The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-01-28
KEPT PRISONERS.

I'VE stayed there two days as vir-
tual prisoners, not being allowed out
side the guard lines. We were kept in
an empty warehouse and had very
plain food. The town had been par
TALLY fortified. There was a deep
trench about the place and nobody
ventured outside for fear of the in
surgents. The town was in miSera-
BILE condition. The inhabitants were
dying off like rats in their houses of
starvation and fever. Pea soup and
fish were the only things they had to
eat There was absolutely no trade
of any sort going on.
I'VE were told that we could not take
our boats any further and that we
would have to go overland to Havana.
Early one morning we were ordered
out. We took our packs on our backs
and with an escort of about so soldiers,
started for the interior. AS we tramped
on patiently toward Mantua, We could
see great volumes of smoke to the
east, which the soldiers informed us
was from villages which had been
burned by the insurgents. We saw
the glare of these fires when we
stopped our march for the night. Our
guard became larger as we advanced
Uniforms? The troops have none; they
wear any sort of coat, no underwear,
and canvas shoes. There was a regu-
lar collection of hats in our guard. The
only uniformity was a little red button
work on the hatsAnd the blanket car
ried by each man. The food of the
company consisted of pea soup and sea
biscuits Meat there was none. There
was nothing but devastation TO be seen
on the road. At Mantua, we were put
up at the Hotel Granda. We slept that
night in a vacant shed with the rest of
our crew, and had the ground for bed
-. W.,
next morning courier with a message
arrived. The bugle was sounded and
within about half an hour about $50
horsemen and 300 soldiers We're on
their way to the south, where we could
see smoke and hear lot of firing. |
did not hear the result of the engage
ment. We left that day for Baja.
MUCH MISERY.
1--WE found this place in the same
miserable condition as the others.
Some of the soldiers we met threatened
us, but our own guards We're very civil.
From Baja, we were escorted to Pinar
del Rio, where we interviewed another
general. We were now in the heart of
the richest tobacco country in the
world There is a railroad running
through it. We noticed that the cars
were made in the United States. The
were of the Baldwin make.
This road is not doing any business to
speak of. for the insurgents tear up the
track and wreck the trains about as
fast as the Spaniards can make re-
pairs.
From here we started on d long
journey towards the east-Dortheast,
passing through what was once a
beautiful farming country, but now it
is all desolation.
"At Whales. we purchased shoes and
some food. The diet of sea biscuits,
beans and pea SOUP was beginning to
tell on US. We had not tasted any
beef for some days. The native troops
have great vitality. They do service
on almost no food and with rags to
cover them. So yellow and miserable
is their appearance that one of our
seamen said he could lick three of them
at time easily. Most of these poor
devils look as if they were suffering
from iaundice and their bones stick
out of their cheeks. They are covered
with vermin. They are armed for the
most part with old-fashioned Reming-
tons.
When we got well inland we found
that all the young men were gone
There were old men, women and
children to be seen. All of them looked
i'll. Bridges were down everywhere. i
We had to ford some of the rivers
with the water up to our waists Only
the chimneys of the sugar houses were
The condition of the Spanish
officers in the field is not as bad as that
IF the men. They have uniforms. and |
to get provisions for them |
selves and their horses, Those of them