The evening times., 1898-09-29
VICTIMS OF STARVATION
Thousands Die of Hunger in
MatanZas Streets.
MISERY OF THE CUBANS
Recommendation Perish While the
Residents Bicler-MorninE Duty
of the Civil Guard to Clear the
Streets of the Dead-Arrivai of the
ComaI With Relief Supplies.

of the Civil Guard to Clear the |
Streets of the Dead-Arriyai of the |
ComaI With Relief Supplies.
Matanzas. Cuba. va Key West, Fla,
Sept. 29.-The Comal has come Probably
there is no city in the world that needs
her cargo of provisions more, yet none
where the conditions are such that their
equitable distribution will be more diff
cult than this second city of Cuba.
Matanzas. once rich and prosperous,
today presents a sad picture of contra
dictions Here one sees the streets filled
with starving wretches who die almost too
fast to find men TO bury them Here one
finds warning political factions whose par
tisanship is so bitter that il has prevented
them from making any effort TO relieve
the awful suffering. preferring TO devote
their energies to blaming one another for
its existence.
The population of Matanzas al the out
break of the revolution was about 10000,
by far the greater majority of Cuban,
both by birth and in sympathies. The
Spanish element was considerably less
i'm proportion than in Havana. The au-
tonomist and reformist parties, too, had
comparatively few adherents here.
Matanzas is insurgent to the core.
Many of it's prominent citizens joined the
rebel forces. and those who stayed at
home said and did all they dared 10 pro-
mote the cause Of Cuban independence.
Gen. Weyler realized this and garrisoned
MatanZas with a strong force. Execu-
tions in San Severino prison are numerous.
Ceuta and Fernan do Po was the sem
tence Of many more.
Cubans Hated by Molina.
The present general here, Gen. Molina,
has the reputation of being one of the
harshest men and bitterest haters of Gu
bans in the island. continually chatting
under the restraint Gen. Blanco has put
upon his openly avowed desire TO exter-
innate all Cubans that come within his
reach.
Persecution has had only the effect of
intensifying the hatred of the Cubans for
everything Spanish, and of widening the
breach between soldiers and citizens.
One OF Gen. ,Blanco's first acts on be-
coming captain general was 10 appoint
Francisco de Armas OF Havana, civil
governor of Ma9anzas. De Armas is an
old man of Cuban birth. but is intensely
LOYAL. AS a leader of the reformist par
ty, he served as deputy in the Cortes IN
Madrid. 1t was hoped he might in some
degree bridge over the chasm of hatred
between the Spaniards and Cubans. On
the contrary. his appointment brought
the reverse results.
He is mistrusted by both sides. Span
ish officers dislike him because he IS a
Cuban. and Cubans denounce him be-
cause he does not agree with them in
thinking Cuba ought to be free. He has
a small coterie of followers, just large
enough 10 prevent any united action be-
ing taken on anything.
Ten Thousand Dead.
Meanwhile, the reconcentrados starve.
Twenty-Five thousand of them began con-
gregating in the city in January Of last
year A month later they began TO die
from hunger. and have continued doing
so ever since. Between January, 1S9;,
and September 1885 1905 persons died in
the city of Matanzas, 50 per cent OF them,
according TO doctors certificates, from
starvation and nothing else. Your cor
respondent obtained these figures from
the editor of FL CorreO, one Of the prin-
cipai newspapers here. lie compiled them
from registers. civil and Spanish-the reg
listers of vital statistics. Here are some
additional quotations from the same
source:
Total deaths in Ma. anzas in 1895. LAS
Total deaths in MaIGnzas in lS9j............ $50
Total deaths in Matanzas in ls9i........... 6.'6j
During the last three months of last
year 3.57S persons succumbed to hunger.
In January of this year Gen. Blanco's
government sent here "A few thousand
pesos TO be distributed by the officers of
the army among the suffering This
slight relief caused the death rate TO fan
to 554 for February. During the block
ade months il was less than 100. In Au-
gust it rose again TO 500. and for the first
fifteen days of September the deaths were
36S. These figures speak for themselves.
The illness in Matanzas today bears them
out.
Many Dying i'm the Streets.
Fully half the reconcentrados have no
shelter at night. They live and sleep in
the streets. 1t is almost impossible to
walk a block in the heart OF the city
without seeing some wreck of human
being too weak to go further, lying on
the sidewalk gasping and moaning. Moth
ers. half skeletons themselves, crouch
with sad-faced children under the shad-
ow of the arches at the Palace, begging
centayos of the soldiers. who drive them
away.
Five or six drop dead in the streets
every day The first duty of the guar
dia civiles'' in making their rounds each
morning is TO look for the bodies of per-
sons who died during the night.
Thin. wan-faced children follow you
through the streets in droves, pointing
to their mouths. and crying, Bread.
bread"' Despair is only hidden by the
darkness of the night, which is now in
tensifed by the absence of any street il
tior the municipalit has
money TO pay the gas and electric light
companies In the hotels lamps and can
dies furnish the only light
For more than a year free kitchens
have been talked of on the same system
proposed by and so successful under the
management Of Fernandez de Castro in
Havana This has never amounted to
ANYTHING more than talk. No Cuban So
ciety could ever start relief work without
authorization from the civil governor,
which they say has always beel. With
held. The Cubans, on tIe other hand,
never cooperate in any plan proposed by
the governor.
Both Cubans and governor bitterly de-
nounce the Spanish military authorities
for their Indifference. They in turn re-
taliate by ridiculing the Cuban inefficien-
cy and say ii is not their affair, because
the Cubans brought on the war and are
now receiving the punishment of disloy-
atty.
Meanwhile politics is at fever heat. as
IL is all over Cuba. Men spend hours in
cafes in heated arguments on independ-
ence or annexation. In the excitement
the dying reconcentrados are forgotten.
What has been done is the result of pri-
vate charity.
British Vice Consups Work.