The Republican., 1899-04-20
MADRID DURING THE WAR.
Exciting Scenes Described by aQ
American Who Witnessed
Them.

AS long as the popular demonstra-
tions in the streets of the capital and
other great towns were limited to pa
triotic expressions of opinion, the gov
ernment looked on anfdid not care to
interfere actively. 1t dawned upon the
authorities at last that these demon
strations were being used by wire-pull-
ers for other than patriotic purposes.
But matters came to climax when
the war actually broke out, and the
government could no longer let the cap
ital of Spain be night after night under
mob-law for hours, street traffic sus-
pended in the main arteries of COM
munication, and shops and cafes hur-
riedly closed for fear of disturbance,and
theaters nearly empty since the patri-
otic mobs had got in the habit of fore
ing their way into them to insist upon
the band playing the "Cadiz March,"
while all the audience stood and cheered
IN self-defense. The mobs grew nasty
one night, and in the Sevilla and Alcala
streets, the Madrid Broadway, demand
ed that the American emblems be torn
QOWn lIOIu llG lluC OlllCGS vi luC
able Life Assurance society. Their
cries were complied with. Everything
american was.+aken n away, and a notice
put up warning all trespassers that the
land and buildings were mortgaged as
a guaranty especially for Spaniards
whose lives were insured by this for
eign company. The rioters then
smashed the windows of the former Of
fees of the late American dentist Tinker
whose successor, by the by, is an out
and-out Castilian, who will not get
therefor a cent of damages. The New
York insurance office in the Puerta del
Sol Jared no better, and all outward
signs of nationality had to be removed
instantly. The papers, far from con-
demning these eXcesses, coolly said that
the ire of the mobs ought not to be
spent on American offices, but would
far better be aimed at the well-knOwn
residences and persons of representa-
tives of the American press in Madrid.
The government at last thought that
the demonstrations might become very
troublesome for the regency and for its
ministers. 1t elected to put stop to
them one evening when, singularly
enough, the mobs had not been so vio-
lent as usual; only they had thought
fit to cheer themselves hoarse under the
windows of Gen. Weyler, the advocate
of war to the knife, who boasted of hav-
ing asked Canovas del Castillo to let him
remain in Office long enough to exter-
inmate the rebel Cubans and then in
wade the United States with $4,000 vet
Grams. From Weyler's home they at
tempted to go to the corner house of
Carrera de San Geronimo, opposite the
cortes, where Sagasta had been living
for some time. They hissed and yelled
to their hearts content at some dis
tance, kept back by the police and the
civil guards, who charged them with
drawn swords. The mob made by side
streets for the C4nsa de Sevilla, where
they hooted Senior Aguilera. He had
just left Sagasta, after obtaining the as
sent of the cabinet council to surren-
der his powers into the hands of the
military authorities, as he confessed
that he could no longer control the
turbulent elements of the capital.
[ went to the Puerta del Sol some
minutes after the governor had been so
roughly welcomed by the crowd in the
Carrera de San Geronimo. Right
across the Sevilla street were so mount
ed civil guards like motionless statues,
flanked by companies of foot-police,
and beyond l could see the mob surging
about the Cuatro Gales, where four
streets meet. Kisses, whistles and
hooting rose on the night air. Every
balcony was full of people. My tram
way car soon pulled up opposite the
Casino behind seven others, all
whistling vainly for free way The
crowd of well-dressed people and bet
ter-class workmen would not disperse,
and sulkily eXclaimed: ''Get out of the
cars and join us in showing your patri-
otic feelings against these govern
ments." At last, when many of the oc-
cupants of the cars were looking nerv-
Gus, a tramway cosductor happily cried
out: ''The guards are coming!" and
away rushed the patriots.-Arthur
Houghton, in Century.