The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-03-19
IN DESOLATED CUBA
H-
SCENES AND INCIDENTS IN THE MIS-
RULED ISLAND.
dent of the City of Havana
and Its People.
Mr.. GALLINGER'S STATEMENT
SAYS 100000 DEATHS HAS RESULT
ED FROM SPANS Foley.
RecOncentrados Perixhing by Thou
sands--CuBa Described by Amos
j. Cummings as an Inferno.
corresrondenee OF the Assoclated Pres.

-
Correspondence of the Associated Press.
HAVANA, March 14.-Skies of turquoise,
royal palms. with trunks of silver and
crowns of green, many charming looking
women and fine-looking men, bands thor
oughly melodic, houses whose outer uglinesS
but accents the statue-haunted. hower-em-
bossed beauties within, occasional flashes
Of monday heat, rendering the siesta time
almost a necessity, ozone-laden morning
and evening breezes that make ones lungs
a luxury, semi-occasional showers, with
subtropical downpourings-these are some
of the attachments and attributes that
mark Havana as retaining some of her old
time charm
Narrow, ill-paved streets, unsanitary and
foul-smelling garbage, unclean alleys and
back yards, lack of modern conveniences,
suDerabundance of glare, a. surfeit of
squalor, misery, starvation, disease, death
In countless and appalling forms, stagnant
business, regnant officialism, crowded hos
pitfalls, gorged prisons-these, the seamy
sides of the tapestry of life here, and to
the observant the sadness makes discord
of the joyful notes. A visit to relief sta
ton makes the laughing crowd around the
band stand in the "Parque Central" mock
cry, and the gay equipage of the rich off,
Ger or merchant only brings into bold re-
lief the mean death casket of the pauper
and the pacifco.
1t is a cosmopolitan city in way, but,
while the Latin, the Gallo, the Indian and
the African predominant in numbers, the
Anglo-Saxon holds, usual, his share of
public attention The most animated con-
veTsation among the voluble Cubans is
hushed into quiet observation If Sigsbee of
the engulfed Maine, comes into view Sigs-
bee alers, 2leasstnt-faced kndly-voiced,
medium in stature bat erect in carriage.
keen Of eye, ready of tongue, almost debon-
naire when off duty, but .incisive. vigilant,
politely peremptory. sure in command,
quick in foresight when on board-the first
man the stranger wants to see and if so
fortunate as to meet him. the last to whom
adieus are made.
Then there is the court of inquiry (this
was written before the court returned to
Key Wes)-Sampson, tall, slightly bent as
to shoulders as he gravely listens to ques-
ton or suggestion. with face marked with
thought, firm lips, shrouded by gray mus
tache and beard, courteous but cold quick
to detect assumption and quicker to grasp
point of moment very ideal president
of court for whose decision it is not too
much TO say Christendom waits with eager
y
suaVe, fluent, hearty, with eyes none the
less Keen that they grow merry on occa-
son, and lips that can close in lines of
lIon though well acquainted with laughter
Potter, brunette, soldierly, quiet but kind
~, self-etfacing but with the weight of high
intelligence in glance, speech, gesture the
model of the executive officer. diplomatist.
man of the world. Mark, a potential of
high value in any deliberative BODY. look
TO marked advantage should occasion serve
posted IN every, detail Of his profession (as,
be hnmbugged ana in Se 6ba of aR nG5 to
even his own thoughts before he gives them
utterance. Certainly quintet (Sigsbee al
ways being includeD OF which the United
States is proud.
Pencil pictures might be made of Lee
that dashing cavalry soldier and unbuff-
able consul general-of Elwell Miss Bar
toms chief of staff, with the face and form
OF Pickwick and heart as kindly as that
Gear creature; of Springer vice consul, who
knows Cuba and its people as he knows the
game of whist; of a half dozen other Off
Gals whose names are now almost house
hold words in the States but suffice it that
ali are men to be admired for strong and
manly qualities.
Interesting too, to Dickens. Thack
cray, Dumas or Kipling would be the
better class of correspondents, to whom
Havana is now the habitat of hope; alas
for them that it is hope deferred. They
must join the vast multitudes who read
their dispatches in playing the truly Span
ish game of set down." Patience is hard
er here than in the north. for the islander
is "day-after- to morrow' person, any
how, and the sight of his cool nonehalance
While great events are having birth is ag-
gravating. Those of this dilettanti COM
plexion of thought who were in the cor.
ridors of the Hotel Ingaatara must have
been startled on the day that the Assoc
ciated Press correspondent read to a group
OF newspaper men the bulletin: Senate
passed fifty millions defense bill this morn
ing unanimously" What q cheer went up.
1t was startling in it's suddenness, invig-
Grating in its volume. News from home in
advance of the Semi-weekly steamer is al
ways eagerly desired here, and when it was
such news there was handshaking and cries
of, Walked up, have they? Hurrah for
Congress!' If there was an American, civil
or official, native or naturalized, who did
not rejoice at the news the correspondent
did not find him.
The fourth estate here is the liveliest fac
tor observable. Several of the Havana
newspapers are really enterprislng, and for
all editions the newspapers rush and grow
voc:ferous as in the Yankee cities. 1t is a
little amusing, after glancing over columns
and pages of governmental manifestoes,
pronuncamentos, bandos and the like, to
note the brief editorial paragraph which
says in effect Same old thing Words are
they, Signifying nothing.
The political situation, so far as 1t can
be learned, has been given from time TO
time by cable. In this, as in the general
derrunning alike the light talk and the
serious discussion. is that current of vague
unrest which might in semi-paradoxical
fashion be described as expecting the UNI
expected" What tomorrow what to-mor-
row. what the next stroke of the clock may
bring forth no man knows. His lack of
knowledge does not impair his powers of
guessing, however, and the prophetic sur
misses. logical or Illogical deductions, fears.
hopes, assurances one hears on every hand
would be laughable were not the times so
full of frowns.
or the movements of the insurgents the
news that reaches the Havana general pub