Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1898-10-01
LIEUT.. ". E. GRIFFIN
Returned Last Night and Tells An
Interesting Story of His Ex-
%periences in Cuba,
EXPEDITION LACKED A HEAD
Mismanagement Everywhere Evident Gen
eral Woods Marked Soldierly Ability
City Of Santiago in Good Hands
Sanitary Measures Enforced.

SANITARY measures Enforced.
First Lieutenant Win Griffin, troop E,
Rough Riders" returned last night
over the Santa Fe from the east, looking
we'll, albeit he has sacrificed 60 pounds
of avoirdupois upon the altar of his
country. He came from New York over
the Lehigh Valley to Chicago, where he
took the Santa Fe for the rest of the
way. Lieutenant Griffin fortunately al
not laid up in the hospitals in Cuba. AL
though he had a touch of the malaria,
he steered clear of the hospitals, and
was not so affected but that he was able
to stick it out without having to give
up and go to bed" as the expression Is.
The lieutenant was doing duty as a reg
mental quartermaster down on the
beach, where he worked heroically to de-
liver supplies and ammunition, but as
he and other returned troopers say who
knew the condition of things there, 1t
was simply impossible to get transport
tation. While at the front he had &C.
casion to send to the landing for certain
supplies, and the orders We're to have
them come forward Immediately, If not
sooner, but he found 1t necessary to go
after those supplies in person, and he
had to walk IS miles to carry out the or
der. The great trouble, Lieutenant
Griffin found, was the absence of n
head. Everything was by SKIES and sew
ems. The army needed a head, and it
needed one badly: but alas, there was
none to be had.
The generals subordinate in command
were much ADLER men than Shafter,
such as Wheeler, Lawton, Kent, sum-
ner and others. To Lieutenant Griffin's
mind, perhaps Lawton was the ablest
general on the field. But General Wheel
er was highly thought of. He was ev-
erywhere on the field, and proved a most
active and able man, a man who was
thought everything of.
One Of the most impressive sights the
lieutenant ever saw was the way the
! American fleet shot up the country as
| the transports approached Baiqueri.
The result was that there We're no Span
ish troops within hailing or shooting
distance when the troops landed. Witt,
the landing of the soldiers trouble be-
gan There We're no wharf facilities and
the surf was high. However, a wharf
could easily have been built by the en-
gineers, of whom there We're plenty, and
the supplies and siege guns could have
| been landed in time, but there was al
| ways that great, big but-there was nc
head to anything, but lots OF tails, AND
| though there was lots of wiggling and
| wriggling. it vas all to precious little
purpose. Then the captains of the
| transports got a kink into their heads
and fooled around to no purpose, and
often when a certain transport was
wanted, to get certain things from her,
| she was, like as not, 10 or Is miles out to
| sea. No one could get a boat unless he
could steal one, and most of the time
confusion reigned.
A most marked and pleasant contrast
to all this inefflciency was General
Wood, on whose staff Lieutenant Grif-
| fin served afterwards as provost. in
Santiago. The lieutenant says that he
never saw a commanding officer so
quietly effective, thorough in his work
| as General Wood. 1t was impossible to
| get him ratified. He knew Just what
should be done, how best to do it and
| when to do it. The result was that a
wonderful amount Of effective work was
accomplished In a very short time under
this able and conscientious officer. He
never clustered or abused his subordi-
nate officers in order to get anything
done. He knew how to get at things in
a different way from that. The City OF
Santiago was found in a deplorably hor-
| rible condition. People there seemed to
have no more idea of cleanliness than
they had of experimental philosophy or
solar chemistry. The streets of the city
| are narrow, and it has been the time
honored custom for the tenants to fire
all of their filth into the public street.
The stencil was awful, and it was made
doubly so by reason of the herding of
50 many Spanish soldiers and refugees
| within the walls of the town.
For iDst1Ocat in OOp franllanta1 Straaf
was a restaurant with an open court or
patio in the e paved with tlling, and
beyond this was a large vacant
fronting on the street. Provost Griffin
went by the latter apartment one day
n noticed 100 men, white and black
herded in there. and he asked them what
they were doing. They said they had
been ordered to stay there for the pres
emit. The party had nothing in the way
Of equipment except a scanty cooking
apparatus. In a day or two the provost
passed that way again, and noticed that
the, men We're still there. Then he made
a more extended investigation only to
discover that the people from the res
taurant had not only thrown the offal
from the restaurant cut into that court
J to decay in the hot sun but they, in
common with the 100 men herded in the
place beyond, had used the court for
other filthy purposes, and the noble 100
had also been doing their cooking in
that horribly filthy and disease breeding
patio. The provost was nearly knocked
off his feet by the stencil, and immedi-
ately reported the condition of things to
General Wood, who had a gang Of Gu
bans so in there, clean the place out
and thoroughly disinfect the premises.
General Wood used the Cubans as scav-
engers and that was about all they were
good for. The first three days he was in
charge he made them clean up in return
for rations, but after that they were
paid 81 per day in American money.
Tenants were compelled to set out large
garbage cans and deposit their refuse in
/ these cans, which the Cubans would
empty each day and haul off in their
scavenger carts. The result is that San
tiagO is now cleaner than it ever was
before, and the danger of contagion has
been reduced to a minimum. Provost
Griffin cannot speak too highly of Gem
eral Woods government of Santiago.
The lieutenant looks for more or less
troublesome experience with the native
population ere the country is Quoted,
largely on account of their ignorance,
The fact Is, that most of the lower
classes not only have no idea at ali of
how the country is to be governed, but
they do not know the object of
United States troops in coming to Cuba.
They are a people of one idea, and that
idea is to get rid of the Spaniards. Fur
Their than that. deponent sayeth not
The lower class of the Cubans would
steal anything they could lay hands on,
and a large share OF the army %provender
and considerable equipment went the
way Of the Cubans. Lieutenant Griffin
was told that the Province Of Santiago
de, Cuba was healthy enough except
during the hot summer months.
Fine Havanas.
Finest line Of Havana cigars al