Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1898-12-25

lug, SuSdI-SIOWlu6 piOFluCC uoS uO6un'
Absolute peace exists, and the people
Ire at work.
Gen. Davis. before he left Havana,
was told that brigands would overrun
the province; the petty dictators were
taxing the villages; that insurgents
had occupied the towns and would not
yield paramount authority to the Am
orleans; and that he would be infinitely
vexed by obstacles in every step toward
the restoration of civil order among a
restless people.
When Gen. Davis, his staff, battalion
of the Two Hundred and Second New
York regiment, and signal corps
company reached the borders of the
province in the journey by train from
Havana, they were received at Santiago
de las Vegas by a colonel and $50 Gu
ban horsemen aligned near the station.
Afterwards behind them cavalcade of
125 young Cuban women on horseback.
Around and behind this cavalcade, the
townspeople were gathered, shaggy
haired old men, women in black, troops
of children with flowers and Cuban and
American flags. AS Gen. Davis and his
staff appeared ON the platform there
was passionate burst of ''Vivas," and
bare machetes flashed in the medley of
colors. The cheering was so prolonged
and genuine that the Americans were
moved by it. The colonel placed him
self and his men at Gen. Davis dis
posal. The alcalde of the town made
an address. The general, who knows
some conversational Spanish, but not
enough for public speech, said
Through an interpreter that the Cuban
people had been through great trials
and sufferings, and that the Americans
were there to aid in securing their lib
erty.
Surgeon General w. L. Kneedler
had become separated in the crowd
from Gen. Davis, and one of a COM
mittee of priests began to read him an
address of welcome, thinking the doc
tor was the general. Major Kneedler
who at first did not perceive the drift
of the address, was unable to find an
opening to stop the padre before the
welcome had been concluded. The
doctor then, through a Cuban who
could speak English and Spanish, said
that as one of the Americans with
General Davis, he regarded the Cubans
as men and brethren and that in all
his travels he had not been in so fine
country.
The Americans then swept through
wide spaces of deserted country. From
the train they could see occasionally
the blackened walls and tall chimney
of a ruined sugar centrale. At each OF
the towns the senior Cuban officer
made known his allegiance to the pro-
posed order of things under the Amer
lean protectorate Pinar del Rio City
gave reception as. enthusiastic as
that given at Santiago de las Vegas.
The Cuban commander turned over
the municipal and provincial belong
ings. General Davis has communi-
Gated by letter or by the messenger
with the important towns in the pro-
vince. lot an incident of brigandage
reported. The most fragrant crime
has been the disappearance OF some
chickens. The Spanish residents,
some of whom are well to do men OF
the city, had lived in the lnterregum
between Spanish evacuation ana
American occupation unframed.
The people near Pinar have torn the
wire from the trocha and have lnclosed
yards and fields with it. The principal
store keeper has painted advertise
ments on two of the forts. The town
is we'll fed on chickens. fresh beef,
fruit and vegetables. The country is
exhausted, but the revivication has be-
gun. Palm huts are building on vast
ed farms. The country people are
now living chiefly on radiShes, sweet
potatoes, sugar cane and chickens and
quail shot or trapped in the thickets.
Pinar del Rio City has many pretty
houses. The population was $4,000, OF
which number 1000 have been buried.
The women are all in black.
Following Gen. Davis's instructions,
the American officers and privates are
careful to return salutes of the Cuban
soldiers, who, armed and unarmed, are
coming and going at all times.
They subsist largely on gifts of food
Some, forced by necessity, have sold
their rifles. Mausers captured from
the Spaniards are selling for five or six
silver dollars. In Havana Mausers are
surreptitiously sold for $40 or $25.
The battalion of the Two Hundred
and Second New York regiment, under
Major Wood, is camped on high ground
and about mile outside the city. The
landscape of rolling country and dis
tant mountains is most beautiful. The
men have been working hard cutting
grass and organizing the camp. They
have not missed having had fresh
bread and beef since they left Havana.
Forty-two head of cattle brought from
Texas for the camp are grazing near
by. Guard duty is light. One post of
three men is maintained at the railway
station and another is at Ell Globo
hotel, where Gen. Davis stops. No
other guard duty outside the camp is
required. The men expect to be re-
placed by regulars in the spring and
allowed to go home. c.eadful stories
are told of the malaria that develops
around Pinar del Rio with the Begin
ming of hot weather.