The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1897-06-16
VERY MUCH ALIVE.
Is President CisnerOs of the Cuban
Republic.
THE PATRIOTS ARE CONFIDENT
OF their ultim ate Victory, and Say
All They Need is Arms
They Have
THE PATRIOTS ARE CONFIDENT
10000 MEN IN THE FIELD


passengers who landed in New
York Saturday on the steamer Va
lencia from Cuban ports, via Nassau,
N. p, was DIR. H. w. Danforth of Mil
waukee, Wis, who for the past Is
months has been the personal physician
of the president of the Cuban republic,
Salvador Cisneros, the marquis of Santa
Lucia. The doctor is in the United
States on a six months leave of absence,
having left Cuba on May 30 in 16-foot
boat for the island of New Providence.
After much suffering and exposure he
reached Nassau, and there awaited the
arrival of the Valencia.
According to Spanish report, Presi-
dent Cisneros died in February last, and
this news" was semi-officially con-
firmed in March last But DR.. Danforth
was with the president as late as April
last and had i'll his possession letter
which he showed to the representative
of the Associated Press, dated April 30,
from the president. The latter is not
only not dead, but when DIR. Danforth
left him he was full of quiet enthusiasm
and animated by the most confident
feeling for the eventual success of the
| OuDUu CAUSE.
DR.. Danforth was asked to express an
opinion as to the numerical strength of
the Cuban insurgents, being informed
that late advices from Cuba placed the
number at 5000 men. He said:
ut is difficult, if not impossible, to
arrive at a correct estimate. But you
can say that Oubans for a certainty have
at least 10000 to 30, 900 today armed and
in good shape.
| 1.-THE Cubans have not been idle dur
ing the last five years, they having been
| importing arms and ammunition right
along. In brief the Cubans are fight
ing desperate fight and are in a good
| condition to continue it. The Spanish
are also engaged in desperate contest,
but they are exhausted or almost so.
II certainly think the Cubans will
succeed, not by reason of numerical
strength, for the Spaniards have about
10000 men in the field, but there is no
| question but that the Cubans will ulti-
mately win. All their leaders are
sworn not to give up until they are all
dead. They are bound by oath to fight
until the last, and they will do SC"
| Gas to Spanish atrocities, what do
| you know of them of your own personal
knowledgeP DIR. Danforth was asked.
1
the insurgent forces necessarily pre-
cluded my obtaining personal knowl-
edge of the atrocities complained of.
But of the reports received at headquar-
ters there is absolutely no doubt of their
existence. l remember one little Incl
| dent. 1t was last September Some
| 5000 or 1000 Spanish soldiers had been
sent to relieve Cascarro. In the fight
which followed the Spanish column
| killed, among others, an insurgent cap
tain. He was to have been promoted
the next day to the rank of major
| When we secured his body it was a
horrible sight. Completely covered
with bayonet wounds and machete cuts,
| hacked and stabbed with the most hor-
rible and unnecessary cruelty.
"But from good sources 1 have heard
and feel justified in asserting that men,
women and children have been most
outrageously treated by the Spaniards
in nearly all the devastated parts of
| Cuba. Their homes have been burned,
their property destroyed, and they have
been relegated to Weyler's zones of
protection'-zones of starvation is what
| they should be termed"
"What, in your opinion, will be the
next steps taken by the Spaniards in
| Cuba?'
at is difficult to answer that ques-
| ton. But it is to be presumed that
| Weyler will continue wandering about
| the island certifying to the pacification
| of the provinces. According to reports
| current in the island when ] left there,
| Weyler will be recalled and Campos
will be the man who will succeed him,
and he will be instructed broadly to do
| the best he can under the circumstances.
ut is a shame" continued DIR. DAN
| forth with energy, "that United States
citizens are not more thoroughly pro-
tected. AS for the Spaniards, why,
they shoot first and inquire after as to
the standing Of the men, American or
Cuban, and then they say he was shot
by his own friends.
"When left the president and his
| party they were all filed with hope and
trusting in the United States. Should
| the United States intervene? Most
emphatically. yes.
II sincere hope that the United
States will son decide to recognize the
belligerency of the Cubans"
"How would that assist them?"
why by giving the Cubans the right
TO float their bonds and by compelling
the Spaniards to treat their prisoners
with some show of consideration. If
the Cubans were recognized as belliger-
ents any Cuban taken prisoner would
have a chance 10 be treated as q pris-
oner of war"
"What is the present condition Of the
Cuban insurgentsT'
Their condition is satisfactory. II
is true they are hard pressed in the
provinces ON account of want of rations,
but as a whole they are doing very
well. In Santiago de Cuba there are
no cattle, but plenty Of vegetables, and
in the province Of Puerto Principe there
Is an abundance Of cattle and no vege-
tables. In Santa Clara, ON the other
hand there Is plenty of everything and
the same holds good with the provinces
of Matanzas and Havana. In Pinar del
Rio there are no cattle at all only yege-
| tables"
"As to arms and ammunitionl How
are the Cubans situated in that re-
| spectY
"They still want arms and ammuni-
ton and want them very badly"