The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-09-13
CLEANING UP SANTIAGO.
No Help in the Work Can Be Obtained
from Cubans.
tier i'm New York Evening Sun.

Letter in New York Evening Sun.
The prospect of returning home has
greatly enlivened the soldiers who rougnt
at FL Caney and San Juan, and General
Wood attributes the improved health of the
regular camp as much to that as to any
other cause. Sickness within the city has mas
owing to the activity of the Red Cross So
ciety's agents and nurses and TO the I'M
proved condition of the streets. Eight hum
dred carloads Of refuse nave been removed
from the streets and dumped into the ra-
vines back of the city where no harm can
be done by it. The streets are Kept clean
by daily sweeping and are strewn with dis
infectants. The disinfectants consist of sew
eral. barrels of chloride of lime brought
from New Orleans by Colonel Hood The
supply, however, was intended merely for
his own camp and will soon be exhausted.
General Wood, in his efforts to care for
the sick of the city has enlisted the AID OF
the nuns about the town The nuns are paid
as regular nurses and are helping the Red
Cross nurses. There is very little yellow
fever in the city, and General Wood ana
of cleaning up and isolation to prevent the
disease from assuming epidemic form. Ine
principal troubles are dysentery and malig-
nant malaria, which the inhabitants of the
city contracted during the exposure and
starvation they suffered when they fled TO
FL Caney to escape the threatened bonn
bardment Three weeks ago the number of
deaths day was about seventy. Now the
roll does not exceed twenty-five or thirty.
In his efforts to save the city from an cpl
demic General Wood has been compelled to
rely solely on his own ingenuity and en-
ergy and what aid the hard-worked army
and Red Cross surgeons and the physicians
who have come from the States for purely
phianthropic reasons, have been able TO
render. The clergy and citizens OF Santiago
have not lent him the least assistance. The
merchants, Cubans and Spaniards alike,
have devoted themselves exclusively to the
occupation of exacting exorbitant prices
for provisions and medical supplies.
Gen. Wood has tried by various means TO
bring them to a sense OF their duty, put
Gov aOA
clergymen to the palace and requested them
to rebuke the avarice of the people from
the pulpit They replied that the churches
had been empty for months. He has had
other talks with merchants and alcaldes,
but without result A few days ago he as
sembled merchants alcaldes and clergymen
at the palace in body and addressed them
jointly on the subject of their duty He
told the merchants that their conduct in
extorting exorbitant prices for food stuffs
and medicine was nothing short of murder
Even after that plain talk none Of them
offered to do anything to help relieve public
distress. They very anxious that the
American troops remain here and guarantee
a stable government. but so far none of
them has showed disposition to help the
Americans in taking care of the sick and dis
tressed of their own country one medical
man who has come from the States recently
to help care for the sick and to study the
prevailing disease is DR.. David Cory. of New
York DR.. Cory arrived on the transport
Leona which brought the second battalion
Of Go lionel P1 ry IMMUNE tba Tse Req b
regiment is composed of more than 500 men.
recruited mainly in Mississippi. Alabama
and Texas 1t is encamped on the hills to
the south of the city, on the road leading
to the battered MORO Castle. This regi-
ment like Colonel Hoods. is remarkably
free from Illness. The men suffered more
from malaria and stomach disorders while
they were encamped in the marshy meadows
about Savannah awaiting their transports
than they have suffered since their arrival
here. In the march from their camp, three
miles from Savannah to the steamship
wharf to hoard their transports. $50 men
were Frustrated by the heat. Not a man
dropped out i'm the tramp from the steam
ship wharVes here over the rough roads to
the camping ground on the MORO road