The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-04-03
HAPPENINGS IN CUBA
SPANISH OFFICIALS At CIENFUEGOS
ARRESTED BY
Charged with Starving the Sick in
Alleged to BE
Hemmed in Again.

April 2.-Dispatches from
Cienfuegos, province of Santa Clara. an
nounee that Captain General Weyler has
ordered the arrest and Imprisonment of the
chief of police there, Senior Merina. sew
eral police inspectors and thirty-fve other
persons. 1t appears that the captain gen.
eral. while visiting the marine hospital,
which contained twenty patients. made in
quiries which elected the information that
the rations there were of a poorer quality
than those served in the military hospitals.
where there are three hundred patients.
Thereupon he issued orders TO the effect
that. while all useless expenditure was to
be avoided. all persons convicted of depriv-
ing the sick of what is due to them will be
severely punished. Among those who are
said to be implicated in the scandal is a
prominent property owner and member of
the Santa Clara provincial deputation. 1t is
further believed that the responsibility will
reach other and more important persons of
high social standing. 1t is also said that
several officers of high rank will shortly be
arrested in connection with the same af-
fair.
The captain general has given a dinner
TO the commanders of the volunteer corps
of the Cienfuegos district, a force which he
holds in high esteem He praised the vol
unteers for their always honorable services
In the past, saying they had shared with
the regular army in the toll and suffering
which fell to the lot of those who were saw
ing the country. The captain general, in
conclusion. informed the volunteers that
they represented the nerve of the Spanish
nationality in the Antilles.
The military commander of a certain
town in Santa Clara recently telegraphed
TO the captain general announcing that the
surrender of an important local insurgent
leader and his followers was impending.
and asking General Weyler to call back the
columns of troops which were in pursuit of
the leader referred to and to stop all active
operations against him pending his surren-
der. The captain general replied that he
would not suspend hostilities, adding that
the lives of those who desire to surrender
and present themselves to the Spanish au-
thOrities would be respected by the troops.
The military line across the province of
Puerto Principe, from Juraco in the south
TO Moron in the north. has been entirely
closed. The Spanish troops %oc9cupying the
have constructed a, fort in the only pass
which it is possible to get through. and the
Spanish military authorities believe that
the line of forts now stretching across that
part of the island has so restrained the
movements of the insurgents under Gen.
Maxine Gomez that nothing 1T left to the
latter but to escape by sea In a boat.
A dispatch from Santa Clara announces
the arrest there of Senior Joaquin Pena, edi-
tor of FL Universe.
from San Juan Y Martinez. in the western
part of the province Of Pinar del Rio, since
the instruction broke out arrived here yes
The Marquis Palmerola, secretary of the
government. has arrived here from Glen
and west without any difficulty, which is
pointed to by the Spanish authorities as
being proof of the decline of the insurrec-
ton.
The Alfonso XIII battalion. at a ford
across the Henabana river. on the borders
of Santa Clara, near Gueracabuya, was
engaged with a force of two hundred insur-
gents who were trying to cross the river
into the province of Matanzas. The enemy
occupied a good position. where they await
ed the advance of the troops. In the fight
which followed the insurgents were defeat
ed. with the loss of many men.
There is a great scarcity OF water at San
tiago de Cuba and the authorities there
have been compelled To reduce the water
rations of the prisoners and sick persons
in the Jail and in the hospitals. "A mer-
chant in this city named Nicholson has or
dered a Philadelphia steamer, bound for
Santiago de Cuba. to unload minerals to
carry water there for the thirsty residents.
Four hundred casks of water arrived there
as ballast on the steamer Erndale ana
thousands of persons gathered about the
wharf in order TO obtain some OF the wa
ter
During a tour of inspection which the
governor of MatanZas has Just made OF the
asylumS and jails of the city OF that name,
he learned that four prisoners mad been
kept in confinement for five years through
the error of a court official. The court. II
appears. threw out the charges against
them and the court clerk In charge OF the
matter forgot to carry out the orders Wnlcn
he had received to secure the release OF the
prisoners and the papers in the case have
been lost. The court will now prosecute
the offenders.
The report sent out from Key West to
the effect that General Rivera was shot
at sunrise this morning is untrue. The
trial by court-martial of General Rivera
is being proceeded with behind closed doors
at San Cristobal.
Rivera to He Tried at Havana.
NEW YORK Anril "A dispatch to the