The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-05-17
DAILY. $40 A YEAR.
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WEEKLY 2-TIAIES-A-WEEKS 81 A YEAR
cUBA'S WAR FULL or HORRORS
A FUGITIVE At ATLANTA TELLS A
STORY or THE CAMPAIGN.

Innocent Women BnrbarousIy
Treated by the Spanish officers
aud Hen and Then IxiIIcd-THe
spanish Soldiers Represented as
Having No Heart Ia the Fight and
Rapidly SuccumbIng 10 the CIi-
mate.
Atlanta. Ca, May 16.-Capt George
Forbes lately on the stan OF Cisveros
Betancourt, president Of the Cuban re-
public, Is In this city. He made his es-
cape from the Spanish soldiers, who had
attacked him and his guard Of eighteen
patriots while he was performing a Sc
cret mission for President Betancourt in
the province Of Matanzas on the 18th OF
last month. Sixteen OF his men we're kill
ed by tho soldiers and Capt. Forbes only
escaped by means Of a fishing smack in
which he and three fishermen made the
voyage to Port Royal. S. c.. where they
arrived on the 9th Of last month.
Capt. Forbes. aside from the story of
his own perilOus experience and hair
breadth escape. gives a dramatic descrip-
ton OF the situation in unhappy Cuba
There is no page In the history Of the
campaign" said Capt. Forbes, 80 re-
voting as the atrocity Of the Spaniards
as practiced every day upon innocent wo-
men and children of the island. The COM
mon soldier Is forced to deal the torture
or the deadly blow at the point OF his
officers sword, the officer Is forced to
prosecute the campaign Of assassination
at the point of his commanders rifle.
The falrest daughters OF the island. richs
educated and refined, are subjected to the
outrages OF the officers, and then their
bodies. mutilated by degrees until a slow
and excrucating death has brought them
relief Mothers are bound and gagged In
the sight of their tortured children and
afterwards subjected TO the same cruel
treatment Old ladies'. grandmothers. are
slowly killed. FIRST the nails are pulled
from their toes and the flesh cut from
theIr bodies Then they are shot, and
the bodies burned in the ashes or their
houses. This may sound unreasonable,
but IL is true, and II Is not alone IN
certain portions Of Cuba, hut in every
section where the Spanish can phter, ana
are not IN the Immediate nelgnborhooo OF
'The atrocities are not confined to those
who are suspected Of sympathy or connec-
tion with the rebel movement nor 70 Cu-
bans, but to Americans, Europeans, any
one whose wealth or influence would not
be large enough to preeipitate serious
"In INV oficial capacity I have had
fifty of these assassinations reported IN
a single day. Until the time that es-
capped from Cuba there were reported In
the executive offices at Cubitas over 900
cases of the brutal assassination OF ciVli-
ians and their families, none Of whom
could be suspected or adjudged, except
on general principals to be IN sympathy
with the Cuban cause.
"seven weeks ago the town Of Cam
zares was laid waste by the insurgents.
The fort was captured, and IN the en-
gagement four soldiers and three women
were wounded. They were left to be cared
for by a few charitably inclined people
of the town. The very next day, as Is
always the case, the spanish troops swept
down upon the wrecked village ana tho
sick and wounded people that were found
IN the home, including the women, wero
tortured and Killed, as were those vine
dared to give them shelter"
Speaking Of the military operations,
Capt Forbes says: Fourteen thousand
Mauser rifles, besides other arms and more
than 100000 rounds of ammunition have
been wrested from the hands Of the Span
ish soldiers by these wandering bands who
now have In Cuba no factories OF ammu-
milton of their own, and who, despite
their many sumerings and the awful odds
with which they have to contend, know
and feel that they are strong enough to
drive the oppressor from their beloved
''The Spanish force in Cuba consists to-
day OF 10000 men. The Spanish troops are
carried TO the island for the purpose Of ex-
terminating the Cubans. They are forced
without regard 70 tactics or the science
of war to annihate whenever an oppor-
tunity presents. They are forced at the RI
fles' mouth to keep step to the orders OF
the officers and without a dime OF pay and
heart to fight. They cannot escape from
the army, the insurgents will not have
them IN any large numbers and thus In a
living death they are forced ahead fire.
quently to die on the field from inertness
In battle, or to be shot down by the officers
for falling upon their knees or fainting
when strength could no longer hold out.
Thousands of Spanish soldiers are In SYM
pathy with the Cubans.
EVERY command and every communi-
cation from the office of Weyler, the cap
tain general, in Havana, is known at Gu
bitas, the seat Of the government, as
quickly as messenger can carry It.
Thousands Of rounds OF ammunition
and loads Of arms, have been bought by
the insurgents from the enemy on the
field. Many a dollar have I paid for arms
for the patriots that came from the Span
ish arsenal in Havana. 1t is a regular Oc-
currence when opportunity presents itself
for the Spanish priyates to buy coffee
with ammunition.
"phe official figures of the mortality In
both armies in Cuba are on file at Cubitas
The insurgents had lost up to a month
ago 5000 men and the Spaniards 1900 The
Spanish have continually lost by desertion
and natural death, and their forces in Gu
ba to-day are made up of weakened, ema-
ciated and sick men. They have in Spain
only 1900 more men liable to conscript
Their army has seen its best days and the
malaria and fever of the approaching
summer will greatly hasten its complete
downfall"
RESCUE OF THE ARMENIAys.