The islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1891-1899, 1897-05-06
DYING OF STARVATION
Pitiable Fate Of Cuban Pacifi.
COS in Fortified Towns.
WEYLER Is RESPONSIBLE FOB 1T
Country People Concentrated In the
villages Have Absolutely Ne
Means Of Obtaining Food.

New York, April 28.-A World spe-
cial from Havana says: Private letters
from the interior report wholesale star
walton. Some of the cases are especial
ly heartrending. Children are dying
in the streets Of Matanzas, and babies
have been found dead in the arms of
their exhausted mothers. Your corre-
spondent has been through the province
of Pinar del Rio, and has seen whole
villages of living skeletons praying for
death to release them from their suffer-
ings.
General Weyler is seizing the cattle
of the citizens for the use of the troops
in Santa Clara. Rafael Rubio, an
American citizen, lost twenty-one head
of cattle in that way. When he COM
planned to the Spanish authorities and
demanded pay, he was told he was i'm
pudent to ask Spain to pay for what
the insurgents take with impunity.
A guerilla corps raised, 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 meats
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 Santa Clara prov
ince. Santa Clara has many cities,
five of which are Of large population.
Santa Clara is in the center, Cienfugeos
and Sanoti Spiritus in the south, and
Sagua La Grande and Remedies in the
north. There were $50, 900 people liv-
ing in the five districts of which these
five cities are the capitals. OF this
population 100, 900 lived outside of the
cities. ALI these have been compelled
to leave their farms and move into the
cities and fortified towns. In some Of
the latter, the concentrates outnum-
bered the original population. They
have no money, and if they had, there
is not food enough to supply all. Bark
huts have been built, and they are
crowded with poverty stricken refugees.
They are half naked. sick from OK.
posture, and dying from hunger. They
are peaceful, Woodworking people. On
their farms they would not only b
self-supporting, but would be able to
supply plenty Of vegetables, eggs, meat
and fruit to the starving people of the
cities.
Under General Weyler's policy the
whole $50, 900 are suffering, and $780,
600 doomed to die for lack of food,
which they could easily obtain if al
lowed to work. This policy, as war
measure, is worse than useless from the
Spanish standpoint, for it has forced
hundreds Of men to join the rebels
rather than be forced to see their fam
lilies starving in the cities and towns.
In some other places in the village, the
overcrowding is terrible. Sitiallittos,
before the order was given, had 100
people. It now contains ], 200, includ.
ing soldiers. The farmers ordered in
have built $50 huts, and are slowly
dying from starvation.
Weyler has had all the cattle killed
in the fields by the guerillas, and left
to rot, but q pound Of meat cannot be
bought, except for the troops. Owners
of sugar plantations are not allowed to
grind, but they must protect their
property. They built houses, and SOL
oilers were put in them. This makes .
fortified plantation, and inhabitants
move in. Not druggist dare sell any
drugs, or fill prescription to be taken
Ioutside the regular fortified towns. II
. grain of quinine goes out, it means
death to the sender if caught.
The insurgents in arms are much bet.
ter Of than the concentrated pacifcos.
They kill beef in the fields when they
choose, but when they have taken what
they need they send word to the owner
to come and get the rest of it. or they
try to get it to the starving people
around the cities.
Americans to Be Released.
Tampa, Fla, April 28.-Passengers
from Havana say that through the
efforts of General Lee, Ona Melton,
who has been confined in Cabanas for
more than a year, will be released this
morning; also that Jose Fernandez and
g. W. Aguirre, the latter brother Of
the insurgent general, Aguirre, will BE-
released in day or two.
A Terrible Vengeance.
Perry, O. T., April 28.-John and
Sam Hunt, living at Washita river,
tied Charles Goodall, aged II, toa wild
horse and pushed both the boy and tho
horse over the steep bluf into the
Washita river. Young Goodall had
been the hired boy on the Hunt farm
for more than year, and the brothers
claimed he ruined their sister, Amelia.