The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-05-22


With the exception Of the foregoing
document, which l was able to copy
from the archives of the general staff
in Havana. these bandos have not
been publicly published and promul-
gated as Is required by law.
In Havana, Matanzas and in Santa
Clara, the blando was sent to the gov
ernors of the various military districts,
it's contents made known to the leaders
of guerrillas and columns in the field,
who were entrusted with the task OF
Informing the country. people that they
must leave their homesteads and all
their belongings and remove to the APP
pointed stations of concentration. They
were not allowed to bring with them
any property but what they could
airy on their backs, and before start
ing for the stations where they were
destined to die from starvation and
epidemic disease, they saw their homes
go up in flames. their crops burnt down
and their cattle and oxen confiscated.
In some places the peasants very ma
turally resisted such an inhuman order,
especially as it was delivered in due
legal form, and in many instances they
were stot down.
and at the very point of the machete,
some $4,000 pacificos have been herded
into the various stations selected for
that purpose in the Province Of Pinar
del Rio alone. There are 10000 in Mar
lei, 5000 in San Cristobal 5000 in Con-
solacdon, and 5000 in the town of Pinar
del Rio. From Artimisa to Pinar del
Rio, along the line of the Western rail-
way, where perhaps 10000 Of the $4,000
| reconcentrados were stationed, there
have occurred, since the beginning of
| December to the 1st of April, 5000
deaths, or about one-fifth of the whole
number. The deaths have been occa-
stoned principally by smallpox and by
starvation fever, calentura del hambre
as they call it, while dysentery, yellow
fever and typhus have done their
share.
STARVATION STATIONS.
In observing the results of this in
famous proclamation, by which, wheth-
err by accident or with design, the Gu
ban people are being exterminated, I
have visited the principal stations of
the reconcentrados in all the four west
ern provinces. The ground allotted to
them, upon which they have built their
palm leaf bohois, or huts, is invariably
how lying. swampy and malarious.
| With very few exceptions the places Sc
lected for their residence have been
military or strategic points and not
towns of any size where possibly work
might have been obtained or private
charity active in assisting them. In
deed, it Is fair TO say, after careful ex-
animation of all the stations, that the
people have been concentrated in
| greater numbers where the accommo-
dation for them was least adequate,
and the only explanation / can give Is,
and 1t is, I believe, the true one, that
the Spanish Inhabitants of the popu-
J. lous towns brought pressure to bear
upon the military authorities to induce
them to herd the country people to-
gether in places where there were no
other or few inhabitants, knowing full
! well the dangers from disease that
would follow the crowding together Of
such number of people in conditions
which were in defiance of even the
most rudimentary sanitary laws.
J l have determined to confine the pic
ture which / propose to draw of the
process by which the peaceable Cubans
are being eXterminated to the town of
Matanzas, the second city of the is
land. Here the country people have
been given a healthy station. There is
not another station on the island that
can be compared to it. And here the
scenes of starvation and of suffering
which are to be seen are of less intense
character that in any of the other
places. Here starvation does not reign
absolutely as it does in Artemsa and
San Cristobal. Disease, though its
ravages are terrible to behold. is not SO
rampant as in Mariel and Jucaro, nor
are the Spanish troops here so oppres-
sive, SO absolutely lawless as they are
in Jaruco, Guines and Consolation.
Only In a milder form are Matanzas ex-
posed ITO all the ills and misfortunes
which the last days of Spanish rule
over this plague stricken island have
brought with them.
A MOURNING CITY.
Two years ago the beautiful city of
Matanzas very frequently was enliv-
ened by the presence of 150 sail, all
merchantment coming and going. Last
March a solitary American schooner
lay in the harbor. Her captain died of
the yellow fever, and six of the crew
are now in the hospital with that dread
disease. Sickness, want Of supplies
caused them to put into MatanzaS
This cessation of commerce has para
lyzed every industry of the city, and II
is a fair and moderate statement to
say that early last fall, and before the
country population was driven into the
town, at least $4,000 Of the 5000 in
habitants of the city were penniless
without work or means of amy kind
and subslsting entirely upon private
and unorganized charity. This was
the situation when in November Is .O0C
country people were driven in, without
means or provisions of any kind, OF
without any provisions being made for
their accommodation and support
They came from the districts of Yu-
muri, Corral Nuevo and Porto Carrero
They number about 1900 now.
| GIVE ME THE LEAVINGS."
Early in January / visited Matan.
zas for the first time. The streets werc
thronged with beggars, clamorous fol
something to eat. A certain indefinablc
smell of poverty and starving thou.
sands pervaded the atmosphere
Crowds of poor country people, visiblS
starving. hung about the windows OF
the hotels and restaurants and from
every quarter came the beseeching, THE
pitiful prayer "Senorito, dami las so,
bras de su plato" "Sir, give me tho
leavings ON your plate" This heart.
rending cry rang on my ear from morn.
ing till night Go where you might
there was no escape from the spectacle
of the hungry droVes and the famish,
ing thousands who wandered about the
| streets of the city. The Women al