The record-union., 1896-12-05
Thinks It Will Lead to Speedy
Termination Of the War.
People in Havana Still in the Dark
Regarding the Movements of Gen.
eral Weyler - Spanish Soldiers
Have Several Encounters With
Bands of Rebels, i'm Which the
Latter Are Reported to Have Been
Repulsed.
Repulsed.

ST. LOUIS, Dec. 4.-The following
letter addressed to the President and
signed by the committee appointed by
the mass meeting of Cuban sympathiz-
ers held in this city on the 21st ultimo,
was made public this afternoon. 1t
bears the names of many prominent
in business and official life:
ITO his excellency, Grover Cleveland,
President: The press reports that
have been published for months past
and are being daily published from the
island Of Cuba indicate that the war
being waged by the Cuban people for
liberty on the one side and by the
forces of the Spanish Government for
their subjugation has degenerated into
a bloody and merciless system of eX-
termination, in which women, children,
the aged and infirm and other non-com-
batantS are subjected to inhuman and
barbarous trea tment by the Spanish
soldiery. While We are disposed to dis
credit the enormity of the crimes re-
ported, and make due allowances for
the disposition to magnify their import
|ance, the occurrence of similar atroci-
ties in Cuba during the ten years, 1858
tunately, too we'll verified, constitute
rea asonable and valid grounds for belief
that the outrages are actually COM
mitted.
You cannot be oblivious to the cruel
character of a Government which con-
demned, executed and allowed to be
barbarously muulated the bodies of the
gallant Crittenden and his companions
in 1851, and similarly treated about 100
of your fellow-citizens under the lead
ership of Captain Fry in 1913; of the
scores of American citizens who have
been shot, imprisoned and deported
from Cuba to Spanish dungeons in
Africa, their property confiscated and
their families left helpless and deprived
of support.
Neither are you unfamiliar with the
fact that in the ten years war referred
to American property aggregating
nearly 100000, 900 in value was de-
stroyed. seized and sequestered by the
Spaniards, and, with the exception of
the Mora claim, none of our citizens
thus injured and outraged have received
the slightest indemnity from the Gov
ernment of Spain.
d
appeal to you in the name of humanity
and American civilization to make ef-
fective the repeatedly expressed VIII
of the vast majority of you fellow-citi-
zens, by granting to the Cuban people
the rights of belligerents, which we be-
lieve will almost Immediately modify
the horrors of this war and lead to its
speedy termination.
SPANISH VICTORIES.
HAVANA, Dec. 4.-The people of Ha-
vana are sill in the dark so far as the
movements Of General Weyler are con-
cerned. If the authorities have any in
formation from him since he went into
camp at Los Palacios they are keeping
it to themselves.
Rumors regarding Maceo are many,
but little attention is paid to them.
The only definite news from the prov
ince of Pinar del Rio is that the COM
mands of Generals MelquiZo and In
ella have had encounters with the reb-
els.
The fight in the Gobernado Hills yes
terday was between General Inclan's
command and band of rebels. No de-
tails of the engagement have been made
public, and it is not known which side
was victorious.
A party of rebels who made an attack
at Fort Razen, province of Santiago de
Cuba, were repulsed. They were pur-
sued by the local guerrillas, who killed
six insurgents and wounded fourteen
The troops had one officer and four pri-
Yates wounded.
Colonel Torto reports that his COM
mand has defeated the rebels under
Costello and other leaders at Maserona,
province of Havana. The rebels lost
twenty-three killed, while the Spanish
loss was six killed and eleven wounded.
The District Court of Matanzas has
given a decision in the case Of Oscar
Cespedes, an American citizen, who
was captured on the field and held as a
prisoner of war in Matanzas. The court
holds that he must be handed over to a
military tribunal for trial.
LOOKING FOR RECRUITS.
ASPEN (Col.), Dec. 4.-Aspen seems
to be one of the recruiting points of the
Cuban Junta, if a statement of man
by the name of Ransom is correct. He
claims that he is here in the interest
of the New York office of the Juuta. and
that it is his business to travel from town
to town securing the names of men who
are willing to cast their fate with the
struggling patriots. The names are
sent to the metropolis, and later an
agent on transportation arrives. who
secures passage for the men to the sea-
coast and thence to Cuba on some fill
clustering expedition. Fifty men are to
be enlisted from this place. Missouri
Kansas and other States have also been
worked by agents of the Cubans.
MAJOR OSGOOD'S DEATH.
NEW YORK, Dec. "A special from
Guimaro, Camaguey. gives the follow
ing details of the death of Major Dana
Osgood. the football player who COM
manded a Cuban battery during the
recent siege of the town of Guimaro:
General Garcia then ordered Major
Osgood to open fire upon the Spanish
forts. Two hours later a large fort.
known as Fort Monfau. located on a
hill about 700 yards from the town,
was abandoned by it's defenders, who
took refuge in the town.