The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1898-03-08

purHeu ana dying Seanen. III is neeu-
less to add that the Americans col
lected and destroyed all the menus.
and would have wiped the dirty floor
with the proprietor had he not dis
creetly kept out of the way.
Washington's birthday did not pass
altogether unobserved by our wounded
boys in the San Ambrosio, though one
of their number died in the early
morning. Their country women in
Cuba carried them flowers and grapes
and made them as comfortable and
cheerful as possible.
An hour ago the doctor of the Maine
brought me the information that an
other of the men is dying to-day
George Bolger of New York city.
When l visited him yesterday he
looked up brightly and talked for a
moment of his sweetheart and brother,
to both of whom I have twice written,
and enquired whether letters might
not be expected to arrive that day;
then his mind wandered and he beg
ged me to pick the green out of the
foot of his bed. I pretended to comply
and with satisfied smile he lapsed
into Inconsistencies.
Toward evening on the 22nd of Feb
ruary l drove out to the Cemtario de
Christoval Colon, to lay few flowers
on the graves of our men in honor of
Washington's birthday. The place
looks doubly bare and desolate in the
midst the SPLENDID monuments of
that beautiful cemetery-merely q
great pile Of freshly turned gravel,
with few half-dug pits at one side
for the reception Of other bodies that
may die in the hospital or be brought
from the sea. The negro in charge
pointed out the exact dimensions of
the eight wide graves into which the
| first 80 collins We're placed.
Miss Clara Barton, President of the
| American Red Cross Society, has
rented a beautiful house in the suburb
of Havana, called the Cerro, (the HllD
| and is now residing there with her
secretary 1t is an immense place-a
| typical casa, of 20 rooms with marble
| floors, fountain and statuarv in its
patio and beautiful garden full of
roses and tall palms. Not least among
its beauties is bath-house in the
grounds-a sort Of Grecian temple, cir
cular in form, built up over pool Of
clear cold water, with marble steps
| leading down into 1t. 1t Is the design,
/ believe, to convert the place into a
hospital, or an orphan asylum for de-
serving Reconcentrados.
/, Since my visit to Jaruco Miss Barton
| has been there and made surprising
| oh i,, hot nh ,oJo A
house has been hired in which to store
the American food and from which it
| is to be regularly distributed; and
above it floats the Stars and Stripes.
Committees have been organized
among the citizens to carry on the
good work Systematically; and
stranger than all, an actually clean
hospital has been inaugurated-a
perpetual establishment to the people.
One of the woes of this part of Cuba is
the scarcity of water, so many of the
wells have been purposely dried, by
one army or the other There is some
excuse for the general filthiness of
the poor when water is not to be had
within five miles, and swollen limbs
weak from hunger, cannot go so far to
get it, OF course the Cubans attrib-
uted the drying of the wells to the
Spanish army: but the Insurgents are
responsible for as much of it. One OF
/ General Gomez's precepts is that 'Ev-
erything which helps the enemy must
be destroyed; everything which him
ders and harnesses him must be ac-
complished."
The political prisoner Matamoras, of
whom I wrote in the previous letter, is
dead. I told you how we begged the
Spanish commandants at Jaruco to
have the dying man moved into a
more comfortable cell and to allow
friends from the outside to bring him
| food, and how the officers readily
promised all we desired But it did
not need this incident to demonstrate
the value of Spanish promises! The
only act of grace accorded the politi-
cal prisoner-who had been arrested
only on suspicion of being rebel and
had never had any pretence of trial
was permission to leave the door OF
the same noisome cell, from which
he was not removed, a few inches
ajar. Nothing else was done to relieve
his last moments; and after two years
of close confinement, he died Of fou
air and starvation. His last words
were ooh Cruelty! Tell the WORLD
what these Spaniards are doing to my
poor people"