Evening star., 1898-09-06
FOOD FOR THE CUBAN S
The Vessel Bearing 1t Detained to Await a
Customs Decision.
A Bucket Relief brigade Formed to
ReIieye e Immediate Necessi-
ties of a Few.
srecah Correspondence Of The Evening Star

Special Correspondence Of The Evening Star.
IN HAVANA lIARBOR,
August 81, 1898.
At o'clock Saturday morning we sighted
Cuba. 1t was only a shadow at first, but
as We stood in the bow and eagerly watch
ed il, 1t rapidly charged from shadow to
outline. from outline to landscape and from
gray to green. till sudde My MORO Castle
light and the harbor and town were before
US. As We approached we gaEed with all
our eyes. and with our glasses soon saw
that We were not the only gazers. On
Mcrro We could see a Line of figures, and
the beach at the town was alive with a
constantly increasing crowd. Two miles
out we picked up pilot. VINO informed US
that from Washington the news had been
cabled that We were coming, and he added
that we would be .ery welcome.
At 1880 o'clock We sailed in past MORO,
and on MORO was no Spanish flag flying
j; lay iE a heap at the foot of the flagstaff,
while our brand new old glory ioated
proudly from the mast. AS we went up the
two miles of harbor we saw huge crowds
everywhere. many women beng among
them. They simply stared at Us in silence.
making no demonstration of any sort, so
We could hardly tell whether they were
glad to not We Know that they
were. We steamed silently past the wreck
OF the Maine. only a crumpled mass of tin,
with Ille main lIuOh OF IIlG SUN point
ing aloft from the midst of it; then we
passed the Spanish boats, the AlpnonSo XII
and the Reina Isabel and the bunch of
small gunboats. and smiled grimly at each
other remarked on the waiting
part they had filled in the war, and that
this was wha- was left of Spain the
water, and thought that she would
probably remember the Maine long
We do We are now anchored within 800
yards of her. and it is fine to see the pa
triotism of the soldier boys bubble out as
they sit and look at the ruStcd tin and
cOrdage. and snort at the AIphonso, and
wish the Oregon could get Just one crack
at that boat, SO We could hunt for it after
ward.
POw-woV With Customs officer.
As we came Up the harbor We were fol-
lowed by a flock of little boats, and as soon
We We're settled in our berth we were
bCmbarded with Spaniards, who talked with
their mouths. both hands and their eye
brows. The quarantine officer made per
functory Inspection from the ladder and
went away satisfied. The customs officer
and the assistants came on board to know
what we had and when We would land it,
and after q long Dow-wOw with him
Interpreter announced that s We were
probably Rot going to land our supplies, but
distribute them from the boat he would
stay and see il done. TO see that we had
nothing more than we stated Being asked
TO tell the SpaTiard that he might be de-
time, another big sabbIe ensued, from
whicn our interpreter emerged with: ''He
says that If you stay q week, a month, Il
year. ne will be happy to stay with YOU
We objected 10 the idea. but it seems to be
the custom here, so he was finally allowed
10 settle himself, and l guess ne is living
better than he has for some months past.
When we got rid of our officials there
were still q swarm OF boats left and we
estigated. Some Were hotel runners who
promptly ''vamosed' on being told that we
were going to stay on board; others wanted
newspapers aHC late news others We're Will
ing 10 sell US cigars change money for
US. and they also vatiIosed the lot was
reduced to half d dozen boats. containing
Notwithstanding people. who only stared
long at US with mournful eyes, and some
times mJtiOned to their mouths All our
cargo was below matches and We had made
no arrangements for distributing yet, so
We told them ''Elanana" tomorrow and
tried 10 talk TO each other. But pretty soon
some one noticed that the cook had thrown
The remnants Of breakfast overheard and
that these people were eagerly grabbing the
scraps out of the dirty salt water and the
major couldn't stan dthat. Dig uD some
hard tack and bacon he said and five
minutes later We were lowering buckets of
food 10 the people in the boats who imme-
dIateiy filed their mouths with the crack
eTs SO th=y could only wave their hands in
thanks Nearly all day We have had a few
q these boats coming and going, some of
tEe occupants looking pretty plump and
healthy, some of them SO skinny and mis-
erable-looking that they bring the tears to
one 5 eyes And all day some of our men
have been running the bucket. doing the
Santa Claus act Capt. Niles calls it.
SO We know we have filled a good many
hungry stUmachs already and that many
Cuban will have his first pleasant dream
for some months. ! guess the dream will
be pleasant. even IL they have nightmares
from Oyereatfng.
Awaiting Decision.
At l o'clock Maj. Niskern and Capt.
Niles arrayed themselves in their glory and
went 10 call on Blanco. They found him
I'll and were referred to a secretary, from
whom they went TO Lopez, the civil COVER
nor. They found in him fine man, who
told them that lie had been doing all pos
sibie to relieve the condition of the people
that he had established twenty soup kitch-
eas in the city and was distributing some
10000 cooked rations every day; that the
number of needy ia the city was small as
compared to that in the suburbs and sur
rounding country, and that he would gladly
cooperate in every way In distributing the
food They left him considerably pleased
and proceeded to the custom house where
more trouble was encountered. The OFF,
Gals there thought that duty would have
to be paid on our cargo, even though il was
intended for the poor of their own city, but
agreed to refer 1t to some board of direc-
tOrs. as nearly as We could make out and
give decision by Monday noon; so un-
III then we can do nothing but run our
bucket relief brigade and enjoy ourselves
as we'll as We may. a. c. TOWNSEND.