The Portland daily press., 1898-09-13

to news which was communicated to him
by the parochial curate of GALES, giving
us horrid details of what occurred there.
when the volunteers to the mum Der Of
100, commanded by two officers of the
OWL guard. made their appearance COM
in from Manati, one of said officers being
q monster by the name of Ledesma, born
in Ponce, but educated in Aragon, the
citizens who hoisted the American flag
over the city hall in order to defend
themselves strong in the toner of the
church. They were a handful of brave
men, who had only five muskets. With
these they defended themselves with hero
ism until their ammunition gave out.
"At this juncture one of the defenders
| of the tower, who had been wounded in 1
| the leg, proposed to his comrades to at :
tack the Spaniards with machetes, an d
he was the first to lead on, handling sal d
arm. But as it was to be expected, they
were compelled to disband, the enemy be-
ing much superior in numbers, and
armed with Mausers.
when the Spaniards saw they had
possession of the tower, they attacked the
defenseless inhabitants, killing many
women, children and old men in Ia hor-
rible manner. The women and girls were
the sublelt of the most savage ofaenses.
When more than 60 dead bodies testified
to the bravery Of those monsters1 they
went on TO perpetrate another slaughter
OF the persons that had taken shelter in
q near py coffee plantation, and there
they killed 90 or 40 victims.
! Ffom w to l0O persons, weak and de-
| fsnseless, considering their sex and age,
have been sacrificed on the 18th instant
during the last moments of Spani sh dom
ination in Gales and when, reaCe being
solicited by Spain, ON armistioe has been
agreed upon, such acts of hostility should
not have taken place neither against the
invading army nor against the towns
that had pronounced themselves in its
| favor.
| "This Is sorrowful farewell of those
who have not been able to defend hero
tneir flag, dishonoring 1t by horrible and
| seandslous sacrifices Of lives"
From these clippings one may gain an
| impression of the character of the mate
rial from which we are to make Ameri-
can citizens. Not many Spaniards who
| own property will leave the island, and
they will soon be as American ms those in
New Mexico Some Of their customs and
usages will no doubt remain for a long
time unchanged by ours But their atti-
tude toward womenkind has already ex-
oitsd the virtuous Indignation of tho
Amerioan women who have observed 1t,
and must alter as soon as immigration
from the States begins Wives and
daughters are kept in close secIusion;
there is no freedom for them in their as
Soclaslon Win mea: and the consequence
is II am assured BY an excellent woman
who is much disturbed over the situation)
that, like the ''oloistered girls of the
other Latin races, the wives and daught-
ers acquire an immense curiosity, which
an unrestricted abundance of French
novels does not diminish. Flirtations
thrive-and yet, my Informant is not sure
that 1t often results in mismating or
scandal Upon husbands, while their
wives adore them the bond lies loosely
Their idea of the married life seems to be
imperfect1y homogeneous, to say the
least. One rich planter, for instance, has
one welded wife, who is white, and it is
estimated, nineteen who are octorouns
and unsanctioned by the church.