Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1898-03-19
BUT 1T HAS ITS SEAMY SIDE.
GEN. LEE, THE MAINE COURT AND
THE NEWSPAPER MEN.
The "Fourth Estate" the LiveIiest
Factor in the City-Insurgents
Receive Much support From
Havana and Other
Cuban Cities.

women and fine looking men, bands thor
oughly melodic, houses whose outer ugli-
ness but accents the statue haunted, flow
er embossed beauties within, occasional
flashes of monday heat rendering the sies-
Ia time almost necessity, ozone laden
morning and evening breezes that make
ones lungs luxury, semi-occasional show
ers with sub-tropical downpourings-these
are some of the attachments and attributes
that mark Havana, as retaining some of
her oldtime charm.
Narrow, ill-paved streets, unsanitary and
foul-smelling garbage. uncleanly alleys and
back yards, lack of modern conyeniences,
superabundance of glare. surfeit of
squalor, misery, starvation, disease. death
in countless and appalling forms, stagaant
business. regnant officialism, crowded hos
pitals, gorged prisons-these, the seamy
sides OF the tapestry of life here, and to
the observant the sadness makes discord
of the joyful notes. A visit to a relief
station makes the laughing crowd around
the bandstand in the '.Parque Central a
mockery, and the gay equipage of the rich
officer or merchant only brings into bold
relief the mean death cask of the pauper
and the pacif1co.
1t is a cosmopolitan city in a way. but
while the Latin. the Gallo. the Indian and
the African predominate in numbers, the
Anglo-Saxon holds, as usual, his share of
public attention. The most animated con-
yersation among the voluble Cubans is
hushed into quiet observation If Sigsbee,
of the engulfed Maine, comes into view.
Sigsbee. alert, 'pleasant-faced. kindly
voiced, medium in stature, but erect in car
riage, keen of eye. ready of tongue, almost
debonnair when off duty. but incisive, Wig
liant, politely peremptory, sure in COM
mand. quick in foresight, when on board; /;
the first man the stranger wants to see
and, II 50 fortunate as to meet him, the
last to whom adieux are made.
Then there is the court of inquiry
Sampson. tall, slightly bent as to shoul-
ders as he gravely listens to question or
suggestion, with a face marked with
thought: firm lips, shrouded by gray mus
tache and beard. courteous but cold, quick
to detect assumption and quicker to grasp
a point of moment, very ideal president
,ot a court for whose decision. It is not
100 much to say, Christendom waits with
eagerness, Chadwick, ,ruddy, semi-portly,
GENIAL, suave, fluent. hearty, with eyes
none the less keen that they grow merry
on occasion. and lips that can close in lines
OF IRON, though well acquainted with laugh
Ter: Potter, brunette, soldierly, quiet but
kindly. self-effacing but with the weight
OF high intelligence in glance, speech, ges-
ture; the model Of the executive officer;
diplomatist, man of the world. Mark. a
potential of high value in any deliberative
body. looking as if he could address court
or jury to marked advantage should occa-
SION serve, posted in every detail Of his
profession Gas indeed are all his confer
rees), a man not to be humbugged. and in
the habit of weighing even his own
thoughts before he gives them utterance.
Certainly quintette (Sigsbee always be-
ing included) of which the United States
is proud.
Pencil pictures might be made of Lee
that ,Ia dash dash1ins cavalry soldier and unbluffa-
.ehief-of,staff. with the face and form Of
pickWick. and heart as kindly as that
dear creature; Of Springer, vice consul
knows the game of whist; of half a dozen
other officials whose names are now almost
household r. words in the States: but suffice
IT that all are men to be admired for
strong and manly qualities.
cray, cray, a Dun Dumas or a Kipli1g would be the
Havana is now the habitat of hope-alas
for them that it is hope deferred. They
must must Join the vast multitudes who read
ish game of "set down" Patience is
harder here than In the North. for the
islander Is a day y-after-to-morrow'' person
lance while great events are having birth
Is aggravating. Those of this difettanti
complexion Of thought who were in the
been startled on the day that the Asso-
ciated Press correspondent read to a group
Of newspaper men the bulletin, Senate
ing, unanimously" What a cheer went
up. 1t was startling in its suddenness, in
vigorating in its volume. News from home,
is always eagerly desired here, and when
1t was such news there was handshaking
aaS and or s5es 9a Mskd have they9
ican. civil or official, native or naturalized,
who did not rejoice at the news. the cor
respondent did not find him.
The fourth estate here is the liveliest fac
tor observable. Several of the Havana
newspapers are really enterprising. and
for all editions the newspapers rush and
1t Is little amusing: after glancing over
columns and pages, of governmental man.
isstos pr9nuneiamsntos bandos and the
Words are they, signifying nothing" The
as been given h5 me o san me
by cable. In this as In the general life
beneath the splendor and squalor, under
discussion. is that Current Of vague unrest
be described as respecting the unexpect-
sha. the next stroke Of tSe clock o-aay may
bring. forth, no one knows. His lack of
knowledge does not impair his powers of
misses. logical or illogical deductions. fears,
hopes. assurances one hears on every hand
would be laughable were not the times so
full OF frowns.
OF the movements of the insurgents the
news that reaches the Havana general pub
lie Is. at best. meager and contradictory
Many of the advices from the eastern prov
inces must come by steamer. via the north
or south coast. OF course there are hun
dreds here in constant touch with Gomez,
Garcia and the lesser leaders, but they do
not bruit their intelligence abroad. II
is known that since the recent arrests here
for conspiring, a very considerable num-
for the field A high official is authority
for the statement that there are constant
donations of money from residents in this
and ether Cuban cities to Gomez In the
we'll accredited story of a rich Cuban resi-
dent in one of the principal cities of the
island. who, since the first of the year. has
sent $4,000 cash to the junta and as much
averred that while many of the Spanish
officers have not been paid for four months
and a large proportion of the soldiery has
not received a cent for six months. the in
armed. their only pressing need being
small-arm ammunition. When, or IT, Sem
ator Proctor talks in the senate he is like
ly to have much of interest to say con-
cerning the insurgents. as well as the au-
Economists and Spaniards.
To return to the physical aspects of Ha-
vana: The harbor always presents a pict-
uresque and often a stirring sight. The
made up by the influx of men-of-war and
transports The little. white greyhound
like Montgomery lies within biscuit toss of
the big. black Vizcaya, whose twin. the
away and that much nearer the hills across
the harbor dominated by Cabanas fortress
of bloody memories. On the Montgomery,
under Converse twhose knowledge Of high