Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1898-04-27
CONDITIONS IN CUBA.

9TH Lee estimates the
result OF a star vatiop policy:
IL have the honor to state, rs a mat
ter Of public interest, that the recon
centrado order Of Gener Weyler, for
merly governor general Of this island,
transformed about 100000 self-sup-
porting people, principally women
and children, into IL multitude to he
sustained by the contributions o
others, OF die Of starvation, or Of
fevers resulting from a low physical
condition and being massed in large
bodies. without change OF clothing
and without food. Their homes were
burned, their fields and plant-beds
destroyed, and their live stock driven
away or killed.
II estimate that probably 100000
Of the rural population in the prov
ince OF Pinar del Rio, Havana, Mat
anzas. and Santa Clara have died Of
starvation or from resultant causes;
and the deaths Of whole families AL
most simultaneously. or within d few
days Of each other, and Of mothers
praying for their chill iren to be re-
lived of their horrible sutferings 10y
death, are not the least of the many
p~itiahle scenes which wore e.or pres
emf. In the provinces of Puerto
Principe and Santiago de Cuba.
where the 'reconcentrado order
could not be enforced, the great n,ass
Of the people are self-sustaining.
"A daily average of ten cents
worth of food to 200. 900 people woulu
be an expenditure of $4,000 per day,
and, uf course, the most humane Ell
forts upon the part of our citizens
can not hope to accomplish such a gI-
gantic relief. and IA great portion of
these people will have to be aband-
oned to their fate"
Some terrible instances OF suffering
are described in a communication to
Consul-General Lee from two reli.
able gentlemen (whose names are
suppressed) relative to She condition
in LIS Fosos (the ditches) in Havana
W. quote from the press summary:
"'f'our hundred and sixty women
and children thrown on the grouLd,
heaped pell-mell as animals, some in
a dying condition. Others sick.
others dead, without the slightest
cleanliness or the least help, not even
abe to give water to the thirsty. with
out either religious or social help.
each one dying wherever chance laid
hun
"The communication goes on to
state that the deaths among these re-
concentrates averaged forty or fifty
daily, and that Oh an average there
were but ten days Of life for each
person. 1t says that These unhappy
creatures received food only after
having been eight days III the fosos,
during which time they we're obliged
to subsist upon the bed food, which
the dying had refused. Some hor-
rible instances OF the distress wit
messed are given.
ga mong the many deaths we saw, :
says the communication, there was
seen one impossible to forget. There
is still alive the only witness, u young
girl IT eighteen, whom we founc
seemingly lifeless ON the ground. Or
her right side was the body Of a young
mother, cold and rigid, but with hrl
young child still alive clinging to he
breast. On her left side was tn,
corpse of a dead woman, holding he
son in a dead embrace, A little fur
Their on a dying woman, having in hel
arms a daughter Of fourteen, Graz,
with pain, who, after twelve or four,
teen days, died in spite Of the care
she received Further along the
communication Gays that ifapy yonne
girl came in who was nice-looking
she was infallibly condemned 10 tlle