San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1897-04-26
THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE C00PED
Up IN CITIES TO STARVE
TO DEATH.
All Their Cattle Slaughtered And
Left To Rot On The Fields
While They ClamOr For
Food No Medicine
0ttainatle.

the World from Havana says:
Private letters from the interior re-
port wholesale starvation. Some of
the cases are especially heartrending.
Children are dying in the streets of
Matanzas and babies have been found
in the arms of their exhausted moth
ers. Your correspondent has been
through the province of Pinar del Rio
and has seen whole villages of living
skeletons in dark huts praying for
death to relieve them from their suf-
ferings.
General Weyler is seizing the cattle
of the citizens for the use of the troops
in Santa Clara.
A guerilla band armed and mounted
by Spanish cattle owners of SanCti-
Spiritus, went out and drove in 200
head of cattle to be slaughtered for the
benefit of the needy people of the city,
but Weyler ordered all the meat sent
to Manzanillo for the soldiers.
The effect of concentrating the cOun-
try people in fortified towns is seen
in all it's awfulness in Las Villas" as
the Cubans call Santa Clara province.
1t means"the towns, Santa Clara hav-
ing many cities. Five of the cities
are of large population. Santa Clara
is in the center, CienfugOs and SanCti
Spiritus on the south and Sagua la
Grande and Remedies on the north.
There were $50, 900 people living in the
five districts, of which these five cities
are the capitals. OF this population
$50, 900 lived outside of the city and viii
lagos. All these have been compelled
to leave their farms and move into the
cities and fortified towns. In some of
the latter the concentrates Outnumber
the original population. They have
no money and if they had there is not
food enough to supply all who need it.
Bark huts have been built in low ly-
ing places and they are crowded with
poVerty-striCken refugees. They are
half naked, sick from exposure and
dying of hunger. They are peaceful,
hard working people. On their farms
they would not be only self-suppOrting
but able to supply plenty of vegetables,
eggs, meat and fruit to the starving
people of the cities. Uu1er Weyler's
policy of concentration the whole $780,,
600 people are suffering and 100000 are
doomed to die for lack of food which
work. This policy, as a war measure,
is worse than useless from the Span
ish standpoint, for it has forced hun
dreds of men who would have remain
ed at work on their farms, to join the
rebels rather than be forced to see
their families starve in the cities and
towns.
In some of the smaller places in Las
Villas the OvercrOwd is terrible. Siti-
acltO. before the order was given, had
100, 900 people. 1t now contains ten
thousand, including the soldiers. The
farmers have built $50 huts and are
slowly dying off. There are dozens
of places like this in the province.
Weyler has had all the cattle killed
in the fields by the guerillas and left
to rot. Not a pound of meat can be |
brought except for the troops. Almost |
all of the sugar centers are points for |
The owners are not |
allowed to grind, but they must pro-
tect their property. They build forts
and the soldiers are put in them. This
makes a fortified town and the farmers
around about move in. They stand
chance of getting food Tow and then,
for the planter protects them but they
are worse off than those in regular
towns for not a drop of medicine can
be carried to them.
Not a druggist dare sell any drugs
Dr. fill prescription to those taken out
side the regular fortified towns If
4 grain of quinine for a suffering soul
is sold il means death to the seller
# caught