The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-04-12

ing 10 ner breast. On ncr left SIDE was the
corpse of a dead woman holding her son in
a dead embrace. little further on a dying
woman having in her arms a daughter of
fourteen, crazy with pain, who, after twelve
or fourteen days died in spite of the care
she received"
Further along the communication says
that if any young girl came in who was
nice looking she was infallibly condemned
To the most abominable OF trafics. The
communication says that ], 200 persons had
entered the fosos since August and of these
but 245 were then living. It places the num-
Der of deaths among the reconcentrados at
a per cent. On Dec. General Lee sent to
the State Department communication re.
ferring to a cipher dispatch he had sent
two days previous IL which he informed
the department that he had learned from
the United States consul at Matanzas of an
extensive and dangerous conspiracy under
the ex-governor of the province directed
against Americans, action against them 20
be contingent on the movement of the
United States government in favor of the
independence of Cuba"
WANTED WAR SHIPS NEAR BY.
General Lee STAGED that rllmors had been
more or less frequent regarding the riotous
intention Of some of the dissatisfied ele-
ments against American citizens there and
in other parts of the island. Such demon
STATIONS, he said, must come from Spanish
noncombatants Or from volunteer forces.
He did not think there was any danger
from the former, many of whom seemed 20
FAVOR annexation rather than autonomy or
the independence of the Cuban republic. 81
am inclined to think" says he, that if
General Blanco can manage the volunteers,
as yesterday he said he could the trouble
from that source is diminishing. The origin
of the mobs irs this city in the past has al
ways been located in the ranks of the vol
unteers, who alone have organization and
arms In consequence of the assurances
that American life and property would be
protected General Lee said that he had de-
clined to make application for the presence
of one OF more ships in Havana harbor
and had advised Americans who had wives
AMI children not to send them away, at
least, for the present. / still think" con-
tinLed General Lee, that two war ships at
least should be at Key West prepared to
move at short notice and that more of them
should be at Dry Tortugas and that coal
ing station should be established there.
Such proceedings would seem to be in line
with that prudence and foresight necessary
10 safety 10 AIL6IlCdIlS IeSlOlIi6 Otl
the island and to their properties"
Under the same date General Lee sends
another communication containing the
statements of Senior Canalejas, the editor of
the Madrid Ell Heraldo, who has just re-
turned from Pinar del Rio province after
the conflict between the Spanish forces
under General Velasco and the Cuban force
under Diaz in which Canalejas was quoted
as saying that the Spanish forces had dis
played their usual valor. but that the prov
ince was not pacified; that out of fourteen
thousand Spanish troops only between three
thousand and four thousand were able to
operate, the balance being sick at the hos
pitfalls or in garrisonS and towns; that he
believed autonomy premature and was in
clined to the adoption of energetic military
action for the purpose of pacifying the
province; that the truth should be known in
Spain, where public opinion and the press
had been deceived regarding the annihila-
ton of the war and the so-called pacifica-
ton of the western provinces.
SPANISH RELIEF A FAILURE.
Under date of Dec. General Lee sent a
communication to the department regard
ing the measures for the relief of the re-
concentrates, much of which is not made
public. In the portion given out General
Lee says: 81 see no effect of the govern
mental distribution to the reconcentrados.
L am informed that only $12,5OO in Spanish
silver has been dedicated to the Havana
province out of the 100000 said to have been
set aside for the purpose of relieving them
on the island, and that reports from all
parts of the province show that 80 per cent.
have already died and that many of those
left will die, and most of these are women
order has been issued in some parts of the
island suspending the disposition to recon-
centrados. The condition of these
people is simply terrible. 1 hear of much
suffering in the Spanish hospitals for want
of food. 1 hear, also, that the Span
ish merchants in some parts of the island
are placing their establishments in the
names of foreigners to avoid having their
provisions purchased on credit by the mil
itary administration. In some parts of the
island am told there is scarcely any food
for soldiers or citizens, and that even cats
are used for food purposes, selling for 80
cents apiece. 1t is a fair inference to draw
from existing conditions that it is not pos
sible for the governor general to relieve the
situation with the means at his dis
posal." &
Dec. 10 came the following from General
Lee:
Sir have the honor to make the fol-
lowing report: The contest for and
against autonomy is most unequal. For it,
there are five or six head officers at the pal
ace and twenty or thirty other persons here
in the city. Against it, first, are the
insurgents with or without arms, and the
Cuban noncombatants; second, the great
mass of the Spaniards, bearing or nonbear-
ing arms-the latter desiring, if there must
be a change, annexation to the United
States. Indeed there is the greatest apathy
concerning autonomy in any form. No one
asks what it will be or when or how it will
come. do not see how it could be even
put into operation by force, because as long
as the insurgents decline to accept it, SO
long the Spanish authorities say, the war
must continue.
Dee IA General Lee sends another commu-
Dication saying that the total number of re-
concentrates in Habana province will reach
10000 and that the death rate from starva-
ton alone would be over so per cent. For
the relief of these people he says $12 500 in
silver has been set aside 80 that if every
dollar appropriated reaches them the dis
tribution will average about II cents to a
person, which, of course, will be rapidly ex-
hauSted, and as / can hear of no further
SUccor being afforded, ii is easy to perceive
what little practical relief has taken place
in the condition of these poor people,.
THE SCHEME FOR AUTONOMY.
Dec. % General Lee makes the first COM
munication about the new scheme of auton-
omy. He says that he has been informed
that the authorities are engaged in forming
an autoHomistc Cabinet arrangement for
fhe nnhere n take the reuuired % III on