The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1898-04-15


viou3- to the explosion.
Senator Lodge asked II he heard of any
| attempt on the Montgomery.
81 heards' responded General Lee, there
was something of the sort one evening,
but believe upon Investigation 1 found 1t
did not amount to anything"
| The following colloquy between Senator
| Foraker and General Lee brought out some
| further opinions of the general in regard to
| the destruction of the Maine:
| Senator Foraker-Do you think that a
novice could have destroyed the Maine?
Consul-General Lee-Oh, no; sir. The man
| that did the work was an officer, thorough
| ly acquainted with explosives of all sorts
| and would know all about It, 1t was very
| well done.
Senator Foralzer-A man who had expert
| knowledge necessarily
Consul Lee-Yes, sir.
Senator Clark-And who must have had
| knowledge of the location of the torpedo?
Consul-General Lee-Yes. never have
| been certain that a submarine explosive
| was placed there prior to the entrance of
the Maine into the harbor It might have
been done afterwards
Mine Dropped From Boat
'The Maine was anchored to buoy by
several little chains. A vessel swinging
around that way sometimes gets at various
places all around the circles. When she
would swing off that way, with the bow
next to the buoy, and these boats plying
about the harbor all the time. nobody could
get well in front of her on q, dark night
and drop one of those submarine mines of
500 pounds. They have fingers, as 1t were,
and as the boat goes around it would have
| touched the finger, which makes contact
| and explodes the mine. 1t might have been
done after the Maine was in there and not
be discovered. One or two men rowing
| quietly in a boat could drop 1t in off the
| stern of the boat on a dark night, though
| Sigsbee had his patrols out. A boat would
not have been noticed, because the boats
go there always to late hour OF the
night The harbor Is full of these little
boats. mine weighs about 500 pounds,
and suppose 1t would take two or tire ,
men, one man to row and probably three
or four to handle the NINE"
In reply to a question from Senator Gray.
General Lee said that the Spanish popua-
ton Is not especially hostile towards thu
United States The Spanish portion are
principally the merchants, commission
merchants, shopkeepers and all this agita-
ton Is affecting very much their business
A great many of them whilst they give
expression to great loyalty are really an
nexationists, because they think 1t Is the
only way out of the trouble, and they
would much prefer annexation to the
United States to a Cuban republic. AS to
the Cuban part of the population, they are
generally all for free Cuba The position
of reconcentrados out in the country is
just as bad as in General Weyler's day. 1t
has been relieved a great deal by supplies
from the United States, but that has CEASED
now.
Had No Eject fe-st1.H
General Blanco's published proclamation
resembling General Weyler's bando, as they
call it, has had no practical effect, for IN
the first place these people have nofplace
to go; the houses have been burned; there
is nothing but the bare land there, and 1T
takes them two months before they can
raise the first crop. In the next place, they
are afraid to go out from the lines of the
town because the rowing bandits, or Span
ish guerillas, as they are called, would kill
them. So they stick right at the edges Of
the towns, just like they did, with nothing
to eat except what they can get from char
ity. The Spanish have nothing to give.
Senator Lodge asked what this cessation
of hostilties spoken of in the last few days
amounted to, to which General Lee re-
sponded: Nothing, practically nothing
The armistice amounts to nothing.n ~
In response to an inquiry from Senator
Frye as to his reasons for saying that the
insurgents would pay no attention to the
armistice, General Lee says: Because
every attempt so far to make terms or to
make peace, or to buy the insurgents or
their leaders has met with signal failures;
and whatever may be said of old General
Gomez, he is, In my humble opinion, fight
ing that war in the only way that it can be
fought-scatering his troops out because to
concentrate would be to starve, having
no commissary train and no way to get
supplies. They come in sometimes for a
purchase or making some raid where he
thinks 1t would do something, but he has
given orders, so have always been inform
ed, not to fight but become engaged, and
sometimes when he gets into a fight each
man Is ordered not to fire more than two
cartridges. When General Weyler was there
he went out after him sometimes, and they
would move up colmun and fire and some
times flank the column and the SapniSh SOL
diers would deploy and throw out skirmish-
ers and the Cubans, like Indians, would
scatter out. Then the Spanish troops would
countermarch and go back to town, three
men killed, and ten or-twelve wounded"
Living Hand to Mouth
Mr.. Mills: "How much provisions have
they in store for the army? How long can
they maintain their forces without bring
ing in more provisions?
General Lee replied: "They were living
there almost from hand to mouth; the
Spaniards and citizens in the town of Ha-
vana also. Everything that the town of
Havana has received in the last -four, five
or six months has been from the United
States"
Mr.. Mills: Can they get no subsistence
from the island?"
Consul-General Lee: Nothing more than
this floor Gndicating). The way the insur-
gents do is this: They have little patches
of sweet potatoes-everything there grows
abundanty in short time, especially Irish
potatoes and fruits. They drive their pigs
and cattle into the valleys and hillsides and
use those and scatter out. That is the rea-
son they scatter out. The insurgents plant
crops in many parts of the island. M
speaking about an armistice. They have
not been interfered with much since Gen.
eral Blanco came there. With the exception
of the campaign of General Pando in the
| eastern part of the island, there have been
few military operations instigated by the
Spanish. So it has been practically a sort
of truce for some time-the insurgents be-
cause they did not want to fight and be-
cause it was against orders to fight
Could Be Caught In Trap
Suppose Havana was blockaded," said
| Senator Mills, $50 that no provisions could
| go in, would the people there have any
| way to get away?" r.
"None whatever" responded General Leo