The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-07-24
IN SAN JUAN.
The Situation There After Simpsons
BOmba rdment.

Letter in Leslie's Weekly.
Within the harbor, where the visiting for
elgn men-of-war rode at anchor believing
themselves to be beyond the range of our
guns, much destruction likewise was done
had the spanish fleet been. hiding at the
inner anchorage there, it did later at
Santiago de Cuba. it's destruction would
have been inevitable. Even the neutral ships
We're in imminent peril. One stray shot
went clean through the forward smokestack
of the French corvette L'Amiral Rigault de
Genouilly, an incident scarcely to be de-
plored, in view of the French crews in
solent demonstrations against the American
fleet. Another shot tore into the rigging
of the British merchant vessel Ardborough
splintering one of her topmasts while sew
eral shells exploded on the Marina in the
immediate vicinity Of the powder magazine
of the Spanish navy yard, causing the
scatter in all directions but not in time to
save one of their number from being torn
into shapeless mass by flying piece of
an American projectile.
To make matters worse, the Spanish mill
tary governor openly betrayed his weak
ness by Snoring up the crumbling walls of
proach to which was forbidden by reason
of the manifest danger to those below, and
he also suffered the worst criminals of the
prisons to be released and armed while
harmless men and boys wefe arrested from
day to day, to be cast into the empty pris-
OnS as political suspects.
On the day landed here I witnessed the
arrest of a poor Danish darby, John Far
rill by name, whose sole crime was that he
was seen gaping up at the ruins of a large
three-story house on Tortaessa street. that
had been struck by two American shells
during the bomhardment
Suddenly there was cry of "un eSpiOn,' -
and a disorderly mob of colored wharfrnen
laid violent hands upon the unfortunate fell
low and his wife, who stood by him chatting
with a Santa Cruz negresS called IIetitia a
few vOluntarioS ran up with bare machetes
and dragged the scared couple off to the
nearest guardhouse, where they were placed
under military escort and marched to pris-
on. to be Intercepted by the military prose-
cutor. The woman'S friend Letitia and an
other st. Thomas negress called Madeleine
ran tearfully TO the Governor Generals pal
ace and actually succeeded in having the
woman released FarriH, however, is still in
prison, together with Halstead, a British
born correspondent for the New York Her
aid, and it is reported that both are to be
shot, unless their friends can produce GER
tifcates of foreign birth or baptism in their
behalf
Luckily for myself, happen to have been
born in Dresden, Saxony, though of Ameri-
can parentage, and was thus provided with
an official German birth-certfficate duly
vised by the German CONSUL
/ discussed the matter with the military
Governor General OrtajeS, and found him
inclined to be courteous enough though evil
IDENTIFY nervous and overwrouglt He told
me that foreign residents, whose identity
was well established, need not fear for their
safety, and that even Halsted's life was
safe. since he had been duly sentenced to
| Imprisonment for nine years in the course
OF formal trial on the charge of taking
measurements of Notifications, after having
been warned on the place by sentinel.