El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1896-12-08

Senior Perez VentO, who left Havana
ten days ago, has reached Washington.
Speaking of the sanitary condition in
Cuba, Senior Vento said:
General Los do, the Spanish sani-
| cary inspector, in his report of Nov
EN- her 10, said there were 1900 sick
| Spanish soldiers on the Island Of Cuba.
and from what | saw before my de
! parture [ believe it would be safe to
| estimate the nun Der now at 10000.
| The mortality is frightful, espec a! y
among the young soldiers fresh from
| Spain. The most recent reports show
! ed that an average of fOrty-seyen dead
/ were taken out of the hospitals daily,
and that the great IN jOrity of the
! fatalities were among men from 20 to
| 33 years old. In the hospital at Arte-
misa there were reported to be 'OO sick
| and wounded when [ departed. The
| chief diseases from which the Spaniards
suffer now are yellow fever and virulent
smallpox.
Before I left Col. Rotger had been
for three weeks employed in bringing
the sick and wounded Spanish soldiers
from the trocha into Havana. They
were brought to the city in carts,
travelling in trains, and the patients
would come 200 or 300 at time. The
steamer Triton, which runs from the
north coast of Pinar del Rio to Havana
also brings to the city from 300 to 400
sick or wounded on each trip.
Such as has been the influx of the
sick and wounded into Havana that ali
of the hospitals were long ago filled, the
/ orphan aSylumS and converts were
, also crowded, and finally the large
! sugar ware houses at Regai, across the
! bay from Havana, were taken for the
use of yellow fever and smallpox
! patients. These ware houses occupy q
| space of about seven blocks, and the
rooms are very large ones. a great
| deal of sugar is stored in these ware
| houses, yet shipments of it are being
| regularly made to this and to other
| countries.
"Oh, yes, the patients and the sugar
are under the same roof, and whenever
sugar is removed Tor shipment the
place it occupied is Immediately used
! for cots for additional patients, as the
! warehouses are crowded The Spanish
! soldiers in Havana are very discomfort
| ed, and the families of many of them
| in Spain. 1 know, have been raising
sums sufficient to buy the discharge of
sons and brothers who are now serving
in the army in Cuba. [ am informed
that in Spain the fear of the
cOnscription now going on is driving
hundreds of people out of the
country. l have seen Eel Piaz," the
Madrid newspaper, of the date of
! November 10, which contains report
from Galica stating that boat loads OF
families, including able-bodied men,
are hying from cOnscrlDtiO and
leaving the country. The paper says that
many farms are abandoned and houses
are closed, and that horrible misery
| threatens the region of GalIcia. These
people have heard the reports of the
hard times suffered by their soldiers
who have been sent to Cuba, and are
naturally opposed 20 having a like
experience if they can by any means
avoid it | can imagine no worse lot
than that OF a young Spaniard 10 Cuba.
There may not be so much danger to
him from the bullets Of the insurgents
in Havana, but be is constantly exposed
to the greater dangers of the pestilen
tial diseases that are so frequent on the
island.'