The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-11-21
1T THE MERCY OF OUTLAWS.
PORTO RICANS SUFFERING FROM
THEIR DEPREDATIONS.

Soldiers Are CHARTERED I'm the Towns
While the Bandits Operate UnmO-
Tested in the CONCENTRATIONS
Begins with Renewed ViEOr Near
Ponce, and Cavalry Guard Is
Needed-Citizens of San Juan Ner-
VOus Because of Deficient Police
Protection.
Correspondence of the Associated Press.
San Juan, Porto Rico, Nov. Cocoa
siOually there are striking examples of the
nervousness and unsettled condition of the
people of this city. When the Americans
took possession of San Juan they retained
two city organizations for the preservation
of peace and order. They were the mu-
nicipal police, men in uniform and armed
with swords, revolvers and rifles, and the
body known simply as police, who so
about in citizens clothes and carry small
club. There has been no provost guard
in San Juan. There are American sentries
at certain public buildings as a guard to
the property, but that is ALL 1t was often
said the city needed am American military
police to control the soldiers themselves,
and in the days when the regiments were
landing and embarking at this port the
truth of this statement was realized. But
no men have been landed here for some
time and there has been little abuse or
disorder among the soldiers quartered in
the town that has not been controlled by
the native policemen Of the capital. Still
there exists a feeling of unsafety among
certain classes, and it is a fact that wo-
men of the better class go upon the street
as little as possible, and then only with
male escort. They have heard of disor-
derby soldiers in Ponce, they remember
! the boisterous behavior of certain of our
regiments as they passed through the
| city. and they consider il wise to be very
| careful.
one night last week a sailor from the
! collier Caesar stole from cafe a pewter
| sugar bowl. The native police followed,
and attempted to arrest him. The sailor
was drunk, and these facts are always
sufficient to commence a general row and
| much excitement
| When the American soldier or sailor is
intoxicated, nothing is more insulting to
his American honor than for a Porto RI
| can policeman to in any way interfere
with his actions. The police are not i'm
| posing. They are small men, and have
| several times shown themselves afraid of
| the Americans, and the average brawny
soldier is match for any three of them.
And the soldier can always count on the
active help of every other one of his COM
| rades who happens to be on the street
at the time. The local police can take
care of the law-breaking Porto Ricans
| with more or less success, but their eff
forts to control the dsorderly Americans
| have almost always ended in trouble that
would be averted if a provost guard were
maintained whose duties were confined to
keeping order among our soldiers and
sailors.
Several policemen joined In the effort to
arrest the men with the sugar bowl, pre-
! viously mentioned, but his friends had
gathered about him, and the task clearly
had its difficulties. AT length an active
policeman saw his chance and brought his
| club down hard on the drunken sailor S
| head making a bad wound. Immediately
after performing this feat the policeman
ran for dear life and was soon lost to sight
up a dark alley. 1t was about o'clock
in the evening, and the streets were filled
with people. The excitement grew quick
w. the Mayor was called out, and the po-
! lice went for their rifles and attempted
| fo dispurse the crowd. Doors of houses
and stores were noisily slammed and
barred all over town, and these disturb
| ing sounds always work on a crowd S
nerves People did not know what to ex-
meet and the tension might have given
way to some hysterical action. At this
iuncture. however, six American soldiers
| arrived from the palace. They quickly
| scattered the crowd, and in hour the
| streets had resumed their normal appear
ance.
There have been several similar in
| stances recently, and the demand for a
provost guard, which would nip the ORR
gin of such trouble in the bud, has been
| very general.
Reports concerning the disorders in the
interior of the island have pointed toward
| their dinainution The Arecibo district,
which was the most unsettled, now seems
| tn he ouiet But these troubles seem TO
| have broken out with renewed Vigor near
ponce. 1t is the same story. Bandits,
frebugs and thieves infest the country
side: plantations and farm houses are
burn and men are assaulted ana occasion
| allv killed The American troops are
chartered i'm the towns, and remote farms
! and haciendas are often without protec-
| tion Travelling is unsafe and all men go
| armed IT is said on the best of authority
that the agriculturalists cannot raise
money on future crops or any farm prop
| critics and that store keepers in Ponce re-
fuse to send any goous on circuit 10 the
| troubled district
cavalry is certainly needed to put a
stop to this unfortunate condition of af-
| fairs.
n is estimated that this years coffee
crop. which promised to be large, will In
reality suffer much loss, and this because
the grower finds such difficulty in getting
funds to harvest and because of his trouble
IN getting men to work in the fields. In
! short. because of the general disorders,
outlawry and marauding that have been
more or less prevalent for some months
mast. These conditions affect other crops
besides the coffee. The islands agricul-
| tural products will undoubtedly be greatly
reduced this year, and this means re-
duction of income. If these disorders had
been stamped OUT in the beginning and be-
, fore the outlaws gained confidence and inn
punity. and il the authorities had been
more active in this respect than they have
been, the country at large would have
/ ~. Iva MT Of h.