Martinsburg W Va evening journal. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1913-1920, 1918-08-02
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what those camps are like, my frier5
but do. Now l shall leave you. ons
needs to be alone at such an bop,
ehW With a pressure of his hama
Colonel Lopez walked away into tho
darkness.
! Judson and his adventurous connt,,
man did not see OReiIly that niph+
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 hoard
from Lopez in the meantime; he vas
sympathetic.
Il am sorry you came all the way
to hear such bad news" he said.
"War is sad, hopeless business"
! "But l haven't given up honep
O'Reilly said. 81 want to stay here
and---and fight"
II inferred as much from what In.
PEI told me-" The general nodded his
white head. swell, you'll mike good
soldier and We shall he glad to have
you.' He extended his hand. and
O'Reil'y took it gratefully.
4
The city of Matanzas was. "paeifiedn
SO ran the boastfu bando Of the eau.
tain general. And this was no exar.
geration. as anyone could see from
! the number of begears there. OF all
his military operations. this "pacfics.
! 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;
I 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
I but the open sky. As for the popula
I ton at large, it was cured of treason
! 1t no longer resisted. even weakly, the
/. law of Spain. The reason was that itlay
dying. Weyler's cure was. simple, eff
cacious--it consisted Of determination,
! swift and pitiless.
4 Poverty had been common in Matan-
j zas, even before the war but now
! there We're so many beggars in the
city that nobody undertook to count
| them. When the refugees began to
] pour in by the thousands and when
it 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 TRANSFERRED 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 ayertaken
! them; they wandered the streets in
aimless bewilderment, fearful of what
blow might next befall. They We're
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 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 We're
starchy and almost indigestibie, From
eating them the children grew pinehed
In limb and face, while their abdomens
bloated hugely. Matanzas became
lpeopled with race Of grotesQuely
misshapen little folks, gnornes with
young bodies, but with faces old and
sick.
OF course disease became epidemic,
for in the leaky novels, dirt-foored
and destitute of any convenience, there
could be no effort at sanitation Con-
Editions became unspeakable.S The chi-
dren died first. then the aged and in
firm. Deaths In the street were not
uncommon; nearly every morning bod
4 les were found beneath the portales.
Starving creatures crept TO the mar
lSet 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 field in cult
walton; nowhere, outside the garrl-
soned towns was a house left stand
! f,,sv Nor nj v ~ Matonza9 the