The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-01-12
JOINING THE PATRIOTS.
5000 INsURG ENT RECRUITS FROM
SINTJ1GO DE CDBA.
balanced by tits Military DisasterA-The
Autononist Lenders Haven't n Cent OF
Money TO Hun the New Government,

Gen. Pnndo Said TO Have Been Mentally Un-
balanced by Ills Military DisasterA-The
Autonomist L-ndcrs Haven't n Cent or
Money TO Hun the New Government.
HAVANA, Jan. s.-From the cities of Santiago
do Cuba, Manzanillo, and Guantanamo over
5000 persons have Joined the ranks Of The pa
triots. among them n good many Spanish SOL
dicrs. All the soldiers in tho battalion of fire.
men of Santiago do Cuba are among the mum.
Der. Only the principal officers of the battalion
remain In tho city. A gentleman just arrived
from there says that whole families have left
the town to join the armies OF Gems. Garcia and
Rabi, bidding good-by TO their friends with the
greatest Joy and confident of the speedy triumph
OF the revolution.
This state Of affairs and tho recent military
failures of Gen. Pnndo at tho Cauto River, are
said to have affected his mind. He is suffering
from Authorizations day and night and acts
very strangely. 1t is reported that sometimes
he suddenly gets up in the night and orders q
general arlarm to call his troops to battle. Tho
soldiers, who arc tired out by the long
marches of tho day, are very much dis
gusted when they find that n few min
utes after they take their arms and get
ready to start, they receive another order to go
to sleep again and they know that all this is the
result of Pando's nightmare. His friends and
physicians advise the General to take a rest, but
no refuses to do so. He is killing his troops
with useless marches and counter-marches. 1t
| appears that after his last defeats in Santiago de
Cuba he considers 1t necessary to fight endlessly
until he attains a victory.
His plan of building Spanish forts at tho en-
trance Of the Cauto River is considered by the
Spanish military engineers as sheer folly. Even
II tho Cubans would allow him to do 80, the
neighborhood of the river is such q focus of
malaria that the Spanish troops cannot stay
there and live.
A Spanish Colonel, just returned from Man
zanillo, reports tho sanitary condition of tho
Spanish troops there as really terrible. His
own words are: spain has no army there, but
thousands OF dying men, Those who can walk
with their arms in their hands have the APP
pearancc of ghosts, SO pale and emaciated arc
they, owing to repeated attacks of fever. In
tho military hospital Of Santiago dc Cuba city
over 5000 Spanish soldiers are sick. At Man
Zanillo there are over 1000 invalids. The gen
eral opinion among all military men coming
from there is that Spain can never reconquer
the eastern part of the island.
The true cause of the recall to Spain OF Gen.
SeRura is that he lost n valuable convoy near
ManZanillo in his last engagement there, which
was officially reported by him to boa great VIC
tory.
plight. The Spanish Government closed the last
budget leaving unpaid all the obligations of the
treasury from July l. Tho Autonomists. must
needs open their budget with the responsibility
VI lHtSe utUlb ulOn lIclT SnbuIueTS, anu llltTt 10
not n cent in the treasury and no means of rails
INK money. Spain merely assumes to meet the
expenses of the army, which now amounts to
some 81 900 n day, Il burden which that ma
ton could hardly support very long If it wero
not that the greater part of the military obliga-
tions remain unpaid.
The rumor is spreading in town that Gen.
Blanco will try to bring about a peace confer
ence with Gen. Garcia. The report is not be.
lieved any more than tho earlier statement pub
lished in New York that n conference between
Gems. Blanco and Gomez would take place; but
both canards came straight from the Office OF
Secretary Congosto.
On Wednesday, Jan. 10. the wife of the well.
known Cuban leader Jose Rogue will arrive
in New York from Havana. The unfortunate
woman has been seventeen months in prison for
the crime of being the wife of a Cuban in arms.
During three months she suffered incomuni-
cddd all the vigorous treatment of that situa-
tion in the Spanish jails. She could not
converse with anybody, not even with her
guard. She was not allowed to write,
and her food was placed on the
floor for her. When she was released. after
many nardships, to which, she said, death was
q hundred times preferable. a new era Of suffer-
ings began for her. The agents of Gen. Blanco
endeavOred to induce her, first with promises
and then with threats. to 80 to her husband and
make him surrender and accept autonomy.
Fearing more troubles tho poor woman gave a
preteNt for abandoning the island, and sailed
to-day for New York.