The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-01-12
HORRORS OF STARVING CUBA.
TERRIBLE SUFFERING DEPICTED
BY \ UNITED STATES ATTORNEY.

|
Confines and Literally Starving to
Death-Many People in the Grasp
of Disease, and Almost All of Them
Begears in IL Land of Universal
Poverty and Devastation.
Washington, Jan. n.-Hon. Charles w.
Russell, United States attorney in the de-
partment of justice. returned to-day from
Cuba, where he has spent two weeks in
vestigating the conditions prevailing on
the island To an Associated Press repre-
sentative, MI Russell said: Il am very
glad to be interviewed on the subject of
Cuba, because I feel 1t a solemn duty to
humanity to endeavor to make the Ameri-
can people realize the terrible distress
which exists there. Much has been writ
ten on the subject, but judging others by
myself, I feel quite sure that because we
do not commit and have not in our his
tory committed such atrocities as Spain is
committing on that island, the American
reading public regard the reports as biased
by the preconceved opinions Of newspa
pers or greatly exaggerated.
Il spent just two weeks in Cuba, visited
Havana, went south to Jaguaco, south
east to Guines, eastwardly about 200 miles
through the midst of the country to San
| Domingo, Santa Clara and Sagua la
| Grande. 1 visited Mariana. a short dis
tance west of Havana, and saw along the
rairoad thlry or Iorty towns or sla-
tions. In Havana 1 visited the Fossos,
the hospital prison Aldecon, where 1 talk
ed with the father of Evangelina Cossio
| O'9i1eiO9 anu " plaSe Oal4eu Oie 1@OO'e''
| found reconcentradoes at all three places
and begging everywhere about the streets
| of 1ro-.or, rrlo -,4oaio 81 a., 1,o,,
~ ''-0
ana Jdcopd houses oA women ana chiIufeh
emaclated 10 skeletons ana suffering from
diseases produced py starvation, was SICK
| eulis'
IN Sagua saw some SICK and ema-
! cldteu NIUE girls IN a chHdfehs hoSplIal
| started three days before by charitable Gu
| DdIs' anu saw crown Oh miseIaole look-
ing reconcentradoes with tin buckets and
other receptacles getting a small allowance
OF 1000 doleo out 10 them IN a yard. In the
same county in one old sugar warehouse
l saw stationed around the inside walls,
the remains OF twenty or thirty Cuban
Iamllles. In one case the remnant consist
ed of two little children of Z or years.
IN another case Where talked TO the peo-
PIE IN broken spanish, there were four in
| dividuals, mother, girl OF IA, and two
quite small girls. The smallest was then
suffering from malarial fever The next
had the signs on her hands, with which
had become familiar, of having had the
beri-beri. These four We're all that the
| order of concentrates had left alive Of
| eleven.
| AT San Domingo, where two railroads
join, the depot was crowded with women
| and children Of the latter as l remember,
/
| ging in the most earnest way of the few
| passengers. San Domingo is little more
than a railroad station in times of peace,
| but dt present 1t has considerable pop
ulation living in cabins matched with the
| tops of royal palm trees captured Of the
survivors Of other reconcenrados. The
huts are arranged close together in little
! clump, and the concentration order requir-
ed and apparently still requires these reo-
| pie to live within a circle of small block
| houses, commonly diSnihed in che dis
patches by the name of forts OF course,
| they had no work to do, no soil TO tlll
no seed to plant, and only begging to live
| on.
| ~ don't know the exact measure OF the
! dead line circle drawn around them bue
| there was certainly nothing WITHIN II upon
| which a human being could subsist ana
| also certainly II any order had newly per-
| mitted them to go short distance tuf'
| ther out, they had not gone ana were not
going. Practically they are prisoners AT
every one Of the numerous stopping places
along the road similar collection of nuts
could be seen, and almost all of them
| beggars, often nice looking women ana
| beautiful children, invaded the cars. Be-
| tween the stations, although Travelled
| always by daylight, as the trains DO not
run at night, and was observing as possi-
bic, 1 saw no signs OF the reconcentra-
does going away from the forts II they
had gone, it takes seed, instruments, land
| and three or four months to raise the veg
| etable which could be soon produced, and
nowhere from the block houses was there
any sign of vegetables growing Nearer the
larger towns the circle OF concentration
seemed to be some what larger and some
planting of vegetables, tobacco etc. seem
ed to be going on. At this very few
persons, possibly some OF them reconcen-
| tradoes, found employment.
"All along the railroad as far as could
be seen were stretches of the most fertile
and beautiful country, with very few trees,
even on the low mountains, and most of
| these royal palms. l saw many dozen of
burned cane fields and one evening, going
from Gunes to Havana, saw the sky light