The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1898-03-25

the towns and burn their dwellings,
| saw no house or hut in the 400
miles ofrailroad rides from Pinar
del Rio Province in the west across
the full width of Havana and Ma
tanza Provinces, and to Sagua la
Grande on the north shore, and to
on the south shore of
Santa Clara, except within the
Spanish trOchas. There are no
domestic animals or crops on the
rich fields and pastures except such
as are under guard in the immediate
vicinity of the towns.
"In other words, the Spaniards
hold in these four western provinces
just what their army sits on. Every
man, woman and child and every
domestic animal, wherever their
columns have reached, is under
guard, and within their so-called
Notifications. To describe one
place is to describe all. To repeat,
it is neither peace nor war. 1t is
concentration. This is the 'pacified'
condition of the four western pro-
vinces.
"West of Havana is mainly the
rich tobacco country; east, so far as
1 went, sugar region. Nearly all
the sugar mills are destroyed be-
tween Havana and Sagua. Two or
three were standing in the vicinity
of Sagua, and in part running, sur
rounded, as are the villages, by
trochas and forts or palisades of
the royal palm, and fully guarded.
"All the country people in the
four western provinces, about 400 900
in number, remaining outside the
fortified towns when Weyler's order
was made, were driven into these
towns, and these are the reconcen-
trados. They were the peasantry,
many of them farmers, some land
owners, others renting lands and
owning more or less stock; others
working on estates and cultivating
small patches; AMI even small
patch in that fruitful cline will sup
port family. 1t is but fair to say
that the normal condition of these
people was very different from that
which prevails in this country,
Their standard of comfort and pros
perity was not high, measured by
our own. But according to their
standards and requirements, their
conditions of life were satisfactory
They lived mostly in cabins made
of palm, or in wooden houses. Some
of them had houses of stone, the
blackened walls of which are all that
remain to show that the country was
ever inhabited. The first clause OF
Weyler's order read as follows:
81 order and command:
"'1. All the inhabitants of the
country or outside of the line of for.
tifications of the towns, shall, with
in the period of eight days, cencen.
trate themselves in the towns so &C.
cupied by the troops. Any individ-
ual, who, after the expiration of this
period, is found in the uninhabited
parts, will be considered a rebel and
tried as SUCH
1.-The other three sections forbid
the transportation of provision from
one town to another without per
mission of the military authority
direct the owners of cattle to bring
them into the towns, prescribe thai
the eight days shall be counted from
the publication of the proclamation
to the head town of the municipal
districts, and state that if news Ii
furnished of the enemy which can
be made use of, it will serve as a
recommendation
MANY, doubtless, did not learn Of
this order. Others failed to GRASP
its terrible meaning. Its execution
was left largely to the guerrillas tt
drive in all that had not obeyed, anC
| was informed that in many cases
the torch was applied to their homes
with no notice and the inmates fled
with such clothing as they nigh
have on, their stock and other be
longings being appropriated by the
guerrillas. When they reached thu
towns they were allowed to builC
huts of palm leaves in the suburbs
and vacant places within thu
trochas, and left to live if they could
Their huts are about l0Xl5 feet Ii
size, and for want of space are
usually crowded together very close
ly. They have no floor but tn,
ground, and no furniture, and ever
after a years wear, but little cloth
ing, except such stray substitutes a.
they can extemporize. With large
families, or with more than one II
this little space, the commones
sanitary provisions are impossible
Conditions are uncomfortable il
this respect. Torn from thei
homes, with foul earth, foul air, fou
water, and foul food, or none, wha
won1er that one-half have died, ant
that one-quarter of the living are s,
diseased that they cannot be saved
A form of dropsy is common dis
order resulting from these con
ditions. Little children are still
walking about with arms and chest
terribly emaciated, eyes swollen ant
abdomen bloated to three times tn
natural size. The physicians sa.
these cases are hopeless.
"Deaths in the streets have no
been uncommon. | was told by on
of our Consuls that they have beel
found dead about the markets in tn
morning, where they had crawled
hoping to get some stray bits Of foo
from the early hucksters, and tina
there had been cases where the,
had dropped dead inside the market
surrounded by food. These peopl
were independent and self-support
ing before Weyler's order. The,
are not beggars even now. Their
are plenty of professional beggars i