The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-06-11

port Sent Direct to the President.
New York. June William ]. Cal
houn. who was sent TO Cuba as a spe-
cial commissioner TO investigate the
circumstances Of the death in prison OF
DR.. Ruiz, an American citizen. reached
this city on his return today. He was
accompanied by George w. F~fshback.
his secretary. and Charles NJ. Pepper.
a Washington newspaper correspond
ent. who went TO Cuba with the COM
missioner.
Mr.. Calhoun said that the commission
held three sittings between May Goth
and June LIST, at Havana, Regulas and
Guanabacoa. The papers examined in
the case were chiefly military records.
The final report will be made TO Wash
ington by General Lee. In a conversa-
ton, Mr.. Calhoun said: The island OF
Cuba is rapidly being devasted by a
. relentless, cruel and bitter civil war,
SO that in a short time 1t will not be
worth anything TO anybody. 1t is diff
ficult to get at the exact situation
there. In the first place. there is a Sc
we're censorship of the press. and those
, who are naturally friendly to the Gu
bans hardly dare to express their views
and opinions. Furthermore. the ad-
herents of both sides are exceedingly
intense. They tell their stories just as
they want YOU to believe them. From
the spanish polnl OF view, the island Is
prdcticallH paclheu' ana from that OF
; the ,updhS' tne insurgents never were
IN such eNcelleht shape as lheS no"
are.
Did you go into the interior of the
and asked the reporter.
YES, 1 went from havana 10 Md
tanZas. While both are on the SeacoaSt
still TO go from one point TO the other
by rail. it takes you through a large
part of interior country. | also made
several short trips from Havana In
, other directions.
: What is the condition OF the coun-
try?
1t seems to be entirely d~epopulated
and there are no signs Of any buildings
standing except at the railroad sta
lions. These. by the way. are practi-
cally forts. | was generally informed
that the same condition of affairs exists
throughout Cub from Havana to Pr
mar del Rio. except in the extreme east
ern end. There is where the CubanS
get their supplies and cattle They
control that section now. 1t was the
portion of the island which held out
ten years in the last war.
Cuba is undoubtedly a magnificent
country. 1t is rich beautiful and
the soil reSDOnds beautifully to the
seed
"While am not called upon to make
any formal report to the president, be
cansa 7 acted merely as counsel to Cen
eral Lee. in the Ruiz case, still ! may
he asked to tell Mr.. Mckinley and the
+ secretary of state of the things which
have seen and heard in my brief trip
RI tho island of cuba. In that case. /
roodi1,- Viii do ca
AT the sessions of the commission
We examine several witnesses. but
when Won ask me if they were plentiful
can only saw that they did not run
oftar nc and ,a had to use no force
- Laan ,bap, away They were COM
noced IF Standards and Cubans. The
cno,ieh u-tnaccas ana in fact all of
49, nrba +ae+;6ad v.ora ca surrounded
1v;tb eafaouorde that if was impossIbIe
70 cat ar tho naked trutb One person
whom, Wa u-orId have liked tn hear
oa,,1d va. ha fo,,d This was Fonde-
vieIa Who comanded the Spanish in
! az Cuanahacoa territc~v. He disap-
naorad ond i v-ac mnoccible to find
him Cantain General Wevler did not
mt in an anpearance at the investiga-
lion We insnectad the iail at Guiana
bacoa and when we were there it was
! suspiciouslv clean. We learned that
DIR. Ruiz was arrested on February 4th
. charged with having some connection
with an assault which took place on a
railroad train between and
Havana. 7 q was placed in solitary con-
fnemert or as it is known there, he
was i mmuncad Thirteen days
later he was taken out Of his cell on
account of his mental and physical con-
dition. 1t was then found that he was
suffering from a severe wound on the
head and he died two hours after he
had been released from the cell. in
which the secret Of his injury is buried.
The question of the deceased doctors
American citizenship was never denied
The autopsy showed that he died from
congestion of the brain. His remains
are inferred at Guanabacoa- We had
no n0CifiVa r direct nrOOf nj 2nv as