The Penn's Grove record., 1906-08-24
FIGHTING HAS BEGUN .
by REBELS IN CUBA
faIma's Party Uneasy at Affairs
I as. in Pinar del Rio.
BANDERAs WHIPPED AT HAVANA

Rural Guards Raw and Hardly Able
to Cope With the Rowing Insur-
gents-Unrest in Governments
Americans Not Molcsted.
Havana, Cuba.-The rural guards
under command of General Acosta
had an engagement with a force of
insurgents under the negro veteran,
General Banderas, near Hoyo Color
ado, twenty miles from Havana. At
ter some fighting the rebels shouted
with machetes." the signal for close
fighting. The guards then charged
and the rebels fled.
Eleven carloads of troops were de-
trained at scattered points in Ha-
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
a strong band of insurgents. Fur
thermore, it vas 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
hesinsurgents lacked courage to at
tack posts of Importance, no matter
how weak the rural guards might be.
Yet unofficial reports of fighting i'll
Pinar del Rio poured into the capital.
The Government would not or could
no. confirm them. Neither would it
affirm or deny that General Demetrio
Castillo's nephew, Rafael Duany, was
organizing an insurgent movement
in Santiago Province. General Cas-
tillo 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 discretionary.
IN CDlOtto. SOAll1CllLS OldIOlINAlo
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 a pet because Presi-
dent Palma rebuked him for not
knowing what vas going OH in the
disaffected parts of the island.
O'Farrell said only three insurrec-
tionary movements were afoot, init
mating that was a negligible quantity
for Cuba. He added the Govern
ment's prospects of permanence were
bright. Nevertheless, it was learned
positively from Yaguajay, Province
of Santa Clara, that General Jose Mi
guel Gomez had left that point at the
head of a 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 po-
lice had been watching him since
February last on account of the con-
nection he had with a 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-
tons were issued to young men to
enlist in that command, and 1t was
reported that in several instances the
Government had not confined its POI
icy to invitations. O'Farrells 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 hav-
ing his Observation-Disclosures. There
a 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.