The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1898-07-23
A TYPICAL TROPICAL CITY.
Santiago, as Our Troops Found It,
a Veritable Disease-Foster-
ing Pest-Hole.
OF BEAUTY STILL SEEN.
But Through War Everything is Now in a
State of DilapidatIon and D~ecay-Four
Hospitals but No sewage System
Cervera's Fleet Sacrificed to Popular
ClanIor.

ClanIOr.
SANTIAGO, July 10, via Kingston, ia
maica, July 20.-Gen. Shafter has had
a thorough examination made of the
sanitary condition of Santiago. The
work was done by DIR. Goodfellow, OF
the generals staff, and by a civilian
physician, DIR. Orlando Dwiker. They
find that although there are at pres
ent but six cases of yellow fever in
the city in addition to two suspects,
the town is ripe for an epidemic. San
tiago and Rio Janeiro are considered
The Greatest Fever Breeding Centers
in the world. This town lacks every
sanitary feature at it's best, and now,
after two months siege, leaving it
dirty and repellant, it is a veritabIe
pest-hole. The awful stenches that
arise from the streets stagger and
choke one. No cordial in Santiago has
the power to wash out this odor from
ones throat.
A Typical Tropical City.
The city of Santiago is a typical
tropical place, with narrow, crooked
streets and low, one-story dwellings
and stores. Many of the houses are
succeed with startling %colors, sky
blue and vivid shades of green pre-
dominating. These, with the red tiles
of the roofs and the quaint verandas,
show evidences of past picturesqueness,
but everything is now in Il state of
dilapidation and decay, and the city is
but a shadow of it's former self.
Absolute Ruins.
The majority of the houses are alb
solute ruins, and public squares, once
green, with fountains playing IN their
center, are now utterly neglected.
The iron fences are broken and rusted,
while the fountains, on account of the
of the water supply, have long
been dry.
Brief Visions of a Happy Past.
But here and there, through the open
doors of more pretentious dwellings,
one meets with the vision of an open
court filled with palms, brilliant-hued
pouchianos and other Towering trees
and plants. 1t is like brief glimpses
Of the happy past, long gone.
There is No Sewage System.
The city drainage is all from the
surface into the harbor and the lower
part of the city, through which much
Of the drainage runs, especially from
poor quarter around the bull ring
to the northwest of the city, is the
breeding center of malaria, typhoid
md other low fevers.
There are Four Hospitals
N the city, the civil hospital, presided
by the sisters OF charity and the
military, Mercedes and Conchas hospi-
tails. In these our hospitals are 1,747
patients, which is a comparatively
small number considering the lack of
food and long siege, but it must be re-
nembered that the reconcentradoes
were never admitted to the hospitals,
md when the notification of the pro-
posed bombardment by our batteries
was received, every patient who could
out was driven into the streets.
Twenty Lepers,
Who were in the civil hospital, were
into the streets, and they have
roaming about ever since. The
argest number of patients are in the
hospital, where are 81 wound
ID Spanish officers and ADJ wounded SOL
Tiers and sailors. In addition, there are
of cases of malaria and dys-
and six cases of yellow fever.
,acrifced His Fleet to the Popular De-
mand.
The sailors were wounded in the
,attles of July 1 and 2. They were
from the ships of Ad miral
,ervera's fleet in order TO assist in re-
the attack of the American
roops by land. These sailors say
hat when the Spanish feet sailed
ut of the harbor half of the
ail0rs and marines on board had been
and working in the trenches
or 4S hours previously. Admiral Ger
'era, they also assert, sacrificed his
leet in obedience to the popular
lamor, both in Spain and Cuba
GUANTANAMO SURRENDERS. |