The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-12-25
GREETED WITH "VIVAS"
RECEPTION OF AMERICAN TROOPS IN
PINAR DEL RIO PROVINCE.
Work of Reconstruction in the Great
Tobacco District of Cuba Under
Way-HOw the People Live.
Correspondence of the Associated Press.

Correspondence of the Associated Press.
PINAR DEL RIO, Dec. 19.-The recon-
struction Of this great tobacco raising. sugar
growing province has begun. Absolute
peace exists, and the people are at work.
General Davis, before he left Havana, was
told that brigands probably would overrun
the province; that petty dictators were tax
ing the villages; that insurgents had occu-
pied the towns and would not yield para
mount authority to the Americans, and that
he would be infinitely~Vexed by obstacles in
every step toward the restoration of civil
order among a restless people. When Gen.
Davis, his staff, a battalion Of the Two
hundred-and-second 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
Santiago de las Vegas by colonel and $50
Cuban horsemen aligned near the station
Afterwards behind them were 125 young Gu
ban women on horseback Around and be-
hind this cavalcade the townspeople were
gathered-shaggy- haired old men, women in
black, troops of children with flowers and
small Cuban and American flags. AS Gen.
Davis and his staff appeared on the plat
form there was a passionate burst OF
WAS and bare machetes flashed in the
longed and genuine that the Americans were
moved by it. The colonel placed himself
and his men at General Davis's disposal.
The alcade of the town made an address.
The general, who knows some conversa-
tional Spanish, but not enough for public
speech, said through an interpreter that the
Cuban people had been through great trials
and sufferings, and that the Americans We're
there to aid in securing their liberty.
Surgeon Major w. l.. Kneedler had be-
come separated in the crowd from General
Davis, and one of committee of priests
began to read him an address of welcome,
thinking the doctor 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 well
come had been concluded. The doctor then,
through CUBAN VINO cOulG speak EnSllSh
and Spanish said that as one of the Amer
leans with General Davis he regarded the
Cubans as men and brethren, and that in all
his travels ne had not been in so fine
country. The Americans then swept on
through wide spaces OF deserted country.
the blackened walls and tall chimney of a
ruined sugar centrale. AT each of the towns
the chief officer made known his allegiance
to the proposed order OF things under the
American protectorate.
Pinar del Rio City gave a reception as en-
thusiaStic as that given at Santiago de Las
the municipal and provincial belongings.
General Davis has communicated by letter
or by messenger with the important towns
in the province Not an incident of brigand-
age or injury to personal rights has been
ported. The most fragrant crime has been
the disappearance of some chickens. The
Spanish residents, some of whom are the
well-to-do men of the city, had lived in the
interregnum between Spanish evacuation
and American occupation unframed.
The people near P1nar have torn the wire
from the trocha and have inclosed yards
and fields with it. The principal store keep
or has painted advertisements on two of the
forts. The town is we'll fed on chickens,
fresh beef fruit and vegetables. The coun-
try is exhausted, but the identification has
farms. The country people are now living
chiefly on radishes sweet potatoes. sugar
cane and chickens and quails shot or
trapped in the thickets.
Pinar del Rio City has many pretty houses.
The population was 2,000 of which number
1000 have been buried. The women are all
in black
Following General Davis's instructions,
The American officers and privates are care
full to return the salutes of the Cuban sol
diers who. armed and unarmed. are coming
and going at all times. They subsist largely
on gifts Of food. Some, forced by necessity.
have sold their rifles. Mausers captured
from the Spaniards are selling for five or six
silver dollars. In Havana Mausers are sur
reptitiously sold for so to $50.
second New York Regiment, under Major
Wood. is camped on high ground and about
a mile outside the city. The landscape of
rolling country and distant mountains is
most beautiful. The men have been work
ing hard cutting grass and organizing the
camp. They have not missed having had
fresh bread and beef since they left Havana
Forty-two head of cattle brought from
Texas for the camp are grazing near by
Guard duty is light. One post of three men
is maintained at the railway station and an
other is at FL Globo Hotel, where General
Davis stops. No other guard duty outside
the camp is required The men expect TO be
replaced 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 beginning of hot weather