Owingsville outlook. [volume] (Owingsville, Ky.) 1879-192?, 1899-03-02
FROM CUBA.--Camp nearCardenas

y
Dear Editor: AS it is naturally ex
pected by my friends that | shal
write them letter concerning Cub;
and the Cuban people, and | know
that there is no better way Of il
reaching them than thr, ugh the col.
umns OF your paper. providing you
can spare the space to publish it.
On the 18th day of January the 3d
KY. Regt. sailed out of Savannah,
harbor on board the Minniwaska
transport, bound for Matanzas, Cuba
For three days we were rocked in
the hollow of the oceans lap, and we
soon lost our appetites for hard tack
and beef.
AT sunrise on the 2lst Of January
we steamed into Matanzas bay, a
regiment of hungry and weary sol
diers, dropped anchor just opposite
the old fort at Matanzas, and then
prepared for.breakfast. For the first
time since l have been a soldier l
ate my beef and hard tack with great
relish. At 8 o'clock p. IN. We went
ashore, pitched our dog tents around
the old fort, and lay down to sleep
our first night in Cuban soil.
Matanzas is the second largest
place i'm Cuba. 1t has a population
of eighty thousand. Its streets are
very narrow, its buildings are of an
cient structure, and it still holds to
its ancient styles and customs. We
find it quite different from the i'm
preston we had formed through the
Spanish press of the Cuban people.
There is some wealth as well as pow
erty here. We hear the laugh of
gaiety AMI pleasure mingling with
the cry Of the destitute and starving
for bread. The most Of the wealth
here is in the hands of the Spaniards.
| was out at the old hospital that the
Spanish used just in the edge of Ma
tanzas. l found an old well about 10
feet deep filled up with human bones.
They never buried the Cubans when
they killed them; just threw them
into the well or Matanzas bay. Just
back of Matanzas is one of the most
beautiful valleys l ever saw. The
Cubans call it the VALLEY OF Death"
The Spanish soldiers murdered a
number of Cubans there. 1t is very
fertile valley. 1t is filed with CO.
cohnut, palm, banana and orange
trees, making it look very different
from the name it wears.
In eight days after arriving at Ma
tanzas we were ordered to Cardenas,
Cuba; that is, the 2d Bait, contain
ing four companies as follows: +, B,
NJ and l.. The distance from Matan-
zas to Cardenas is one hundred miles,
which we Travelled by rail. The cars
which we rode in were common
freight cars. They had port holes all
around them which the Spanish used
caring the war to shoot from. The
@gine was fired with wood and run
very slow, but gave us n better chance
TO get view OF the country. The
scars of the war were very plain to
be seen all along our route.
A big heap of ashes marked the
place where stood fine and costly
mansions. Sugar plantations are
grown up in weeds. The whole coun-
try looked like u deserted plain. We
arrived in Cardenas and made camp
the next day. Much to our surprise
we found it to be much nicer place
than Matanzas. We have a nicer
camp ground here, situated on the
Cardenas bay, where We get the fresh
sea breeze. Ii is very healthy place
here. Cardenas has a population of
twenty-five thousand. Its people are
farther advanced every way than
they were in Matanzas. They are
more intelligent and civilized than
any place have ever been in Cuba.
They have a very fine school build
ing here. They have five professors
teaching the English language, and
all are very anxious to learn to speak
English. think it will be quite a
while before they will be able to form
a stable government for themselves.
There are two classes here. The in
telligent and enlightened want the
Island to remain under the military
control of America, and the other
class want home rule of their own.
So it is very hard to tell what they
will do. General Gomez command
er-in-chief Of the Cuban army, was
here the 18th of February and we
passed in review before him. There
was large crowd of Cubans here to
see him. Some of the Cuban soldiers
were here.
Everything here is very costly.
Coffee is SOC per pound, meat 81 per
h., eggs lOc apiece. Everything else
is high in proportion excepting whis-
ky; it is lOc per quart. The young
women are very pretty. They visit
our camp every day. They never
wear anything on their heads, and all
of them smoke cigarettes. They don't
do anything but attend balls. They
have one every Sunday night. The
old Spanish barracks here are used
by the U. S. for commissary store,
where they issue out food for the
poor people in the city. They get