The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-12-25
A R0USING WELCOME.
Cubans Cheer American Troops at Pinar
del Rio.

t1nar DEL Klo. Dec. ls-1ne recon-
struction OF this great tobacco-raising
sugar-growing province has begun. Alb
solute peace exists. and the people are
at work. General Davis, before he left
Havana. was told that brigands prob
ably would overrun the province: that
petty dictators were taxing the villages;
that insurgents had occupied the towns
and would not yield paramount author
ity TO the Americans and that he would
be Infinitely vexed by obstacles in every
step of restoration of civil order among
a restless people. When enera Davis,
with his stan. a battalion of the 202d
New York regiment, and a signal corps
company. reached the borders of the
province In the journey by train from
Havana, they were received at San
tiago de Las Vegas by a colonel and
$50 Cuban horsemen, aligned near the
station. Afterward. behind them. were
l25 young Cuban women on horseback.
Around n behind this c~avalcade
t~ownspeople gathered. shaggy-haired
old men. women in black, troops of
children with flowers and SINAI Cuban
and American flags. As General Davis
and his stan appeared on the platform
there was a passionate burst OF "Vivas"
and bare machetes flashed in the medley
of colors.
The cheering was so prolonged and
genuine that the Americans were
moved by II. The colonel placed him
self and men at General Davis dis
posal. The alcalde OF the town made
an address. The general. who knows
some conversational Spanish. but not
enough for n public speech. said
through an interpreter that the Cuban
people had been through great trial
and sufferings, n that the Ameri-
cans were there to aid in securing their
liberty.
Surgeon Major w. ]. Kneedler had
become separated in the crowd from
General Davis, and N OF the commit
tee OF priests began to read him an
address of welcome. thinking the doc
tor was the general. Major Kneedler
who at first did not perceive the drift
OF the address. was unable To find an
opening to stop the padre before the
welcome had been concluded.
The doctor. through a Cuban who
could speak English and Spanish said
that as one of the Americans with Gen
eral Davis. he regarded the Cubans as
men N brethren and hat In all his
travels he had not been in so fine a
country. The Americans then swept
through wide spaces OF deserted coun-
try. From the train they could see
occasionally the blackened walls and
tall chimney of a ruined sugar CEN
trale. At each of the towns the senior
Cuban office made known his alleg-
lance to the proposed order OF things
under the American protectorate.
Pinar del Rio city gave a reception
as enthusiastic as that given at Santa
go de las Vegas. The Cuban command
err turned over the municipal and pro-
vincial belongings. General Davis has
communicated by letter or by messen-
ger with the important towns In the
province. Not an incident of brigand-
age or injury TO personal rights has re-
suited. The most fragrant crime has
been the disappearance OF some chick
ems. The Spanish residents, some of
whom are well-to-do men of the city,
had lived i'm the interior between Span
ish evacuation and American occupa-
ton unframed.
The people near Pinar have torn the
wire from the trocha and have inclosed
yards and fields with Il. The principal
s~torekeeper has painted advertisements
on two of the forts.
The town Is well fed on chickens.
fresh beef. fruit and vegetables. The
country Is exhausted. but the revihca-
ton has begun. Palm huts are build
ing on wasted farms. The country Tco-
pie are now living chiefly on radishes.
sweet potatoes. sugar cane N quail,
shot or trapped I'm the thickets.
Pinar del Rio city has many pretty
houses. The population was IL. 900, OF
which lumber 1000 nav been buried.
The women are all In black.
Following General Davis instruc-
tions. the American officers and pri-
Yates are careful to return the salutes
OF the Cuban soldiers who. armed and
unarmed. are coming and going all the
time.
They subsist largely on gifts OF food.
Some, forced by necessity. have sold
their rifles. Mausers captured from the
Spaniards are selling for 81 or SO. In
Havana Mausers are surreptitiously
sold for $40 or s25.
The battalion OF the 202d New York
regiment. under Major Wood. is camp
ed on high ground and about n mile
outside of the city. The landscape of
rolling country and distant mountains
Is most beautiful. The men have been
working hard cutting grass and organ
izing amp They have not missed hav-
ing fresh bread and beef since they left
Havana. Forty-two head OF cattle.
bought to-day for the camp. are graz
ing near by. Guard duty is light. one
post of three men is maintained at the
railroad station n another Is at FL
Globo hotel. where General Davis stops.
No other guard duty outside the camp
Is required. The men expect to be re-
placed by regulars in the spring and al
lowed TO go home. Dreadful stories are
told Of the malaria that develops
around Pinar del Rio with the begin
ming of hot weather.