The age-herald., 1898-04-12
PITIFUL STORY OF CUBA'S SUFFERING AS Told by Government Consular Repre-
 CentatiYGS. THE HORROR INCREASES Mothers Die of Hunger With Babes in
 Their Arms. INNOCENT GIRLS ARE DEBAUCHED Spanish Soldiers Will Not Allow Reconcentradoes to Gather Fuel to Cook the Raw
 Fo,d Given Them by the
 Merciful.
INNOCENT GIRLS ARE DEBAUcHE[

Washington, April 1.-The consular ccr- respondence with regard to the situation in Cuba which was transmitted today, was prepared in response to resolutions of in- quiry adopted by both the house and sem ate. The correspondence was prepared for transmission to congress just before the blowing up of the Maine and having been held up since, it includes communications up to April l. It covers the communica- tions of Consul-General Lee at Havana i; Consul McGarr, Cienfuegos; Consul Brice at Matanzas; Consul Hyatt at Santiago de Cuba and Consul Barker at Sagua La Grande.. The communication makes about 60,000 words They deal largely with the distress and suffering which exists in all the districts. But General Lee reports quite fully upon the decrees of the govern ment with regard to autonomy and other political phases of the situation. In pre- pairing the correspondence for transmits sion to congress considerable. portions of the important communications and espec- ially those marked confidential, are omitted. The resolutions to which they are the response in each instance asked only for such correspondence and 1t was not deemed incompatible with the public in terest to make public
 General Lees correspondence runs over the period from November 17, 1897, to April l, 1898.
 Much of the correspondence is of a con- fidential nature and some of the important communications excerpts only are given. The period of the correspondence after the blowing up of the Maine contains no ref erence to that event, such communications probably being deemed irrelevant to the purpose of the resolution calling for the consular correspondence in possession of the government as to the situation of af- fairs in Cuba. The first letter of General Lee contains Blanco's order under date of November 13 repeating rather modify ing General Weylers order of concentra- tion which has heretofore been published by the press. This order was made shortly after General Lee returned to Havana from the United States last fall. General Lee in this communication also enclosed sthe proclamation of J. M. Rodriguez, major general in charge of the western depart | ment of the Cuban military operations ad- dressed to the Cuban people and informing them of the firm resolution" of the in- surgent army to continue fighting until the attainment of absolute independence.
 Prefer Annexation
 It was on Nov. 23 that Consul General Lee made his first report to the state depart ment on the condition of affairs in Cuba. It is as follows:
 United States Consulate General.
 Habana, Nov. 23, 1S97
 have the honor to briefly submit a state ment of what appears to be the present condition of affairs in this island
 First-The insurgents will not accept au- tonomy.
 Scond-A large majority of the Spanish subjects, who have commercial and busi- ness interests and own property here will not accept autonomy, but prefer annexa- tion to the United States rather than an under the Spanish flag.
 1 witnessed many terrible scenes and saw some die while I was present l am told Gen. Blanco will give $100,000 to the relif fund.
 Nov 27 General Lee sent to the depart ment the communications of two gentle men whose names he says are suppressed for obvious reasons, but whom he knows personally as standing high in the com munity concerning the condition in Los Fosos (The Ditches) at Havana. The communication says among other things. -Four hundred and sixty women and child ren thrown on the ground. heaped pell mell as animals, some in a dying condition, oth- ters sick others dead without the slight | est cleanliness or the least help, not even able to give water to the thirsty without religious or social help, each one dying wherever chance laid him.
 The communication goes on to state that the deaths among those reconcentrados averages forty or fifty daily and that on an average there were but ten days of life for each person. It says these unhappy creatures received food only after having been eight days in the Fosos during which time they were obliged to subsist upon bad food which the dying had refused. Some horrible instances of the distress witnessed are given.
 Among the many deaths we saw" says | the communication, there was seen one | impossible to forget. There is still alive l the only witness, young girl of IS, whom | we found seemingly lifeless on the ground. | On her right side was the body of young | mother cold and rigid, but with her young child still alive clinging to her breast. On her left side was the corpse of dead wo- man holding her son in dead embrace. A little further on dying woman having in her arms a daughter of 14, crazy with pain, who, after twelve or thirteen days, died in spite of the care she received
 Young Girls Subjected to shame Further along the communication says that if any young girl came in who was nice looking she was infallibly condemned to the most abominable traffics. The com munication says that 17O0 persons had en- tered the Fosos since August and of these but 243 were then alive. It place the num- ! Der of deaths among the reconcentrados al ! IT per cent. On December 3, General Lee sent to the state department communica-