Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1898-02-26
am CUBAN LETTER.
.h +, cuba's capita-Fannie 3 Ward Among
Life a" .r,dos-tIow Vaerano Weyer. Has
the 80 More than 100000 People by Starvation,

tary law where party feeling runs so
high, had devoted their time and money
to the work. The government, in its
policy of determination, has even
placed every obstacle in the way of
these charities. Spain has 10000 SOL
diers In the hospitals Of Havana suffer-
Ing for food and medicine, and natural
~ the little her depleted resources can
devote to charity, is given to them.
Weyler says, Nobody can starve in
Cuba: they can live on bananas" But
the fact remains that more than 200, 900
people have already starved to death,
as the result of his concentration or
der. Even bananas have their seasons.
If the whole were planted with them
(Which II is not, and IL bananas were
to be had for the picking. there would
not be enough to sustain the teemlng
population. could they endure the ex-
elusive diet. People cannot live on
climate: they starve in any part of the
world where food Is not.
Diminishing our carriage at the gate
of Los Fosos. intending to call another
for the return, according to the custom
of Havana where carriage hire is only
90 cents. each way, to any part of the
city. and carriages swarm in the street
like flies around a molasses barrel--we
passed into the patio, or inner court
yard. Lying all about were what at
first glance looked like heaps of rags;
able to crawl out into the sun, leaving
the few beds OF the hospital for those
worse Off than themselves. / have seen
misery in many lands, but never any,
thing like this. We did not enter the
building devoted to the men but went
at once to the quarters of the women
and children. Such a sight Two
floors filed with long rows of cot-beds
"a recent acquisition since money
came from the United States. for at
first they lay upon the floor; and on
each bed n horror. Five had died that
morning, and their bodies had not yet
been removed. Several We're evidently
dying, and others Were in the stupor
of Inconsistencies. In one corner lay
n boy. perhaps nine years old. writing
in commissions; and he died n few mo-
ments later, clutching my hands with
bony fingers that felt like bird claws.
My attention was particularly attract
ed to young woman, who must have
been very beautiful o. short time ago.
but whose emsciated face already wore
the dignity of death. although a slight
fluttering of the breast showed that
the breath OF life yet fingered. Nobody
in the hospital knew anything about
her, except that she was n reconcen-
trado. driven like the rest from her
home somewhere in the country.
Proudly silent, she held aloof from the
rest during the terrible march, sleeping
In the fields and slowly starving.
Where We're the loving hands that once
caressed that wealth of shining hair?
Father and brothers. husband or lover.
were no doubt with the insurgent army
somewhere in the southern provinces
or perhaps lying dead in the trenches.
While we stood beside her the breath
ceased to move. Death had set his in
scrutable seal on her Inns and the soul
had, happily, escaped its mortal prison.
So emaciated were the bodies of all
that their bones appeared to be prick
ing through Most of the children were
covered with deep, horrible sores, and
the feet and limbs Of many were swol-
en- out OF all semblance of human mem
bers: scurvy and dropsy, from fever,
starvation and improper food when
they had any food at all. This fearful
swelling OF the body is an almost uni
versnl complaint among the reconcen-
trados-the result of long continued
hunger when the impoverished blood
turns to water. have seen some
chastity sights. where the feet We're ac-
tually cracked open and the pufYed limbs
lookd like bags. In Los Fosos is n
group of five orphans, all of one
family. the eldest about ten years old,
the youngest under two. Their father
was killed in the rebel army and the
mother, evicted from her poor horne,
died In the weary tramp to the CAPITAL,
Neighbors and friends, themselves In
equally desperate straits, homeless and
starving. assisted them to reach this
haven of refuge. But they can not be
Kept here long. and what next Is the
serious question. still more devoted
was one wailing baby, barely old
enough to sit up alone in the middle
of the bed. Its relatives persisted nv
the wayside and why the suffering mite
or humanity was spared, only heaven
Knows. Those who We're able to walk
crowded around us with their COM
plants. Many of the mothers declared
that their children were dying because
they had been given spoiled fish to eat;
Others that they had had nothing to
eat that morninp and only soup made
from sailed meat the day before. which
the sick and the smaller children did
not relish. Milk was what they beg
ged for not only for the babes but for
those whose long empty stomarhs
We're now to weak to digest stronger
FOOD. or course we sent for milk. every
dollar we happened to have with us,
put II was as drop in the bucket
among that hungry crowd. Condensed
mix. prepared with hot water is given
to these people whenever It can be OBJ
tanned; but condensed milk is yer,
scarce and dear here, and only that
sent from the United States can be
depended upon. Right here let me say
TO the generous people at home who
are contributing to these supplles-ynu
cannot possibly send too much especial
~ of milk, the article most needed.
Nourishlng food Of all sorts is required
such as the people know how to use.
Oatmeal, for example. does little good,
Tor they have no idea how to cook IT,
Clothing of every kind and bedding Is
very badly needed. Thousands of them
are almost naked, sleeping on the
ground with. no sort of covering. and
in the best hospital, like Los Fosos, on
cots with mattresses OF woven wire,
often with the wire bare or at most
only sheet or a bit of ragged blanket
between their suffering bodies and the
springs. Think of the torture to a
well nourshed person of being COM
peeled to lie upon such bed and then
fancy how 1t must feel to the living
skeletons and the fearfully swollen
flesh. About 1890 o'clock q steaming
caldroun of milk and water was
brought in. thanks to the bounty of the
United States: and then how the fam
ished eyes. glistened, as everybody
who could crawl crowded eagerly
around The Cuban lady who comes
every morning to do what she can for
these poor creatures. to close the eyes
of the dying and order the burial of the
dead. showed me the closet of nedl-
cine furnished by the United States.
The difficulty is to see. that the right
medicines are properly administered.
One would think that every physician
in Havana would gladly give portion
OF his time to this charitable work. but
N is Gnf1 that npItr th,aa ~, F,n, t,,,,,