The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-01-10
ON TO HAyANA.
Success Inspires Hope-rhe Insurgents De-
 tennined to Win.


 Cuban patriots was circulated in this city to-day by passengers of the Ward line steamship Yucatan, which arrived here late yesterday afternoon from Havana. Since the beginning of the rebellion the officers of the Span ish go Iernment in Cuba have establish ed a censorship over all news, and the information received has been very meagre.
 Passengers on the Yucatan, fresh from Havana, who have talked with prominent persons of that city, state that it is the concensus of opinion among them that victory is now in sight of the patriots Even the Spaniards, they say, admire Gomez's generalship. ! In all his campaigns the spanish sol diers have been forced to give way to his tactics Thus far he has outwitted them, and is now on the outskirts of Havana.
 The Yucatan arrived in Havana on January 3. On that day the proximity of the insurgents to Havana was first announced and marshal law was de- | clared This announcement caused great excitement in Havana, On the next day, January 4, fires kindled by the insurgents could be- seen plainly from | the deck of the Yucatan. The rebels were then known to be only fifteen miles from the city.
 l When the fires from the insurgents were seen from the city they served to intensity the feeling among those who were secretly opposed to the Spanish, and this feeling ran so high that many left their homes and joined Gomez s | froces.
 One of the passengers on the Yucatan was & Ashner, wholesale tobacco mer- chant of 186 Front street. MT. Ashner was in Cuba for some time buying to- l bacco. He travelled about the country and saw much of the suffering of the Spanish soldiers. He says that every thing now favors a victory for the patriots and that Spain will be forced to give in to the revolutionary party l When l left Havana on January 4," said MT. Ashner the city was in a state of great excitement. The insur- gents were near the city They had come up to the city limits. Plantations had been burned within four miles of Havana.
 'Gomez's army is now quaYtered in the tobacco district, and consequently there will be more fighting than here tofore. His plan has been to evade l lighting. He wants to bankrupt Spain and he is not far now from obtaining his object. It is generally reported that Spain's treasury is empty, and it is costing between s, 900 900 and $4, 900 OOO a month to support the army in Cuba.
 By burning sugar and tobacco plan tations the insurgents shut off the rev enue of Spain.
 All of the reported victories for the Spanish have really been defeats. At every battle the Spanish have been l driven back, until now they are in | Havana.
 Gomez has a following of from 1000 to lo,OO0 now in the tobacco district, and there is nothing to prevent him | from marching into Havana Gomez dcesn,t want Havana. He couldn't hold the city against the concentrated at l tack of the Spanish. He proposes how ever, to keep the Spanish busy and fcice the mother country to spend l money.
 Tn speaking to Cubans only short time ago Gomez said that he would soon strike thelast blow. Before making ready TOT hls final effort, though, he declares that lie Will appeal to Spain Then he Will light harder than ever for Cuba,s l freedom If his appeal is ignored.
 Gomez is said to be very kind to l ms prisoners a men, clothes them and then releases them, keeping their ammunition and arms
 While I was in Cuba went over the Havana and Pinar del Rio railroad for about loo miles from Havana. I saw much suffering among the Spanish sol. diers
 We passed cart after cart drawn bv oxen and containing wounded and broken-down soldiers. The men march. i ing along the roads had their feet ban. daged in canvas They were scantily clad, and most of them were ready te drop from exhaustion in the road.
 On returning to Havana our train ran through seventy miles of blazing forests. The fires had been started by the insurgents
 "Business in Havana is dead. There | isn't guest at the hotels. which al other times have always done a thriv- ing business Almost every Cuban l throughout the island is in sympathy with the revolutionary cause. Many | Spaniards are, too
 When Campos arrived in Havana he | told of a great victory the Spanish had l made a few days before in the outlying country. That so-called Spanish vic tory was really a defeat. The insur. | gents had possession of the railroads to Havana. and Campos was forced to come to the city by water.
 "Campos, in reply to criticisms. has said: I am here to either crush the revolution or be buried on the island ;
 No one in New York; said one of the officers of the Yucatan. "has any 1 idea how near the insurgents are tc victory The Spanish soldiers fear de- 1 feat, and General Campos is seldom l seen about the city of Havana. I talk ed with many Spaniards, some of them | officers of the government, and they 1 have told me that 50 per cent of the population of Havana is now ready to join the insurgent cause They see only defeat in sight for the Spaniards.
 Many of the reports of Spanish vic 1 tories sent out from Havana have been l false, and no one but those engaged in battles knows the details of the many | victories of the insurgents.