The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-01-03
AMERICAN
CONTROL IN CUBA.
Good Progress Made in Creation Of
Police Force at Havana.
Drastic Changes to Be Made In Courts for
the Punishment Of Crime.

Regime to be Abolished in Fa-
vor of Modern American Meth
ods-Inspector Moulton Conf
dent He Can Make the Cuban
Capital the Most Peaceful City
in the World.
NEW YORK, Jan. "A dispatch to
the World from Havana says:
Good progress has been made in the
creation of a Havana police force. AL
ready several inspectors have been ap-
pointed and more than enough applica-
tons are on file to fill the subordinate
positions and the ranks
Chief of Police Colonel Moulton brings
to his hard task wide business expert
ence and great energy. He has recon-
| nlended drastic changes in the lower
courts to help the speedy punishment
| of crime.
Havana's policing is to be modern.
Each of the twelve precinct stations
will be connected with the central Of
flee by telephone and New York hurry
up wagons will startle pedestrians.
|
tightly-drawn rope which now brings
the prisoners elbows painfully together
behind the back. No more bleeding men
will be marched as butt of abuse
through the narrow streets, nor will
women offenders be bound and hustled
about as animals.
Who each criminal is, where he goes
and what he does will be recorded. Now
I al ,f,f1 hi ic- 7, -
he commits crime or he resumes his
former habits in his former home with
| absolutely no espionage.
| Eighteen hundred application for po-
lice positions have appeared Of these
about LOCO will be accepted. Inspector
McCullagh thinks he can pick enough
good men to make an effective force
| from the start.
There will be chief, Colonel Moulton,
one Deputy Chief eight Inspectors,
twelve Captains, forty-eight Lieuten-
ants. Inspector McCullagh has created
the latter rank here because the rank
sergeant as used in the United States
really means Lieutenant, and is off,
cially recognized as being the equivalent
! of that grade in the United States army
There VIII he forty-eight Sergeants
as well with lower order of duties,
and then the patrolmen. The term
''roundsman'' Mr.. McCullagh considers
| obsolete. and he has dropped it, as
| signing those duties to his Sergeants.
Few American applications have ap-
peared; one of the requirements is that
future Havana policemen must be able
to speak Spanish. By President McKin-
ley's express desire no account is taken
OF the nationality of any applicant Gu
bans and Spaniards are treated with
absolute impartiality.
| Colonel Moulton has recommended to
| General Ludlow that experts be asked
| to report upon changes in the methods
| of procedure in the law courts and in
| the penal code. Under Spanish law an
accused person, after being examined
in the lower courts, could be kept in
prison for three years awaiting trial in
the middle ones.
| The power thus to delay trial has
been used often by corrupt Spanish au-
thorities to mulct the prisoner and his
friends if they have. money. Even for
minor offenses the prisoner may be
| kept seventy-two hours before his case
is called. Inspector McCullagh says:
"They put a man in Jail and then
spend three days finding out who he is.
If he is anybody that's time enough to
see what his family and friends will do
| for him.
| The veteran also says: ''Talk about
your soldier policemen, with rifles; Just
give me the New York policeman's club,
with good courts behind it and I'll guar
antee to keep Havana the most peace
| able city in the world. It's people are
mild and easily handled
Colonel Moulton's future policy as to
the suppression of public immortality,
| the curse of Cuba, will be as General
Ludlow may direct. Probably few
changes will be made at present, al
though the immoral theaters may be
warned to remove certain features.
Colonel Moulton says: 81 shall try to
avoid either extreme and to use plain
common sense in dealing with delicate
questions and customs of three CEN
turies' growth
FLAG RAISED OVER THE WRECK
OF THE MAINE.
HAVANA, Jan. 2.-It developed to-
day that the company of the Indiana
| regiment which waved Cuban flags dur
| ing the parade yesterday was not ar
rested, as cabled last night. Investi-
cation showed that the flags were dis
| tributed to them by Cubans in the
crowd and that the act of waving them
was thoughtless and not prearranged
| Twenty-Five Cuban horsemen, well
mounted and armed, Joined the column
at the Prado, rode to Central Park and
debouched into side street They
aroused considerable enthusiasm.
| Three blue jackets from the Texas at
about half past II yesterday rowed to
the wreck of the Maine, and hoisted a
large Stars and Stripes to the peak of
the wreck. The flag was saluted by the
shipping in the harbor.
! An immense American flag was also
hoisted on top of the 200 foot shears
at the naval dock, where it could be
| seen for miles around
Twenty members of the Patriotica
Junta, in evening dress and wearing
| opera hats, stood with the reviewing
Generals yesterday.
FIRE IN AN ILLINOIS MINE.