New-York tribune., 1898-01-12
SUFFERING IN CUBA.
MR. RUSSELL. OF THE DEPARTMENT OF
JUSTICE. TELLS HIS OBSERVATIONS
OF TWO WEEKS IN THE ISLAND.

Washington. Jan. 1l.-Charles W. Russell. Assist
ant United States Attorney IN the Department OF
Justice. returned to-day from Cuba where he has
spent two weeks investigating the conditions pre-
vailing In the island To the Associated Press
Mr. Russell said
Il glad to be interviewed on the subject OF
Cuba. because I feel 1t solemn duty TO humanity
endeavor TO make the American people realize
the terrible distress which exists there. Much
has been written on the subject. but the American
reading public regards the reports biassed by
the preconceived opinions OF newspapers or grossly
exaggerated.
Il spent just two weeks In Cuba. visited Havana.
went south 10 Jaruco. southeast 10 Gunes. north
east TO Matanzas. eastwardly about two hundred
miles through the middle Of the country 70 Santo-
mingo. Santa Clara and Sagua e Grande | Wis
tied Marianao. q short distance west OF Havana.
and saw along the railroads thirty or forty towns
or stations In Havana | visited the Fossos the
hospital prison Aldecoa. whore | talked with the
father OF Evangelina Cosio Csneros and place
called tho Jacoba 7 found reconcentrados in all
three places. and begging everywhere about the
streets OF Havana. The spectacle at the Fossos
and Jacoba houses Of women and children. emaci-
ated 10 skeletons and suffering from diseases pro-
duced by starvation sckening.
AT San Domingo. where two railroads join. the
station was crowded with women and children. one
OF the latter. remember. being swollen UP with
the beri-beri. begging in the most earnest way Of
the few passengers. San Domingo Is little more
than railroad station in times Of peace. but al
present IL has considerable population living In
cabins thatched with the tops Of royal palm trees
and composed Of the survivors Of the reconcenrados
do not know the exact measure OF the dead line
circle drawn around them but there certainly
nothing within upon which a human being could
subSSt, ana also certainly. II any order had newly
permitted them 70 20 shorf distance further out
they had not gone, and were not gOng. Practi-
cally they are prisoners. | saw signs OF the
reconcentrades going away from the forts. II they
had gone II takes seeds. Instruments lands ana
three or four months to raise vegetables when
could be sOoneSf produced. and nowhere away from
the blockhouses was there any signs of vegetables
growing.
Judging by the orphans was shown at he
JaCOba. Adccoa and elsewhere and from u | SAW
and heard believe that half OF the four hundred
thousand hav- died the result Of starvation
know from the Official register Of the city Of Santa
| Clara which ordinarily has q population Of about
fourteen thousand. that the number Of deaths for
death; for December over nire hundred. and
! showed an Increase. considering the loss Of the
| former thousand from its total population.
There was no indication Of n cesSati Of hos
tilities by the Insurgents II they do not voIun-
tarily cease their tactics are SUCH thar Spain can
not conquer them. II at al. before the recOncen-
! trados will have had the finishing stroke; but even
| the speedy termination Of the war would saw
cuniary assistance to the extent of S2l@- day.
| distributed by our cOnsuls. Private charity will
| hardly. Il seems. produce that amount. Twenty
thousand dollars would be but ~ cents apiece for
medicine. clothes and food. Whom ! let Havana !
inform d that Ccnsul-Geroral Lee Fad received
5000 and some hundreds OF cans Of condensed milk
Havana alone. the inad"qlacy n sNcn 'cntloh-
| tions is manfest. Whether Congress should max
appropriation. as in the case Ot q san Do
mingo refugees and other cases Is not for mo 10
nents Of fact which have made. and to try TO
realize what they mean