The great
square in front of the town theater is filled
at night when the military band plays and
numerous bright-eyed young women with
attendants promenade their gay raiment
contravening with the sober blue of Spanish
officers Many officers are to be seen most
OF them convalescent or on return to duty
in the field. WILLIAM SHAW BOWEN