Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1918-06-25
CHAPTER XIlI-Continued.

!
II
81 inferred as much from what Lo-
PEE told me-" The general nodded his
white head "Well, you'll make good
soldier, and we shall be glad to have
you" He extended his hand. and
O'Reilly took it gratefully.
The city of Matanzas was ''pa Cited"
So ran the bOastful bando of the cap
tain general. And this was no exag-
geration. as anyone could see from
the number of beggars there. OF all
his military operations, this ''pacifica-
ton" of the western towns and prov
inces was the most conspicuously sue
cessful and the one which gave Valeri-
anO Weyler the keeneSt satisfaction;
for nowhere did the rebellion lift its
head-eXcept, perhaps, among the
ranks of those disaffected men who hid
in the hills, with nothing above them
but the open sky. AS for the popula-
ton at large, it was cured of treasoni
It no longer resisted, even weakly, the
law Of Spain. The reason was that it lay
dying, Weyler's cure was simple, eff
cacious-it consisted of determination,
swift and pitiless.
Poverty had been common in Matan-
zas, even before the war, but now
there were so many beggars in the
city that nobody undertook to count
them. When the refugees began to
pour In by the thousands, and when
1t became apparent that the govern
ment intended to let them Starve, the
better citizens undertook an effort at
relief; but times were hard, food was
scarce, and prices high Moreover, it
soon transpired that the military
frowned upon everything like organ
lied charity, and in consequence the
newcomers were, perforce, abandoned
TO their own devices. These country
people were dumb and terrified at the
misfortunes which had overtaken
them; they wandered the streets in
aimless bewilderment, fearful of what
blow might next befall. They were
not used to begging, and therefore
they did not often implore aims; but
all day long they asked for work, for
bread, that their little ones might live.
Work however, was even Scarcer than
food, and the time soon came when
they crouched upon curbs and door
steps, hopeless, beaten, silently re-
proaChful of those more fortunate
than they. Their eyes grew big and
hollow; their outstretched hands grew
gaunt and skinny The sound of weep
ing women and fretting babies be-
came q common thing to hear.
Dogs and cats became choice articles
of diet until they disappeared. The
government did supply one quality of
food, however; at Intervals, it distrib-
uted yucca roots. But these were
starchy and almost indigestible. From
eating them the children grew pinched
in limb and face, while their abdomens
bloated hugely. MatanzaS became
peopled with race of grotesquely
misshapen little folks, gnomes with
young bodies, but with faces old and
sick
OF course disease became epidemic,
for in the leaky novels, dirt-floored
and destitute of any convenience, there
could be no effort at sanitation. Con-
ditions became unspeakable. The chill
iren died first, then the aged and in
firm. Deaths in the street were not
uncommon; nearly every morning bod
les were found beneath the portales.
Starving creatures crept to the mar
ket in the hope of begging stray bit
Of food, and some of them died there,
between the empty stalls. The death
wagons. heavy with their daily freight.
rumbled ceaselessly through the
streets, adding TO the giant piles of
unburied corpses outside the city.
Typhoid. smallpox. yellow fever,
ragged unchecked. The hospitals were
crowded, and even In them the. COM
monest necessities were lacking 1t is
believed that men have returned from
the grave. but no one, either Spaniard
or Cuban. had ever been known to
return from one of these pesthouses,
and, in consequence, those who were
stricken preferred TO remain and TO
die among their dear ones.
Yes, Matanzas was pacified Wey.
ler's boast was true. Nowhere in the
entire province was a field in cult
walton; nowhere, outside the garri-
Eoned towns, was house left stand
ing. Nor was the city of Matanzas the
only concentration camp; there were
others dotted through Santa Clara,
Habana and Pinar del Rio. In them
half million people cried for food
Truly no rebellious land was ever
more completely pacified than this, no
peoples spirits ever more completely
crushed
Into Matanzas, city of beggary and
Death. came Rosa Varona and her two
negro companions. looking for relief
They made the journey without mis-
hap, for they were too destitute to
warrant plundering. and RoSa's dis
guiSe concealed what charms remained
to her. But once they had entered the
city. what an awakeningl What suf-
fering. what poverty, what rags they
Eawl The three of theBl grew weak
with dismay at the horror of it all
but there was no retreat.
Asensio bgilt a makeshift shelter
close under La Cumbre-frora 1t the
s,,s.o