The Red Cloud chief., 1898-08-12
THEY LOOT THE SOLDIERS.
Santiago shopkeepers Translate Pesos
Into Dollars.

Into Dollars.
New YORK, Aug. s.-The Santiago
correspondent Of the New York Com
mercial Advertiser sends the follow
ing: Santiago SO far remains n decor.
Gus scene of first colonial experiment.
Looting and the theatrical scenes OF
conquest that attended older wars are
not here. The town is as quiet as
New York on a Sunday afternoon out
OF the season. At first the shops
opened their shutters tentatively half
way before they could be sure their
tills were not, one and all, to be pill
fcred. The cafe Venus admitted visit
ors only after mysterious pounding at
the entresol before custom flowed
more freely, and customers, being
Americans, hungry and ragged,
were found amenable to any price.
For a nation of Yankee shop keep
crs, the Yankees i'm Santiago
have done very well. They have let
the unblushing Spanish shop keepers
cheat them to the top of their bent.
IL took the Spanish shop keeper but n
day to realize this. Women and chill
drcn in the background, adding to the
towns queer, deserted look, attested
the inhabitants uncertainty. Yet the
situation was characteristic enough Of
Uncle Sam, who, instead Of footing,
kept his hands in his pockets and let
himself be looted. Loot" may not be
the Spanish word FOR translating pesos
by dollars and charging accordingly,
but 1t is, perhaps, polite enough.
After awhile the streets grew more
confident. Women. some Of them in
freshly laundried dresses, priests, car
rying great sun umbrellas, are seen
going about their errands. Shutters
came down from shop and dwelling in
greater numbers.
The most notable shops are the bar.
bcrs' shops, rue to the traditions of
the immortal Barbierre, and the chem.
list shops. Each of these sorts of shops
makes considerable display. Clothing
and haberdashers' and tobacconists
shops are fairly stocked. Cafes and
bakeries are quite deficient. In most
only a few strips OF coarse fried por
ridge are to be had, with an occasional
mouldy cooky. With the incoming OF
the Americans, of course. came great
or plenty and circulation. The l~iveliest
scenes are along the wharves, where
Colonel Humphrey and Colonel Weston
supcrintend the unloading of trans
ports on dry wharves, instead of tn,
turbulent beach at Siboney. Cuban
labor was supposed to be doing mos
80 a.. ,,,a,ly ~, a., l,l1 - A. Al
of the town, in the barracks or hos
pital, that could so plainly be seen OF
the day of the fight, covered with Rec
Cross flags, Spanish officers and mer
are busy making their preparation be
fore transportation. Horses gathered
before the doors, and also ut tn,
palace in the plaza, where the Am eri
can governor, General Wood, holds hi.
rule.
The main buildings are n few
churches, the cathedral, with its plas
ter echoes of Toledo and Seville; tn
archbishop's palace, imposingly place.
IN high ground and. true to the coun
trymen OF Calderon, the theater.
None OF the greater merchant
would take anything but American
money, partly, no doubt, on account o
Spanish rate of exchange, and partly
too, because they saw that the eye an,
face of George Washington were des
Tined to be the trustworthiest sort O
tender in the town and province now
So far as we could judge from tn,
shopkeepers the town ySs relieved an,
truly glad that a settled state of af
fairs seemed likely to descend upoi
them.