Evening star., 1897-03-03
THE RUIZ CORRESPONDENCE
Il Was Not Furnished to the Senate a Was
Requested.
The President Says Il fs Inadvisable
10 Make ID Pablic Peadiag
the Iavestigattea.

The President yesterday sent TO the SenA
ate report made by Secretary olney on
the resolution requesting the correspond
ence In the case OF DIR. Ricardo Ruiz The
report suggests the individuality of sua
plying the correspondence 1t this time,
which suggestion the President indorses
saying that Il would be Incompatible with
the public interest to do so pending the
| public and exhaustive invest ;gation about
| to be Instituted"
The President adds the suggestion that
| the consul general should have professional
aid In such investigation. though that mat
| ter together with the select.oa of the par-
ticular persons to act win lin. properly
devoives upon my successor In Office"
| Instead Of transmitting the official cor
| respondence, the Secretary supplies an ac-
| count OF his own composition covering IN.
essential facts In the case. He says that
Ruiz. native of Cuba .cam me to this country
during the revolution which terminated in
| 1873. and studied dentistry a: Philadelphia
| declaring his intention 20 become a citizen
OF the United States in 1877. He received
| MS fnal papers in lSS, After this he re-
| turned to Cuba, and has resided there
since. He details Ruiz's arrest on Eebru-
airy =. OF which. he says. .he department
| was Immediately Informed, but that moth
Ing more was heard In regard to the mat
ter until February IL, wnrn the consul
general reported that Ruiz ha been fodnd
dead. He says the department had as
sumed that the case was being attended To
during this interim, and that a demand
would be made that the prisoner should be
put In communicate. hut t'lat il after. .'ard
developed that no such demand had been
made. and the prisoner had remeined CON
stantly In solitary confinement The CIR
cumstances attending the deagh wer" such
as to lead to a demand sor immediate In
vestigation.
After such personal examination as he
| was able to make" the Secretary con-
tinues. 'the consul general has reported to
| the department that Ruiz was placed and
| kept for 3l5 hours In a small. closed and
! filthy CELL three feet by five, having q
| rough stone floor with no window and only
6-inch square opening In the door for the
admission Of food. which aperture was kept
shut except when so used: that one WAS
| allowed to see him; that he died from ne
glect or violence: that he became deranged:
that an autopsy showed seven contusions
on top Of the head: that ne died from con
| gestion of the brain: that there was no
fracture Of the skull. but that all knowl-
edge was confined to officials. and that II
| was difficult to ascertain the facts.
He says that on the other hand the act
Ing governor general of Cuba. in a report
| made to his government on February -.
states that Ruiz was confined In a room
over eight feet by nineteen, with a large
window: that the room showed no signs OF
dampness. and that Ruiz had easy chair
and comfortabl BILE bed. This official also
reports that Ruiz was found in his room
very much excited with a confusion on his
head. after blow was heard in the room.
He says the prisoner was then removed TO
a better room; that ION the 18th he was
found by the attendant in the act of but
ting his head against the grating of the
door. and though quieted by the attendant,
shortly after died.
The conclusions of the official reports of
the two governments being thus radically
| conflicting the Secretary says another open
and thorough Investigation seemed TO this
government Indispensable, and that the
Spanish government concurred in this
view.
The Secretary incloses copy of Minister
De Lomes letter. acceding to this request
He says that Ruiz did not make known his
American citizenship when arrested. a cir
cumstance which. he says, often occurs
and always leads to compile tion