The sun., 1897-10-31
CUBANS DRIVEN TO DEATH.
10 sTARTING PERSONS kIELED
THEMsELTES ON LAST TUESDAY,.
Tho Deaths By starvntton Are Increasing 40 |
Fer Cent. = week-lr Binnco Terms the Pa |
cincos Loose II Will Net Lessen the Aw- |
rut CatamitS-Anrd Fighting In the Weat. !

Tho Deaths By Starvation Are Increasing 40
Fer Cent. = week-Ir nianco Terms the Pa
cincoa hooso II Will Net Lessen the Aw-
rui CatamitS-Hard Fighting In the west.
HAVANA, Oct. PA report from Matanzas
says that nineteen persons committed suicide
yesterday in that city. Misery and starvation
led them to this desperate step. The Matanzas
RcRistro Civil or Statistical Bureau announces
also the death by starvation on the same day
OF htty-cight persona OF all races and ages
from Six months to seventy years.
In the city OF Cardcnas, Matanzas province
forty persons died on last Monday from the
same cause. Trustworthy correspondent
writes to mo from there: "You may see in this
city women and children dying In the streets
After some days you become accustomed to the
AWFUL sight, just as people acquire the habit
OF living without apprehension among the dan.
gers OF an epidemic. Cardenas seems no
longer city, but hell In which, among un-
endurable tortures and pangs, the most satanic
rcvclry is going on. Misery has brought all
vices with 1t. Emaciatcd women march by
the side Of the Spanish soldiers, asking piece
Of bread. Tho most unspeakable scenes occur
in the very streets. Hunger has stihod shame
in this place. But the soldiers themselves arc
starving in their barracks, and even the Off
GERS, in spite of their money, suffer from the
hardships OF the situation. Money, no matter
how plentiful, cannot buy what docs not exist.
pound Of meat is considered in Cardenas as
o fortune by the wealthy and the poor alike.
The same situation exists all over the island.
The reports from Puerto Principe and Santi.
ago dc Cuba arc exactly tho same. in Pinar
del Rio province hundreds die from starvation
every day. l had previously reported the awful
situation in Havana, where tho population is
more crowded and the sufferings Of the poor
are beyond description.
These dreadful results Of tho war in Cuba
are often compared here with those Of tho war
in the republic OF Paraguay in 1865, when the
total male population disappeared by lire and
sword. But in Cuba the determination is far
greater. The daily increase of the death rate
by famine Is something appalling. The week
ly returns Of tho statistical bureaus show that
tho mortality augments by 10 per cent. every
seven days.
II is announced that the first measure Gen.
Blanco will take after landing in Cuba will be
to suppress tho barbarous DEGREES Of Weyler
obliging tho country people to herd in the
to WINS. The pacfcos will be turned loose
again. They will have the right 1t is said, to
return to their huts and farms. But how will
that measure remedy the awful evili 1t must
be remembered that Weylcr's columns have
laid waste the whole country. Tho huts and
Farms OF tne paClncOS are utterly ueStrOyeu
| Nothing was left by the Spanish soldiers in
their path. Nothing but ruins is to be found
| now in the rural districts Of Cuba.
Furthermore, tho pacfcos themselves will
| refuse to Co. They have no confidence in the
| Spanish. They beieve-and nobody will deny
| that they have reason-that as soon as they
| get into the country they will be butchcred, a.
| their fellow laborers were not long ago by the
| columns of Wcyler. 1t is also said that tht
| Cuban army is not willing to let the starving
people scatter again all over the country. The
Cuban soldiers themselves have escaped ex
termination from famine by keeping provision:
In their stores in the mountains. II they nov
| allow thousands Of non.combatants to return
| to tho country. they will have to divide theil
| own food with them, to the advantage OF thu
| Spaniards residing in the towns.
Near Guane and Jicotea, Pinar del Rio prov
| ince, important engagements took place yes
terday between the Spanish forces OF Col SaI
| Martin and the insurgents under Herrera and
Photo. At Inferno. in the same province. thu
insurgents captured Spanish convoy witt
| plenty Of provisions and money. While famine
| stalks In the towns and exterminates the non
| combatants. the war has assumed ferociou,
| character. Whenever Spanish and Cubans mee
tho struggle is fierce and relentless.