The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-09-29
CUBAN FUSS SEEN
FROM The INSIDE.
Fergus, Falls Boy in Business
There Writes of the. Strained
4. s.. i Relations.
Special to The Journal.

Special to The Journal. Il
Fergus Falls, Mimi, Sept. 29.-J. G..
Durrell has received two letters from
his son, j. H. Durrell, who is engaged
Arayo Arenas, where the, young man
and his partner are putting in a brick
yard, and the second from the, city of
Havana Arayo Arenas is suburb of
Havana, being only five or six miles
out. The letter gives an idea of the
strength of the contending forces, and
the utter helplessness Of the Palma gov
I ernment:
Visit to the Battlefield.
Arrayo Arenas, Cuba, Sept. 20.
Dear Father: I have been waiting
several days to write you, but things
have been at something Of standstill
We are back from Havana and have
been here for three days. We got
here just in time to see the governs
they got at Wajay. They lost about
fifty in killed and wounded, which is
dago battles. ~ F Fl nO following vg ' day
Lewis and I went over the battlefield
which is only a short distance from
here, and found lots of dead horses and
got some souvenirs. The men killed
were mostly chopped up with machetes
Neither side can shoot. The fight took
place In a palm forest, and while there
were few bullet holes as far down on
their trunks as ten feet, the tops were
full Of bullets. The government troops
| Ietreated to the city, and the rebels
followed them but short distance and
won't into camp. .
The armistice was declared the same
day to await the arrival of Taft and
Bacon, SO neither side is doing any
fighting near here now. Palma and
his gang of boodlers are staying inside
! Havana and the rebels are marching
| and massing their troops west of the
city here at Arayo Arenas, preparatory
to attacking from this side, if peace ne
gotiations fail. The government has
$500 troops in Havana.
There are now in the various rebel
camps, all within a radius of two
miles of our place, 5000 men and Pine
Guerra will arrive tomorrow with from
5000 to ~ 900 more. Now, I do not
| outcome, as I may fall down, but my
guess is that this war will only be set
tied one way, and that is by American
intervention. The rebels have Havana
| In their hands right now, as soon as
| they care to walk in, but do not think
| the Palma outfit will give up without
| a desperate attempt to give their off
| ces and their country back to the
| United States.
| President Roosevelt IS message was 9
| good one, but if he thinks he can estab
fish permanent peace here without 9
feW American Krags to keep order he
IS badly mistaken and will live to find
1t out. They have no idea Of patri
otlsm and will not, any more than the
called) submit, to being governed bJ
their own people unless backed by
United States troops. Thew have
lot of respect for the latter, tho, anG
II troops are landed, I think that all
VIII lay down their arms and not take
them up again until they are with
drawn, ffour president is so foolish As
! to. withdraw them. IL - ~
My wife and I went aboard one Of
the battleships and were, shown over r
by the captain himself. We thought him
q. jolly good fellow, and.;he certainly
ga treat us ri ght, but when we saw
MN and his first lieutenant; riding bach
ana forth in front of Mr.. Vaughn Z
residence in the Vedado the FOLLOWING
afternoon, both miserably drunk an;
guarded by squad Of Palma 8 raga
muffin police on horseback, drunk. too
we changed our minds They did make
a nice bunch, but the Havana naner,
were charitable and while they referred
to- the incident, they. suppressed The
I have heard nothing from Havana
today, as our paper did not get thru
am gong IN tomorrow on business
and TINS afternoon am going out tt
fAeosta g camp to get some pictures 81
Arenas last night. He IS the presiden,
OF the rebel government. The town j:
full of rebels all the time. They arr
getting their horses shod and laying ir
provisions and getting ready for bat
tie. All have talked to have no faitl
In peace unless the American govern
ment intervenes. a
We are holding back on our bricl
business as, with prospects Of a battle
on the place, we clio not care to make
any improvements. We think. how
ever, that this will all be ended within
q week or ten days. If they do not gel
down to business soon we are going K
be cramped for something to eat. You,
son. j. II. Durrell.
s-==: Property Burning Promised
The second letter is written in Ha
vana itself, and is something of ;
postscript to the first. It reads:
, Havana, Cuba, Sept. 21.-Dea
rather: L got into the city this morn
ing and the first three miles I rode thr,
a, lane of mounted rebels. There arr
thousands Of them consolidated. and ont
OF them in formed me that they were
going into camp at Mariana, wher,
Pine Guerra and his forces are to ioi1
them. You ought to have seen the gov
eminent police forces who were guard
ing the Mariana bridge scatter whe,
! the rebels appeared. There are six &
our warships in the harbor now, amor.
them the Louisiana. Interventio11
seems sure, and if so, we will soon b,
on the sunny side Of Easy street. TIL,
rebels Informed me last night that i
was very likely they would commend,
to burn property the first Of next weel
II the United States refused to inter
vene. They say our home will 90 bu
! that they will give us plenty Of tim,
to get away and take all our persona
belongings with us, and will conduct Il
/ safely to Havana.
the American flag at our tobacco Man
tation and this has protected it thu
far. We did this to show that it wa
1.-THE property Of Americans.
r Brigadier General Acosta Of tn
rebel forces is one of our neighbors AM
Trends, so we are not losing any sleep
and anyway, feel sure that America
troops Will be landed very soon. You
: son, u n. d
MADISON STORES ROBBED