The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-05-16
Recommendations Expelled from the
Cities to Die i'm the Suburbs and
Become the Prey of VuIturcs.
RETURN OF STEAMER GUSSIE
FAILED TO LAND HER CARGO OF
ARMS AND AMMUNITION IN CUBA.
Captain DOrst CrestfaIIen Over Fail
ure of the First United States Mil
itary Expedition to the Island.
Copyright. 1898. by the Associated Press,

Copyright. 1885, by the Associated Press)
KEY WEST, Fla. May 15.-The conditions
in Havana resulting from the blockade are
being gradually brought out by informa-
ton from fishing smacks and other small
vessels captured off the coast. Affairs at
Havana now appear to be worse than at any
time since the Weyler regime. The fisher
high price which fish brought in Havana
now run the risk, not for money but for
the food which they obtain from the sea. A
number of these men have been captured
at different times by the vessels of the
blockading fleet, nearly all of them being
released after having been questioned by our
officers. They all unite in picturing the
state of things at Havana as being pitiful
in the extreme.
The Associated Press dispatch boat Kate
Spencer has accumulated all the facts OBJ
tainable along the blockading line, the lat
est news being obtained through two cap
lures made by the United States gunboat
Machias, which has just returned here for
the first time since the blockade opened.
making the longest single service of any
blockading vessel off Cuba. The Machias
caught two fishing boats off Havana Just
before her return here. The Americans Of
fered the fishermen money for part of their
catch. as the fish were needed on board,
but the fishermen demurred at taking
money. They preferred to have bread, add
ing that they were desperately hungry.
When questioned as to the prevalence of
yellow fever at Havana, the fishermen said
there was little sickness at the Cuban cap
ital, but, they added. there was much starry
alton. The reconcentrados, they said, are
nearly all dead or have been expelled from
the city to die in the suburbs. This agrees
with other reports from Havana and Ma
tanzas, to the effect that the Spanish au-
thorities, on the departure of the Amer
leans, seized all the relief supplies and an
Piled them to the uses of the army The
Spaniards then drove the reconcentrados
into the desolated sections of the country
between the coast towns and the insurgent
lines, the region described by Senator Proc
tor as being too barren to support grass
hoppers. The insurgents themselves have
been chary of receiving reconcentrados. and
hundreds of the latter who had no personal
friends in the insurgent camps had been left
to starve between the lines, which thew did
In Havana the situation is even worse
hundreds OF the reconcentrados who had
been confined in the big reconcentrado bar
racks in Havana were too weak to walk
our OF town, and fell in the streets or died
in the suburbs, where f1ocks of vultures.
"Weylers chickens" as they are now term
ed in Havana, have Toasted on the remains
In Matanzas this feature of the situation
is equally distressing. The fishermen who
have been brought here are mostly soon
reconciled to capture, which means food and
decent treatment. They say that if the
blockade continues much longer bread riots
must follow in all the large towns, as food
is reserved exclusively for the army, thus
forcing many people to enlist who would
not otherwise do so. Finally, the fishermen
say that certain of the most desperate of the
Spaniards threaten to burn Havana or blow
the city up in the event of the authorities
deciding to capituate to the American
forces.