The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1899-11-21

A telegram from Havana to the Chi
cago Tribune under date of April 20,
says:
Private letters from the interior re-
port wholesale starvation. Some OF
the cases are especially heartrend-
ing. Children are dying in the streets
of Matanzas and babies have been
found dead in the arms of their ex-
hausted mothers.
! have been through Pinar del Rio
province and have seen whole villages
Of living skeletons, in bark huts, pray
ing for death to release them from
their suffering. On one occasion l
was arrested for taking pictures show
ing the character and extent of the
widespread misery, but was released
on showing my credentials. ! manag-
ed to retain the pictures. Gen. Wey-
Ter is selling the cattle of the citizens
for the use of the troops in Santa
Clara. Rafael Rubio an American cit
izen, lost twenty-one head of cattle
IN that way When he complained to
the Spanish authorities and demand
ed pay for them he was told that he
was impudent to ask Spain to pay for
what the insurgents took with inn
punity. The effect of concentrating
the country people in fortified towns
is seen in all its awfulness in Las
Villas, as the Cubans call Santa Clara
province. 1t means the towns San
ia Clara having many cities. Five
OF the cities are of large population.
Santa Clara is in the center Glen
fuegos and Sancti Spiritus are on the
south side and Sagua la Grande and
Remedies on the north. There are
100000 people living in the five dis
tricts, of which these five cities are
the capitals. OF this population $780,
900 lived outside of the cities and viii
lagos. All these have been compelled
10 leave their farms and move into
the cities and fortified towns. In
some of the latter the concentrates
outnumber the original population.
They have no money, and If they had
there is not enough to supply all who
need It,
Bark huts have been built in low
lying places, and they are crowded
with poverty-stricken refugees. They
are half naked, sick from exposure,
and dying of hunger. They are peace
ful, Woodworking people. On their
farms they would be not only self
supporting, but able to supply plenty
OF vegetables, eggs, meat, and fruit to
the starving people of the cities. I'm
der Weyler's policy of concentration
the whole $4,000 persons are suffering
and 10000 are doomed to die for lack
OF food, which they could easily OBJ
tain II allowed to work This policy,
as a war measure, is worse than use
less from the Spanish standpoint, for
1t has forced hundreds of men, who
would have remained at work on their
farms, to join the rebels rather than
be forced to see their families starye
in the cities and towns. In some of
the smaller places of Las Villas the
overcrowding is terrible. Sitiacito,
before the order was given, had 100
people. 1t now contains 1000, includ-
ing soldiers. The farmers ordered in
have built $50 huts and are slowly
dying off. There are a dozen places
like this In the province. Weyler has
had all the cattle killed in the fields
by the guerrillas and left to rot. Not
a pound of meat can be brought In, ex-
cept for the troops. Almost all of the
sugar centrals are points for concen-
tratlon. The owners are not allowed
TO grind, but they must protect their
property. They build forts and soldiers
are put into them. This invokes a
fortified place and the farmers around
move in. They stand a chance of get
ting food now and then, for the plant
er pities them but they are worse off
than those in regular towns, for not a
drop of medicine can be carried to
them. Not druggist dare sell any
drugs or fill prescription to be taxi
EN- outside the regular fortified towns.
IL grain of quinine for suffering
wretch goes out it means death to the
sender IL caught. The insurgents in
arms are much better off than the con-
centrated pacificos, They kin a beef
In the fields when they choose, but
when they have taken what they need
they generally send word to the owner
to come and get the rest of it, or they
try to get 1t to the starving people
around the centrals. The wanton des-
truction of cattle by the Spaniards has
exasperated the ranchmen, many of
whom are Spanish and hitherto loyal.
The loss of cattle, of the sugar crop,
OF millions of dollars worth of sugar
making property is a heavy blow to
the wealth of Santa Clara, but the loss
OF life by thousands of innocent coun-
try people through enforced starvation
by Weyier's orders is an outrage upon
humanity, and should shock the whole
world.