The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-08-25

evening. In1S makes the InlIu Weu- nesday evening in succession that it has rained.
 SANTIAGO DE CUBA IN WAR TIME. The Horrors of War-Suffering and
 Death Due to Somebody's Misman-
 agement.
 Especial Correspondence of the Journal
 and Courier.
 Santiago de Cuba, Aug. 5.-It would be hard to find an odder state of things than exists in this three-century-old town. Entirely un-American in aspect and conditions, it's architecture as Moorish as anything in Morocco and it's narrow, crooked, uphill streets reeking with vile odors and filth of every de- scription-it is at present about the most cosmopolitan city on the hemis- phere. Soldiers are everywhere, Span ish, Cuban and American, and in the latter army all the nations of the earth are represented. Walking the distance of block, you may meet officers of ev- cry rank and previous condition" handsome young Apollos in privates' uniform, some of them the sons of mill lionaires, titled Spaniards, sulky Cu- bans, 1epers and beggars of both sexes and all colors; and to encounter a corpse or two, stretched across the sidewalk or lying on its face in door way, is no uncommon occurrence. The cadaver may lie there for hours before attention is paid to it; not that people have become entirely indifferent to death, but because hoi polloi in these parts has always had habit of sleep ing in the sun; consequently nobody notices when here and there among the swretched throng one enters the eternal slunber. Passing along Santiago's waterside street, at any hour of day or night you may see thousand out stretched, nnotionless figures, their rags drawn up over their faces; and should you examine them closely, you would doubtless find among them some bodies tenantless of a soul. As to the lepers, let me tell you one little circumstance, Characteristic of the place. Every where in Cuba lepers roam the streets without let or hindrance. There are two or three hospitals for them in Cuba, but no law to compel their isola- ton. About forty lepers, however, were corralled in Santiago's Hospital Civil until after the battle of July 1st and 2d, when the hospitals were needed for the wounded Spanish soldiers. All the sick who could crawl were ordered out into the streets to make room for the victims of war. The lepers were evicted with the rest and are now min gling with the throng in the water side street, begging aims from passers- by and receiving food from the Red Cross, often directly from the hands of our ladies.
 In it's best estate Santnago lacked ev- cry sanitary feature; and now, after two months of siege-crowded with the off -scourings of all the surrounding re- gion the sick, the wounded, the dis eased, and cargoes of rotting stuff be- ing dumped ashore from ships long de- Iayed in the harbor-the city is a veri- table pest-hole, filled with stenches that absolutely stagger one. Decayed fruit, dead dogs, cats and mules, all manner of filth and carron lies wherev- CT it happened to fall, fostering in sun and rain, to quickly become a mass of living, wriggling abomination. A pecu- liarity of this hot, moist climate is the rapidity with which putrefaction takes place and the certainty that without the greatest care maggots will breed in diseased flesh-a fact which adds untold horrors to hospital work.
 Between military rule and queerly mixed Spanish and American civil ad- ministration, Santiagos business affairs are decidedly complicated. Most of the Spanish officials of the former govern ment have been retained, to the un- bounded indignation of the Cubans. Those ministers, they say were never chosen by the citizens of Santiago, but were forced upon them by the queen of Spain. They have been fighting this very thing for thirty years, and after the victory they naturally expected an other government, with officials of their own choosing. Still more dissatisfac- ton has arisen from the administration of port affairs, which were never in a worse condition when Spain held undis- puted sway. To begin with, the same port officials are retained-a Cuban at the head who does not speak word of English, assisted by three Spanish rev enue officers; therefore the American merchantmen who are unacquainted with the language find it extremely diff ficult to do business at all. The harbor is crowded with vessels filled with American goods which cannot be land ed because the army has pre-emptted all the wharves and lighters. A fair sample of that phase of the situation is the steamer philadelphia" on which I came. She expected to discharge her important commission at this port in three days time and be ready to return; she has now been here nine days, and will doubtless have to wait as many