Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1918-11-14

needs to be alone at such an hour
eh?" With a pressure of his hand,
Colonel Lopez walked away into the
darkness.
Judson and his adventurous country
man did not see O'Reilly that night,
nor, In fact, did anyone. But the next
morning he appeared before General
! Gomez. He was haggard, sick, list
less. The old Porto Rican had heard
from Lopez in the meantime; he was
sympathetic.
Il am sorry you came all the way
to hear such bad news" he said.
"War is a sad, hopeless busir S."
"But 1 haven't given up hope"
o'Reilly said. II want to stay here
and-and fight"
| II 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
i you" He extended his hand, and
O'Reilly took 1t gratefully.
The city Of Matanzas was ''pacified."
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 consplcnously 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 treason !!
1t no longer resisted, even weakly, the
law Of Spain. The reason was that 1t lay
dying. Weylers 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, II
soon transpired that the military
frowned upon everything like organ
: ized charity, and In consequence the
newcomers We're, 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
afmless 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, foi
7 bread, that their little ones might live
Work, however, was even scarcer thar
food, and the time soon came wher
t they crouched upon curbs and door
4 steps, hopeless, beaten, silently re.
proachful of those more fortunate
than they. Their eyes grew big ant
hollow their outstretche1 hands grew
|, gaunt and skinny. The sound Of weep
: ing women and fretting babies be
came common thing to hear.
7 Dogs and cats became choice articles
/; Of diet, until they disappeared. Thu
: government did supply one quality O
food, however; at intervals, 1t distrib
$ uted yucca roots. But these were
starchy and almost indigestible. From
Z eating them the children grew pinchet
IN limb and face. while their ahdomen
8 bloated hugely. Matanzas beIam,
9 peopled with race Of grotesquel.
y misshapen little folks, gnomes will
young bodies, but with faces old ant
e sick.
OF course disease became epidemic
for in the leaky novels, dirt-fooret
+" and destitute of any convenience, ther'
. could be no effort at sanitation. Con
1 ditions became unspeakable. The chill
D dren died first, then the aged and In
4 firm. Deaths in the street were no
II uncommon nearly every morning bod
u les were found beneath the portales
\ Starving creatures crept to the mar
! ket in the hope of begging stray BIZ
of food, and some of them died there
between the empty stalls. The dealt
| wagons, heavy with their daily freight
| rumbled ceaselessly through thu
1 streets, adding to the giant piles o.
I unburied corpses outside the city.
/ Typhoid smallpox, yellow fever
! ragged unchecked. The hospitals wer'
J crowded, and even in them the com
monest necessities were lacking. 1t i
believed that men have returned from
the grave, but no one, either Spaniart
or Cuban, had ever been known t.
return from one of these pesthouses
and, in consequence, those who wer'
stricken preferred to remain and t.
die among their dear ones.
! Yes, Matanzas was pacified. Wey
\ ler's boast was true. Nowhere in tn
entire province was field in cult
walton; nowhere, outside the garri
: soned towns, was house left stand
ing. Nor was the city of Matanzas th
only concentration camp; there wer
a nthprq doftpd thro1Ioh Santa Clara