The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1898-07-20
TO THE PEOPLE OF SANTIAGO
Frantic Rush of the Half Fam
ished Citizens.
MANY OF THE SUPPLIES STOLEN.

1t Became Necessary to Place Pickets on
Duty to Insure Proper Distribution of
the Food-The City Ripe For an Epi-
demic of Yellow Fever-The Town Lacks
Every Sanitary Feature, and Is a verita-
BILE Pest Hole.
Santiago de Cuba, July 2O.-The Red
Cross society's steamer State Of Texas
arrived at 6 o'clock Sunday evening,
and Monday morning at daybreak Dr..
Elwell, who is in charge of the work
of unloading, secured eight stores in
the heart of the city and one large
shed on the dock, engaged so s~tevedores
and began unloading the steamer. She
had 1,4O0 tons of provisions on board.
The distribution began at 3 o'clock.
allowing a pound and a half Of rations
to each sitizen. When the unloading
began crowds of half starved citizens
rushed to the dock, fighting, trampling
one another under foot, breaking open
the cases n stealing the supplies.
Finally a picket of troops was placed
on the wharf, refusing admittance to
anyone
The entire cargo had been landed be-
fore the distribution began. Each APP
plicant was furnished with a ration
ticket supplied by the local commits
s%ioners, with General McKibben's en-
dOrsement.
Before the distribution of the sup-
plies from the State of Texas there was
literally nothing in the city to eat. Be
fore the refugees left for Ell Caney
four was selling at $50 a barrel, beans
at 800 per hundred pounds, condensed
milk at IS a can and hard tack at 81
apiece. At FL Caney the prices were
still higher, $25 for a can of condensed
milk and IS for a piece of hard tack.
The ruin n want in the city are al
most inconceivable.
General Shafter has had a thorough
examination made of the sanitary con-
dition of Santiago. The work was done
by DR.. GoodfellOw, of the generals
staff, and by a civilian physician, DR..
Orlando Dwiker. They find that al
though there are at present but six
cases of yellow fever in the city, in ad-
dition to two suspects, the town is ripe
for an epidemic. Santiago and Rio
Janeiro are considered the greatest
fever breeding centers in the world.
This town lacks every sanitary feature
at it's best, and now, after two months
siege, leaving 1t dirty and r%epellant,
IT is a veritable pest hole. The awful
stenches that arise from the streets
stagger and choke one. No cordial in
Santiago has the power to wash this
odor from ones throat.
There is no sewage system. The city
drainage is all from the surface into
tIa hnrhpr onH tho lpurar nc NJ pf the
city, through which much of the drain
age runs, especially from the poor
quarter around the bull ring to the
northwest of the city, is the seeding
center of malarial, typhoid and other
low fevers.
The city of Santiago is a typical
tropical place, with narrow, crooked
streets and low, one stored dwellings
/ and stores. Many of the houses are
succeed and painted with startling
%colors, sky blue and vivid shades of
< green predominating, These, with the
g red tiles of the roofs and the quaint
~Verandas, show evidence of past pic
"turesqueness, but everything is now in
t a state of dilapidation and decay, and
the city is but a shadow of its former
self. The majority of the houses are
. absolute ruins, II public squares, once
green, with fountains playing in the
= center, are now utterly neglected. The
iron fences are broken and rusted,
while the fountains, on account of the
dearth of the water supply, have long
been dry.
I There are four hospitals in the city,
v the Civil hospital, presided over by the
9 Sisters of Charity, and the Military,
Mercedes and ConChas hospitals. In
!, these four hospitals are 1,747 patients
which is a comparatively small num-
Der, considering the lack Of food and
9 long siege, but II must be remembered
that the commentaries We're never adj
mitted to the hospitals, and when the
: notifications of the proposed lombard
| ment by our batteries were received
every patient who could stagger out
was driven into the streets. Twenty
lepers who were in the Civil hospital
were turned into the streets, through
which they have been roaming ever
, since.
The largest number of patients are IN
, the Military hospital, where there are
d 81 wounded Spanish officers and 43l
. wounded soldiers and sailors. The sail
IS ors were wounded In the battles OF
July 1 and July 2. They were disem-
, barked from the ships of Admira Ger
y vera's feet In order to assist in resist
= ing the attack of the American troops
by land. These sailors say that when
the Spanish fleet sailed out of the
. harbor half Of the sailors n marines
on board had been fighting n work,
u ing in the trenches on shore for a
hours previously.
The water supply Of the city. which