The age-herald., 1898-11-16
NEGRO SOLDIERS
 FIRE ON CUBANS COlOred Officers InCOmpeteBcy Cause of
 the Trouble. LIEUTENANT JOSE HERRERA Chief of tho Gendarmerie in San Luis
 Province Killed. MEMBERS OF NINTH lMMUNES General Wood Has Offered Reward Of $l ,00o for Information as to Pe-- petrators of the Deed-Oficers
 Read Severe Lesson.
 
MEMBERS OF NINTH lMMuHes

Santiago, November 15.-An incident oc- l ty-five miles north of Santiago, which | caused great deal of i'll feeling among the Cubans and considerable annoyance among the United States m litary officials here. All the colored regiments are en- | camped in the neighborhood of San Luis. They were sent there virtually to get them | out of the way because of the difficulty experienced in managing them. The col- ored officers seem to have little or no con- trol over their men, and officers and pri- yates are often seen drinking together with arms around each others necks, and be- | having in other ways not calculated to in spire respect for the American troops among the Cubans.
 It was not expected that the colored sol- diers could do much harm in the San Luis district, which was chosen on that princ:- pie. The trouble began last evening in an attempt to arrest two soldiers for abusing Cuban workman and stealing his hog The outrage was committed on the Normas sugar plantation. Lieutenant Jose Ferrera chief of General Woods gendarmer.e in that district-a Spaniard, but a Cuban sym pathizer and man whom General Wood knew to be able and courageous-attempted to make the arrests
 Soldiers Escaped
 The soldiers, who belonged to the Ninth immunes, escaped. Soon after thirty color ed men, wearing the uniform of the United States army, attacked the house where Lieutenant Ferrera was, and kept up the fusilade, killing Lieutenant Ferrera, An tonic Roman, an old man, Emilio Betran, boy of r. and baby, and wounded sev- eral others. Two soldiers were killed in the affray.
 When the news reached Santiago, Gener- al Wood was at dinner. He immediately went to the signal office and for four hours dispatches were sent and received. The colored officers all denied that their men were implicated in the affair in spite of all the evidence to the contrary.
 After an unsatisfactory attempt to get at the facts of the case over he wires, General Wood adjourned his inquiry until this morning, when he left on a special train for San Luis.
 The American officials here passed the day with no little anxiety. At 8 o'clock General Wood returned, reporting that af- ter long investigation he had come to the conclusion that all the colored reei- ments were more or less mixed up in the affair. He has offered $1 900 reward for the names of the men who did the shoot ing, and before leaving San Luis he read
 
 denying last night that their men were inn plicated.
 Expected to Die
 Eye-witnesses of the affair who arrived here during the day say that two gen. darmes who were wounded are expected to die. The impression among them is that all the soldiers belong to the Ninth Im- munes. Lieutenant Ferrera behaved most pluckly, and even when dying ordered his men to defend themselves. He was shot while outside the house and trying to per snade the crowd to disperse. It seems that the soldiers had been drinking in the town, and that crowd of them was easily gotten together to make the attack.
 The Independence calls upon General Wood to relieve General Ewars of his com mand, claiming that he is absolutely in- competent The paper says also: Tt is contrary to all justice to send here as an army of occupation the cut-throats and murderers who, ever since they came, have acted worse than the Spaniards ever did These men are so bad that they had to be sent to a far-off town, where their mis- deeds have culminated in butchery and slaughter worse than even Cubans have been accustomed to-
 As the night approached the popular feel ing of indignation here intensified, and General Woods arrival was eagerly await ed.