The Portland daily press., 1898-07-16
MORE PRISONERS ARRIVE.
Over One Thousand Span.ards at Ports
mouth.

Over One Thousand Span.ards at Ports
Portsmouth, N. H.. July 15.-The
United States auxiliary cruiser Harvard
in command of Captain Charles F. Cot
ton, from Santiago de Cuba, having on
board 1908 Spanish prisoners arrived in
Portsmouth harbor at g. 80 O'Clock this
morning. Nearly half on board are i'll.
Six Spaniards died on the passage from
Santiago to Portsmouth. One died this
forenoon after the cruiser reached this
port and three others are not expected to
live. There were forty cases in the sick
bay this forenoon, and forty equally as
bad In other portions of the ship. All
the patients are said to be victims of
malarial fever with which those who died
were also affected. Owing to these con-
ditions nothing has been done in the
The trip from Santiago was without
unusual incident, aside from the sickness
and death referred. to.
The Harvard left Santiago de Cuba
Sunday at p. M, and made fair progress.
The Spanish prisoners on board belonged
on the vessels in Admiral Cervera's fleet
and were the men who went ashore and
were put to work on the trenches and
gave Roosevelt's rough riders such hard
fight at Siboney. They returned to the
fleet the day before Admiral Cervera
sailed from Santiago, when his squadron
was destroyed by Admiral Simpsons
ships.
A seaman described the mutiny on the
Harvard before leaving Santiago bay. He
stated that the Spaniards, from the time
they came aboard were so ugly that thu
officers feared troubls. 1t came the first
evening after they had all arrived on
board. They were at mess under the
usual guard. The officers Of the ship were
all forward at the time. The cause of the
trouble did not appear, but without
warning the Spaniards made rush upon
the guard. The officer in command, with
out hesitating a minute, gave the COM
mand to fire. Nearly a score of the riot
ers fell, six of them having been killed.
Twelve were wounded, but none of them
SO seriously that death is likely to follow.
The yolley was effective and the prisoners
were soon subdued. They made no further
trouble.
Drs. Towle and Lewis spent about half
an hour in their inspection of the vessel.
As to the physical conditions, the report
Of DR.. Lewis indicated a prevalence of
disease that was considered alarming.
Should the report of the physicians be
favorable, the work of landing the prison
ers will be begun at once. II necessary,
however. the cruiser will be ordered to
move six miles down the harbor to quar-
eNttne at once, pending further arrange
ments for the care of those on board. On
board the Harvard was foreign military
officer who was in the American Zines at
the land battle of Santiazc. In speaking
of the evenJ he complimented both high
ly on the way they fought, saying it was
one of the flercest conflicts in history.
The tenth death among the Spanish
prisoners occurred this afternoon and like
others, it was ascribed to malarial fever.
The bodies Of the two prisoners who died
this morning were sewed up in canvas
bags and then taken down the harbOr and
out to sea six miles, where they were con-
signed to the deep with the usual formali-
ties. 1t seems to be generally agreed that
OF contagious type, for II such was the
case, the Harvard would have imm date
ly been ordered away from the city. This
has not been done, willis, on the contrary
Rear Admiral Carpenter stated that all
the prisoners would be landed at nine
O'Clock tomorrow morning without fail.
1t will probably take number Of days to
completely disinfect the Harvard. In
addition to the fort physician, DR.. A,
q. Hefenger, a naval physician also
visited the cruiser and looked over the
sick. His report was wired to the navy
department at Washington.
With reference to the condition of the
prisoners, Naval Physician A. q. Hef-
fengers made the following statement to.
night: II have no cause for alarm as the
cases on the Harvard are exactly like
those on the ST. Louis, but, you see,
these men are half-starved and were near
ly dead when captured, and in addition to
this, they have been crowded aboard the
Harvard, and the conditions under which
they lived are worse than those on the St.
Louis.
Naval Physician Heffenger says he wi IL
not make his detailed report to Washing
ton until next Monday, when he can state
positively what the causes OF the sickness
are. All of the physicians agree that at
the present time it is nothing more than
malarial fever.
Captain Kelton and Lieut.. Moser of the
United States marine corps with sixty
marines, will leave the harhor tomorrow
to increase the guard at Camp Long. AS
soon as practicable, the sick on the Har-
ward will be removed to the island and
given quarters in the large tent. 1t is
expected there will be at least six death 8
tonight as the condition CT several of the
men is critical. The sick prisoners who
arrived on the st. Louis and are now COM
fortably quartered on the island, are
rapidly improving. There is report that
it has been asked If it is possible that the
American soldiers now quartered near
Santiago could be accommodated on
Pierce's island, near this city, in the
event of an order being issued for them
to be cent North after the surrender nego-
tiations are CO mpleted.
BOURGOGNE INQUIRY