The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-03-11

HENRY THINKS HIS FORCES
SHOULD BE DOUBLED.
NATIVES COMMIT ACTS OF VIOLENCE
A Soldiers Head Swept from his Shoulders
by One Blow Of Machete. Raid
Upon the Cafes. Stabbed
in The Back.
in The Back.

IN Inc BACK
Chicago, Ills. March 10.-The Tri-
bume tomorrow will print the following
special correspondence from Porto Rico
from Tribune staff correspondent:
San Juan, de Porto Rico, March 1st-
The real situation III Porto Rico is not
understood. People in the States gem
| orally regard Porto Rico as sort of
haven of peace. The War Department
has just requested of General Henry
that he Immediately report how many
regular troops he could spare from the
island.
The One Hundred and Forty-seventh
New York started home last Sunday.
The regular regiments that remain are
so scattered that in many places where
there is necessity for strong force only
Il corporal's guard can be mustered,
and territories where there are continual
mutterings and the greatest evidence
of discomfort at the American rule are
nguarded.
General Henry is in a dilemma. He
has only three regiments of troops
the Eleventh infantry, the Nineteenth
infantry and the Fifth cavalI.y-and
two batteries of the Fifth artillery.
Il need twice the troops / have"
said the General. at his residence at San
Juan. Because of the easy victory of
our troops here in the war and the APP
parent friendliness of the natives to the
American soldiers when they invaded
the island, notion prevails in the
States, that there is little necessity for
| Il strong force to maintain order in the
island. The notion is erroneous.
THE conditions hers, are alarming
These people have been given every OPP
portunity. but they have thrown ii
| aside They are clamoring now for To-
cal self-government. They are no more
| fit for local self-government than | am
| to run n locomotive. More troops are
| needed in the island. Seeds of discon-
| tent planted by professional agitators
| are rapidly growing and can be k pt
down only by a strong military force.
"The i'll feeling between the natives
| and the American troops seems TO grow
stronger every day. The American Off
GERS have to maintain the greatest vigi-
| lance to prevent their men from wreak
| ing vengeance on the natives, and es-
| pecially on the native police, for acts of
violence that they are continually COM
mitted against the troops"
! At Caguay, a small town on the mill
tary road, 25 miles from San Juan,
soldier of the Hundred and Forty
| seventh New York was murdered last
| Saturday night in a manner that illus
| trates the treachery of the natives Pri-
| vate Burke of Company l. had entered
| the Portion Rican Literary Club of Ca
| quay and was sitting at small table
| reading when native slipped up be-
| hind him and with one stroke of IA
machete sharpened to a razor edge
| severed the soldiers head from his body
| and sent it rolling across the floor.
| Another soldier happened into the club
| some time afterward and saw the dis
| membered trunk of the dead man still
| in the chair. with the head lying where
| it had rolled.
| Several Porto Ricans We're standing
| quietly around discussing the matter.
| No one would admit having seen the
| murder committed. Suspicion finally
J fixed upon one man. but when a pro-
vost guard went to arrest him, he had
| fed, and although the entire country
| around Caguay was thoroughly search
| ed, for the murderer, he has not yet
| been found. Only four nights before
| the killing of Burke. the bad blood be-
| tween the natives and the soldiers as
| serted itself in a brutal assault on Pri-
| vate Fitzpatrick. The native police ar
rested Fitzpatrick without Il warrant
| and when he resisted beat him into in
| sensibility.
| The soldiers of the four companies of
the Hundred and Forty-seventh. sta
| toned at Cfguay, waited until night and
| then started out ''to police the town. as
| they called it. Three cafes were ''po-
| Iced" in the most thorough manner
| tables being overturned and mirrors
broken when the officers of the regiment
arrived and quelled the riot persuading
the men to return to the barracks. The
next chapter in the Caguay affair was
the killing of Burke
The troubles at Caguay have been dup
Heated at almost every place on the
island. AT Guayama. soldier was
stabbed in the back by a native the same
night that Private Burke was killed.
The conditions at Ponce since the clash
between the soldiers and native police in
which several Porto Ricans were killed,
have been bordering on open battle be-
Tsween the troops and the natives AT
San Juan a few nights ago, three sailors
from the United States cruiser Panther
Were wounded by bullets from the rifles
lof the native police of the town who, in
attempting to arrest one Of the sailors,