The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1906-08-28
FIGHTING HAS BEGUN
BY REBELS IN CUBA
PaIma's Party Uneasy at Affairs
in PinaT del Rio.
BAEDERAS WHIPPED AT HAVANA
Rural Guards Raw and Hardly Able
to Cope With the Rowing Insur.
gents---Unrest in Government
Americans Not MoIested.

Havana, Cuba. The rural guards
under command Of General Acosta
had an engagement with force Of
insurgents under the negro veteran
General Banderas, near Hoyo Color
ado. twenty miles from Havana. AT
ter some lighting the rebels shouted
With machetes!1 theslgnal for close
fighting The guards then charged
and the rebels fed.
Eleven carloads of troops were de.
trained at scattered points in H.-
vana, Santa Clara and Matanzas
provinces. The fear was expressed
that at no point was the force of ru-
raj guards large enough to cope with
strong band of insurgents. Fur
thermore, it was asserted, most of
the guards never had been under fire.
However, a detachment in Havana
province routed a part of Banderas'
band, killing one insurgent. On the
other hand insurgents occupied
Guines, the centre of the American
truck farming region, without oppo-
sition. They did not modest the
Americans.
Friends of the Government said
they believed the instruction in
Western Cuba was as big as it would
be- They volunteered the view that
the insurgents lacked courage to at
tack posts of Importance, no matter
how weak the rural guards might be.
Yet unofficial reports of lighting in
Pinar del Rio poured into the capital.
n Il
not confirm them. Neither would 1T
affirm or deny that General Demetrio
Castillo's nephew, Rafael Duany, was
organizing an insurgent movement
in Santiago Province. General Cas-
tilIo and Senior j g. Gomez, who
were arrested in that city, were
brought here and clapped into jail
Incidents in the capital and else
where betrayed an emphatic spirit of
unrest on the part of the administra-
ton in respect of the insurrectionary
movements Conflicting statements
were made about Justice O'Farrell,
who not only is Secretary of State,
but of late has been Acting Secretary
of the Interior. 1t was announced
officially that he had resigned from
the Cabinet in pet because Presi.
uSut dlAild lcDuhSu LII AOl AOt
knowing what was going on in tbs
disaffected parts of the island
O'Farrell said only three insured
tionary movements were afoot, init.
mating that was negligible quantity
for Cuba. He added the Govern.
ment's prospects of permanence were
bright. Nevertheless, it was learned
positively from Yaguajay, Province
<f
guel Gomez had left that point at the
head of band of insurgents. Gomez
was a candidate for the Presidency
and his influence is feared by Palma
Orders were rushed to the Govern
ment of Santa Clara Province to ar
rest him without delay Juan Men.
cia, the Generals secretary, was ar
rested in Guanabacoa, where the POI
lice had been watching him since
February last on account of the con-
nection he had with camp of insur-
gents captured by the rural guards.
Despite O'Farrell's expression OF
optimism, too, it was noticeable that
the Government was busy recruiting
for the rural guards. Urgent invita-
tions were issued to young men to
enlist in that command, and 1t was
fSpOItSu That III a5FSidA iuStedhSoS tAS
Government had not confined its pol
icy to invitations O'FarrelPs alleged
confidence was not to be reconciled
easily with the manifest anxiety of
practically all the other members of
the Cabinet. 1t was said President
Palma was resolved to arrest states
men and soldiers right and left rath-
er than run the smallest risk of hay-
ing his Governmentovertu There
was no question that dozens of ar
rests would be made, and it was ru-
mored the President had sent in
structions to police chiefs throughout
the island to gather all suspected
persons in a dragnet Praise Of
President Palma's prompt policy was
approved by conservatives.