The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1898-12-16
Awful Starvation at Ell Caney,

800 people. and it is impossible to i'm
agine over 10000 being huddled together
in it's narrow streets and crowded houses,
and yet this was the case when the refuS
fore the bombardmeht.
Old men and women who did not seem
| to have enough strength, to walk stag:
gereQ along Under great bundles Of Der
| sonal effects; putting them down every
| few yards. to rest. Soiiie IF the families
| were Of the upper class Of society, aIid
their rich dresses were in strange contrast
t. the great majority of the refugees.
We had not seen d well-dressed woman
for SO long that they were almost ciiridsi-
ties as they trudgeH along the road, tiiider
lAce sunshaaes and in light, fiiiffb dresses
that WE might EXPECT to see at a SUMMER
| resort. -
Sbme of the great thr6ng were hapbk,
laughing and gay, while others WE'RE Win.
ing and bemoaning their fate at having. to
| leave their homes; some sullen Spanish
| sympathizers but for the most part they
displayed a surprising amount of Amer
lean patriotism, which was, Of c6tirse; all
put On with the idea Of protecting their
holdings from the horrible Yankee, That
they had been taught to SO utterly de-
spise and fear. One little Gill of about
16 was. carrying d Spanish Uniform hat.
asked her to let Inc look at it. and she
IDENTIFY thinking /, would keep It. There
was a tell=tale hole in the crown and the
straw was saturated with blood, did
great tears yelled into. her beautiful
black eyes DIS !, EXAMINED It:
T. had just drawh thtee. days fati6hs
aha lily havefsack was full wien, I Welt
Over IS Caney to see these people from
situation in the city. As rode up to the
crowd Il well-dressed woman stepped mp
and said she was very hungry and want
ed something to eat. | did not realize
that. there were thousands of others in
similar plight, but thought it was but an
exceptional case of one being temporarily
away from the supplies: I had no more
the ftp, Of my hAvetsuck, which / WaB
slirfouhasd by 3 Wailihg crowd crying for
fpbd ahd. m6tiBninE to their tiiUHtis.
SHOWING their huhgef: In d jiffy my sup
ply was exhausted, and it was like pour
ing cup Of spring water to relieve the
ocean of it's brqckish favor.
Capt. Stewart BRYCE Of Gen: Skaters
staff APPEARED on tie see6nd day WITH
two wagonloads of army rations, but
these We're hardly a m0rsel for such a
crowd. He took possession of building
on the plaza and commenced the distribu-
ton of the supplies, consisting principally
OF hard bread, and then followed such q
SceAe as might be expected OF 4 pack of
hungry wolves, but not of human beings.
There was an attempt at order in the dis
tribution, but one might as well have at
tempted to order the tide to cease flowing.
They fought, scratched and bit each other
like dogs. Well-dressed women fought
with paupers women struck each other,
and children We're trampled in the fight
for food, and as l came back young
woman with a tiny baby in her arms
came up and addressed me in perfect
English, although she was undoubtedly
Spanish.
"Will you not give me some milk for
my babyy' she begged, with tears
streaming down her face. "He is only a
few weeks old, and yet has had nothing
today, and unless he can have some milk
IN a couple of hours he will die" She
fondled the tiny child in her arms, and
the anguish pictured on her face was
really terrible
There is no milk here" I answered,
but some may turn up soon.' And yet
| knew only too we'll that there was none
nearer than Siboney, over ten miles away,
and with no possible way Of getting it.
But my, baby will die" the poor
mother walled. II do not care for my
Sel f. AL am s. starving, but don't care. 1t
Yet there was no food for that little one,
and heard Of the half demented mother,
the next morning, carrying the little life
less body about, crying and moaning and
IN her very arms while she was helpless.
James E. j. Archibald in Leslie's Week