Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-04-03
CORRUPTION STILL RULES IN THE
COURTS OF CUBA.
BROOKE TO CLEAN THEM OUT
PRISONERS AT MERCY OF UNsCRUP.
ULOUS JUDGES.
General Gomez. in a Letter to His
Wife, Reviews His Differences
With Cuban Assembly-Con-
diet Between Police and
American Marines.

| HAVANA, April 2.-To- day, as under the |
| Spanish regime. bribery and fraud direct |
| the Cuban courts This is the firm conVic-
| ton of the military administration. Gov
ernor General Brooke is taking the matter
up and intends to clean out the corruption,
| to revise the judicial procedure, to change
| the court personnel and to abolish the bar
| barous practice of incommunicado, by
which a Judge may imprison for life per-
son ignorant of the accusation against him
| and of the names of his accusers.
| It is true that the statutes allow only
| three days detention incommunicado, put
| a Judge under the practice that has grown
up. may make a new commitment at the
| expiration of the third day; another at
| the expiration of the sixth, and so on, with
| out limit.
More than this, the evidence in criminal
cases is taken by clerks, who, for con-
| sideration, write into the testimony Things
| never uttered, thus often making the pest
| friends of the accused appear to condemn
him Apparently the whole crminai anu
civil systems have been arranged SO as 10
make it easy to buy and sell Justice.
General Maxine Gomez. in long letter
directed to his wife in Santo Domingo, re-
views his differences with the So called mil
| itarv assembly. He begins by describing
the situation as it was when Robert +.
Porter. as the special representative OF
President Mckinley, visited Cuba a1ter the
assembly's representatives at Wasnlnston
had obtained a promise OF sS'VW"" hoiii
the president The writer, proceeding, says
..1'bis action on the part Of the assemb-
,y,e committee, l approved 1t was then
that Mr.. Porter appeared and asked me-
| as scommander-in-chief. to decide TO accept
| the sSOOOOOO, to aid in its distributor anu
in the disarming of the army, ana 10 pro-
ceed forthwith to Havana to ASSIST the
United States military governor, Heherai
Brooke agreed, and on arriving al
Havana T conferred with General Brooke
concerning the payment and the disarm-
ament. 1t was decided that General Brooke
| should request Washington to ship to Cupa
the ss,OoO,OOO which had been obtained by
the representatives Of the assembly.
saw to the adjustment of all the questions
, that led up to the termination Oh the riuic>
| ,llous armed situation and began 10 en-
: tertain hope of an early return to Santo
Domingo.
! 1.-THE assembly then called upon me to
!, visit its president, saying that the object
| sought was an unofficial exchange OF ideas.
But they placed me upon the bench OF the
: accused, my crime being that 1 was in
! clined to accept the 100000 which the as
/. sembly itself, through its representatives,
1 had induced President Mckinley to prom
ise matter as to which 1 had not been
t consulted. 1t appeared that 1 had broken
off negotiations for s1S,0oOoOO. To all this
X I replied that / had acted in the best
faith, but that nothing had been lost, as
would withdraw the acceptance I had
e given. They then requested me to array
d myself on their side. in order to give
r | strength to their resolutions. 1 answered
that had always done SO, and would con-
. | tinue to do SO, except in cases where the
Y course of the assembly was opposed to
: my conscience, to my sense of the justice
and to my idea of the best interests OF
e Cuba; s,,u Tho ,...orv rnae- cons,dera-
e ton, l said l had no hope of obtaining
g more than So 1000, 600 from the United States.
= and disapproved asking charity, contend
a loan, for which the assembly lacked ad-
|. pointed out that the soldiers could not
burden upon the people of Cuba and that
e longer delay appeared to me to be cruel.
(. 1.-THE conference ended without accom-
l. plishing anything. l saw 1 could not make
l. myself understood by the assembly and de.
s cided not to be mixed up in its doings ou,
to await developmentds;a d;a Al few ra days later later
/. me and said that several millionaires stood
a ready to facilitate a loan of many millions
ot my my cooperation. COO answered that 1 could
:. not consider any proposition Of the kind
ID would be ready to lend money without {
re guarantee. My visitors replied that th'
1T city council could arrange guarantee
as Then a committee of the assembly ap
y preached me. asking me to support tn
De assembly's efforts to obtain a loan. T,
IN this 1 replied that Cuba could not make ;
7: loan, as she lacked the necessity author
It ity The next day the assembly depose'
n me. 1 consider that 1 have acted hon
iie orably and my strongest desire now is t.
.. Late this, afternoon a slight conflict &C
ct ea CURED at La Machina wharf between M tn
Of Resolute The appearance of General Lud
ey low and the police reserves quelled the dis
we We're Sa1o more or less intoxicated, that one
them raised a row, that the police inter
! fered and. that, thereupon. the companion
- of the Intoxicated marine set upon the po
,e Several shots were fired before the ar
ral of ee nnder c6ef IN
marines returned to the Resolute and !
Wss waunaed at In the a
ed by the United States military authoritie:
I'll as customs receipts. OF this amount s.
rs, 100000 has been spent, the city OF Hayan
ssftns East proVinctal aha e governor @ % receive
n " spanish M gold, and especially silver, ar
he going abroad so that Cuba's treasury keep
lly out Of circulation from 10 to 10 per cent {
IIy the currency in the island; Silver & Is AZ AZ
blockade. it has now risen to 90 on the ba
at sis Of the local value Of the centen, s53
6 Change is scarce and there Is little Amer
rs | can fractional currency circulated. Amer
,d ican bills however, are often to be met, an
nd prices are going on the American gol
mi basis.
n' Agricultural conditions throughout tn
~, country are improving. The tobacco Gro
re re is good and Guines. the market garden {
nd Havana will put on the market in fe
nI days 10000 barrels of Irish potatoes at
inn a barrel. and 10000 pounds of onions at
He cents pound. A large proportion of bot
ha iad n
uS uS through the commissary department
es. Postmaster Thompson has been installe
50 sc. in his official duties. and the militar
'te branch of the postal service has been abo
r,o ished in Havana. 1t will soon be abolishe
ri; | at other places.
ed |
,pe ROsserfs Appreciahoh Oh Supa.
uld From the baltimore Sum-
Ganeral Thomas L. ROsSer. who Is no