Worcester morning daily spy., 1898-03-25
SENATORS WEPT.
Tide of Emotion Raised by SEN
ator Thurston's Speech.
EARNEST PLEA FOR CUBA.
Intervention for Islands Inde-
pendence the Only Course.
The Delivery of the Speech was Accom-
panied BY Scenes Unusual in the
Senate Chamber.
EARNEST PLEA FOR CUBA

Washington, March PA scene dra-
matte in the intensity of it's interest was
presented in the senate today during the
delivery by Mr.. Thurston of Nebraska,
Of a speech on the Cuban situation.
Not since the Inauguration of Presl-
dent Mckinley have so many persons
been on the senate side of the capitol as
were there today The galleries We're
packed. Even the diplomatic gallery,
which is rarely occupied, was filed,
among those in it being Senior Mendon-
ca, the Brazilian minister, and party,
ex-Secretary of State John w Foster
and Mrs. Foster, and many ladies and
gentlemen from the various foreign le-
! cations.
Within few minutes after the senate
convened every senator who could be
present was in his seat, and by the time
Mr. Thurston had begun his speech, doz-
ems of members of the house were either
standing or occupying chairs in the area
| without the semi-circle of seats.
Mr.. Thurstons first sentence. in which
| he said he spoke by command of silent
lips, in a delicate and touching refer
ence to the loss of his wife on his MEM
orable trip to Cuba, commanded instant
audience. which hung with almost
| breathless attention and interest upon
every word. Some surprise has been ex-
pressed that Senator Thurston should
appear in public prominently so soon af-
ter the demise of Mrs. Thurston, but the
first sentence Of his speech furnished.
| the key to his action 1t is true that
Mr.. Thurston's speech today. viewed
from one standpoint, was an unusual
proceeding, but it was justified by the
conditions attending it.
Mrs. Thurstons dying request to her
husband was that he should lose no time
because of her death to do his utmost
to save and free Cuba and it's people.
| In accordance with this request, there
fore, Senator Thurston sacrificed his
personal feelings, and delivered his
ISpeech-a speech that was his tribute to
the memory Of his wife.
/ Without knowing the motive which
animated Mr.. Thurston and inspired him
to his best efforts, his auditors instinct
lively realized and thoroughly sympa-
thized with his evident emotion.
The speech was very generally regard
ed as a mastery effort, and even those
who could not agree with his conclu-
sions, conceded the power of his oration.
AS he neared the end of his speech his
voice, which had been clear and ringing,
noticeably broke. He was almost over
come by emotion, but rallied with an ef-
fort and closed in manner that thrilled
his auditors. Staid and dignified sena-
tors turned away and wept, and in the
| galleries tears welled TO hundreds of
/ eyes. 1t was a remarkable scene, and
the stiffness until the last word had
been pronounced was as of death itself.
| AS Mr. Thurston sank into his seat
and buried his face in his hands, the
| galleries were swept by such tumult
of applause as has not in a long time
| been heard in the senate chamber.
! As a brother might have DONE Mr.. AL
len, Mr.. Thurston's colleague from Ne
braska, walked to him, and placing his
arm over his shoulders quietly led him
from the chamber The act was one Of
the spontaneous and touching amenities
amid the turbulence and discord of polit-
ical life.
Senator Thurston spoke from the desk
/ of Mr. Hawley, in the central part of
the chamber
81 am here by command Of silent lips"
Mr. Thurston began, "to speak once and
| for all upon the Cuban situation. [ trust
that no one has expected anything SEN
sational from me. God forbid that the
bitterness of a personal loss should in
duce me to color in the slightest degree
| the statement that | feel it my duty to
make. I shall endeavor to be honest,
conservative and just. l have no pur-
/ pose to stir the public passion in any ac
| ton not necessary and imperative to
meet the duties and necessities of Amer
lean responsibility, Christian human
ity and national honor | would shirk
this task if l could, but dare not.''
Mr. Thurston said that he had gone to
| Cuba firmly believing that the condi-
ton of affairs on the island had been
greatly exaggerated, and that he had
| directed his efforts in the first instance
! ha If "a
gerations He had concluded, how
ever, that an over-statement of the hor-
rors Of the situation was impossible
Mr. Thurston then gave a general sum
mary of the Cuban war and its results.
In detailing the incidents and reciting
the facts that came under his observa-
ton Mr.. Thurston said he had no de-
sire to deal in horrors. IF l had my
way he said 81 would shield the
American public even from the photo
graphic reproductions of the awful
/ scenes that l viewed in all their original
ghastliness,
! ''The pictures in the American news
papers of the starving reconcentradoss
are true. They can all be duplicated
by the thousands. I never saw, and
please God, | may never again see, 50
deplorable a sight as the reconcentrados
in the suburbs of Matanzas I can never
forget to my dying day the hopeless am
guish in their despairing eyes. Hud-
died about their little bark huts, they
raised no voice of appeal to US for aims
as we went among them.
Men, women and children stand si
lent, famshng. Their only appeal
comes from their sad eyes, through
which one looks as through an open
window into their agonizng souls In
Matanzas the people have done all they
possibly can do for the reconcentrados,
but it is too true that many Matanzas
/ people who reside in fine houses scarce
ly know where their own next meal is to
come from.
''Tne government of Spain has not
and VIII not appropriate one dollar to
save these people. They are now be-
ing attended and nursed and admins
tered to by the charity of the United
States. Think of the spectacle. We are
feeding these citizens of SPAIN we are
nursing their sick; we are saving such
as can be saved, and yet there are those
who still say it Is right for us to send
food, but we must keep hands off.
eay that the time has come when mus
| lets ought to go with the food. shall
refer to these horrible things no fur
j ther."
Twice within the past two years, Mr.
/ Thurston said. he had voted for a reso-
i luton recognizing the belligerency of
i the Cuban insurgents. but he was salts
fed 1t was now too late to accord them
beaigerent rights or even merely to rec
ognize the Independence Of the Cuban