The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1918-08-15
CHAPTER xIII-continued.


Ill
II inferred as much from what Lo-
PEI told me-" The general nodded his
white head. ''WeII, you'll make a good
soldier, and we shall be glad to have
you" He extended his hand, and
O'Reilly took 1t gratefully.
The city of Matanzas was 'pacif1ed."
So ran the boastfuI bando of the cap
tain general. And this was no exag-
geretion, as anyone could see from
the number Of beggars there. OF all
his military operations, this ''pacifica-
tIop'' 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 it's
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, 1t was cured of treason
1t 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 pitiiess.
: 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 Ia by the thousands, and when
# 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, 1t
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
eimless bewilderment, fearful of what
blow might next befall. They were
not used to begging, and therefore
they did not often implOre aims; but
an 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-
proachfui 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 a 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
peopIed with a 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-fioOred
and destitute OF any convenience, there
could be no effort ar sanitation. Con-
ditiOnS became unspeakable. The chill
dren 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 a stray bit
OF food, and some of them died there,
between the empty stalls. The death
wagons, heavy with their daily freight
runlbled ceaselessly through the
streets, adding to the giant piles OF
unburied cOrpses outside the city.
Typhoid. smallpox. yellow fever
ragged unchecked. The hospitSIs were
crowded, and even in them the com
rnonest necessities we're lacking. 1t is
believed that Hen have returned from
the grave. Eur no one. either Spaniard
or CSzsan, had ever been known to
return from one Of these pesthouses
and, IN consequence, those who were
stricken preferred to remain and tC
die among their dear ones.
Yes. Matanzas was pacIf1ed. Wey
ler's boast was true. Nowhere in the
entire province was a field In cult
walton: nowhere. outside the garri
soned towns, was a house left stand
ing. Nor was the city OF Matanzas th'
only concentration camp; there were
others dotted through Santa Clara
Habana and Pinar del Rio. In then
half a million people cried for food
Nruly no rebellious land was eve
more completely pacihed than this, n,
peoples spirits ever more completed,
icrushed.