The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1898-04-14

New York. April B--Unlted States Con-
sui Alexander c. Brice, who has just ar
rived here on the steamer Hermann from
Matanzas, speaking OF the steps that led
70 his departure from his post In Cuba
said:
ION April I was notified by General
Lee who sent a special messenger with
the dispatch TO be ready 10 leave Ma
tanzas at a moments notice and that
when received the signal agreed upon
/ was 90 lose no time In getting away
and 10 be sure that did not go by way
Of Havana. He also instructed me 10
notify the consuls al sagua. Clenfuegos
and Santiago de Cuba 70 be ready TO
leave on short notice. The feeling against
Americans has been most bitter OF late.
and lust at the time I received General
Lees message Il was particularly so on
account OF the provisions that arrived
on the steamer Ustein. The captain was
the most scared man I ever saw. The
uewspapermen accompanied him and
when they attempted to pass through the
streets they were nearly mobbed. The
spaniards jeered and spat at them and
with the utmost difiiculty were restrain
ed from doing them bodily harm. They
came to me and told them they had
better stay on the steamer and get out
OF the harbor as soon as possible. They
hurried the unloading OF nearly 800 tons
Of supplies the steamer had brought and
sailed on Monday. began at once 10
distribute the supplies among the starv-
ing reconcentrados and had already Is
sued tickets TO 500 which with their fam
lies represented about 5000 people in the
city alone. There are about 5000 starv-
ing in the province. | kept on handing
out the provisions as fast as / could,
though | had received notice that the
volunteers were going TO kill me and
drag me through the streets. and the
governor sent a messenger twice TO my
Office warning me 10 desist from issuing
any further supplies and to lock up and
20 home. l did not follow his instruc-
tions. but kept at work.
Last Thursday evening about o'clock
after | had finished my work and was
sitting at home alone received a tele-
gram from General Lee which read:
.Brice: Funds for American citizens ex-
hausted. Lee That was the signal and
when | received the message l knew 1
must act quickly. 1t was Holy Thursday
and there were no vehicles to be had
| hurried out afoot and after a while
found Mr. Brinkerhoff and Mr.. Delgado
and notified them Of the news. We got
together and talked the matter over and
after some discussion all decided that
the only way we could get out of the
city alive was to go by steamer. Mr..
Brinkerhoff and myself went to the gov
ernor's palace TO get General Decastro
to wise our passports and when We told
him we were going 10 leave he asked
how We were going to do It.
II told him OF our plans and to show
what control the governor had over the
city and what protection he could guar
antee anyone. he answered: That's
right: slip out as quietly as you can We
then began to pack up what effects we
could gather together hurriedly and made
our final arrangements. Luckily the
Jarlberg happened to be in port taking
on a cargo of sugar and at the time
received General Lees warning she had
her clearance papers and was all ready
to leave l sent word out to the captain
to wait for us as II was our only chance
Of getting away, At 10 o'clock we left
the city. one by one, and went two miles
up the Una river where We loaded our
baggage on small boat, and getting
in ourselves floated down the river and
out into the bay.
Here's where the funny part comes in.
We had been told that there was only
one steamer in the harbor and what do
you suppose We did Ran smack up
against a Spanish steamer, the Saturn
ina and had part of our baggage and
ourselves on board before We found out
our mistake. The captain was not on
board and we only saw two sailors, but
you can bet that we got off that ship
without loss of time. We finally got
aboard the Jarlsberg and at midnight
steamed out of the harbOr. and then all
breathed sigh OF relief, Had there been
an inkling that we were going to leave
every one of MS wou.A have been corpses,
| turned over all my papers to the Brit
ish consul before leaving and also placed
in his hands the authority to continue the
distribution of supplies | had been un-
able TO dispose Of brought the Ameri-
can flag that We used at the consulate
with me-"