The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1897-06-16
Devastated by " ar.
CALHOUN TALKS OF HIS
VISIT TO CUBA.


special commissioner to investigate
the circumstances Of the death in
prison Of Dr. Ruiz, an American citi.
zen. reached this city on his return
to day He was accompanied by
George W Fishback, his secretary,
and Charles NJ Pepper, a Washing
ton newspaper correspondent who
went to Cuba with the commissioner.
Mr. Calhoun said thas the commits
sion held three sittiugs between
May 20 ard June l, at Habana,
Regla anu Guanabacoa. The papers
examined in the case were chiefly
military records The final report
will be made to Washington by Gen.
Lee.
In conversation Mr. Calhoun
said "The island of Cuba is rapidly
being devastated BY relentless.
cruel and bitter civil war, so that in
short time it will not be worth any
thug to any one. 1t is difficult to
get at the exact situation there. In
the first place, there is severe cen
sorship of the press, and those who
are naturally friendly to the Cubans
hardly dare to express their views
and opinions Furthermore, the ad.i
herents of both sides are exceedingly
intense. They tell their stories just
as they waot you to believe them.
From the Spanish point of view. the
island is practically paci6ed, and from
that of the Cubans, the insurgents
never were in such excellent shape as
they now are"
"Did you go into the interior of
the island p asked the reporter.
Eyes, l went from Rsbana to
Matanzas While both are on the
seacoast, still to go from one point to
the other by rail, it takes you
through large part of interior coun-
try. 1 also made several snort trips
from Habana in other directions I"
"What is the condition of the
country ?''
cit seems TO be entirely depopu-
lated and there are no signs of any
buildings standing except at railroad
stations. These, by the way, are
practically forts. l was generally in.
formed that the same condition Of
affairs exists Throughout: Cuba from
Habana to Pinar Del Rio. except in
the extreme eastern end. There is
where the Cobans get their supplies
and their cattle They control that
section now. It was the portion Of
the island which held out 10 years in
the last war Cuba is undoubtedly a
magnificent country It is rich.sand
beautiful, and the soil responds boun-
tifuliy to the seed.
while 1 am not called upon to
make any formal report to the Presi-
dent, because | acted merely as
counsel to Gen Lee in the Ruiz case,
still | may be asked to tell Mr..
Mckinley and the secretary of state
OF the things which / have seen and
heard in my brief trip to the island
of Cuba. In that case l will readily
do so"
cat the sessions of the commits
sion," Mr.. Calhoun said. in response
to reporters questioning, eve ex.
amined several witnesses, but when
you ask me if they were plentiful, |
can only say that they did not run
after us and we had to use no force
to keep them away. They were
composed of Spanish aud Cubans
The Spanish witnesses, and in fact
all of those who testified, were so
surrounded with safeguards that it
was impossible to get at the naked
truth One person whom we would
have liked TO hear could not be found.
This was Fonsdeviela, who command
ed the Spanish in the Guanabacoa
territory. He disappeared and it
was impossible to find him Captain
General WeyIer did not put in an ap.
parence at the investigation. We in-
spected the Jail at Guanabacoa and
when we were there it was suspi.
ciously clean. We learned that DR..
Ruiz was arrested on Feb. 4, charged
with having some connection III an
assault which took place in railroad
train between Gunabacoa and Ha
bana. He was placed in solitary
confinement, or as it is known there,
he was incommunicado Thirteen
days later he was taken out of his
cell on account of his mental and
physical condition 1t was then
found that he was suffering from a
severe wound in the head. and he
died two hours after he had been re-
leased from the cell in which the
secret to his injury is buried The
question of the deceased Doctors
American citizenship was never de-