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About The Valentine Democrat. (Valentine, Cherry Co., Neb.) 1896-1898 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 11, 1898)
K f i A A MOPS 1 DB Total Obliteration of Shatters Men Threatened WHOLE ARMY IS SICK Not a Perfectly Well Man Among Ameri can Troops at Santiago War Department Finally Awakens to Necessity of Action Sufferinc Sol diers to Be Sent North as Rapidly as Possible Are to Be Transported to Montauk Point I T Sensational Petition Signed by All the Leading Officers at Santiago Washington special Gen Shafters army will be brought home to the United States as rapidly as possible Information that the division commanders at Santiago led by Col The odore Roosevelt had addressed a letter to Gen Shatter urging the immediate with drawal of the Fifth corps from Cuba was cantained in a dispatch which was carried to the White House after 1 oclock Thurs- day morning and a council of war was held at once when the full purport of the letter became known In the statement presented to Shatter by Roosevelt and which is indorsed by all the general officers at Santiago it is the declared belief that half the army will die if kept in Cuba and that the men must be sent north to save their lives For some days back Gen Shafters re ports of the sickness in his army have been alarming Nearly one fifth of his men are in the hospitals Most of them are disabled by malarial fever Fortu nately there are not many cases of yellow fever as yet but Col lloosevelt alleges that these figures distressing as they are do not give an adequate idea of the con dition of the army He states that not 10 per cent are fit for active work and that the men are so weakened by mala rial fevers that if a genuine yellow fever epidemic were to break out it would sweep through them like fire through stub ble The opinion has been generally held that if the army were moved to higher and healthier camps in the interior its sanitary condition would improve at once Col Roosevelt is of a contrary opinion He asserts that every shifting of camp doubles the sick rate in our present weak ened condition That is the men are so run down that the labor involved in mov ing camp is too much for many of them He states also that the interior is rath er worse than the coast and that our present camps are as healthy as any camps at this end of the island can be The sick lists show that those camps are most unhealthy Col Roosevelt declares that if the San tiago troops with the exception of the hnmunes are sent north in six weeks the malaria will be out of their systems and r LIGHT nu - LkJ1s3aaS TCC House on tSSSW LIGHTHOUSE MONTAUK POINT they will be ready for a fall campaign From present appearances there will not be one but in either event the army should be moved It had been intended for some time that the Santiago troops should be withdrawn as soon as the yellow fever should be stamped out the War Department believ ing that the disease could be overcome without too great cos of life Steps had been taken for the immediate movement of a part of the troops an order having been prepared directing that all of the cavalry forces at Santiago and all of those at Tampa except the Fifth regu lars and the First Ohio volunteers be moved to Montauk Point without delay The council of leading officers of the War and Navy Departments held at the White House was called to consider the withdrawal of all the military forces in Santiago as promptly as possible in the light of the revelations made by Col Roosevelt and the other officers It was decided after some discussion that the Santiago troops should be transported to Montauk Point with as little delay as pos sible In accordance with Secretary Algers order Gen Shafters corps numbering 21000 men exclusive of the 4000 suffer ing from fever who will have to remain in Cuba until they are convalescent will be moved to Montauk Point as soon as transportation can be secured and until the evacuation by the Spanish will permit of a reduction in the garrison of Santiago The camps at Montauk Point are in read iness for occupation When Shafters army has evacuated the province Santiago will be turned over to the First and Second United States volunteer infantry regiments immunes commanded by Cols Roche and Hood The Third and Fifth immune regiments Col P H Ray and Col Herbert Sar geant have also been ordered to Santiago and will soon depart Two other immune regiments yet to be selected will be or dered to embark in a few days Four more immune regiments are in process of organization and will be sent to Santiago if those now under orders prove inade quate in maintaining a garrison at the provincial capital now under control of Americans In Secretary Algers order the fact is mentioned that Shatters army will re main at Montauk Point until fall and will then be used in the campaign against Havana This confuses persons not fa miliar with army affairs but military offi cials explain that this phase of the order was compiled in accordance with the orig inal plans of campaign in which no change will be made until peace is de clared SMJWfef Algers Statement Defends His Con nection with Transport Concho Gen Shatter is released from all blame in sending convalescent soldiers from Santiago in the filthy transport Concho In a statement signed by Secretary Alger It is said that the commander of the Con cho did not report to Shatter that he need ed water The transports were given no shelter from the storms while at anchor off the Cuban coast and this accounts in i measure for their bad condition Sec retary Algers statement is based on the report of Col Charles Heyl of the inspec tor generals office Coi Ileyl made a personal investigation of the matter Uncle s am Will Soon Be Well Repre sented in Foreign Waters The naval officials are considering the formation of a big squadron to be sta tioned in European waters after the war is over The intention is to reform the European squadron but to make it much stronger than ever before Just before the war began all the American warships were withdrawn from foreign stations except the Asiatic for service in the West Indies and since then the officials have not had time to bother about arranging for a resumption of naval representation in alien waters In late years the Euro pean station has dwindled in importance to the United States until only three ships none armored were kept there With the end of the war believed to be near however the navy officials have be gun to talk over the character of the new European squadron and have practically reached the conclusion that a strong and formidable force should be sent there not because of any likelihood of trouble with European nations but to show the people over there the ships that whipped Spains navy FALLING SICK BY HUNDREDS Delay in Transporting Prisoners Causes Embarrassment The delay in transporting the Spanish prisoners from Santiago to Spain is em barrassing the War Department in many ways as it interferes with the carrying out of plans in regard to our own troops and involves the Government in increas ing daily expense The contract for trans porting the Spanish prisoners was award ed to the Coinpania Trans Atlantique Es panola but at the end of two weeks not a prisoner had been embarked for the voy age to Spain The contract provided that several of the ships be delivered at San tiago within five days Meanwhile the prisoners have to be fed at great expense to the Government They are falling sick by hundreds WATER POISONERS EXECUTED Treacherous Spanish Sympathizers Caught in Gomezs Camp News has been received in AVashington that four Spaniards have been executed in the camp of Gen Maximo Gomez after a court martial for poisoning the water in several cisterns in the village of La Reforma and that several others sup posed to be in the conspiracy have been turned over to the Cuban civil authorities in that part of the island to be given a civil trial Several families were made seriously ill from drinking the water and a number of deaths are reported The men executed were presentados who had deserted from the Spanish camp and entered the Cuban lines ostensibly to join their army ROOSEVELT IS REBUKE Secretary Alger Thinks the Colonel Unjustly Criticised Volunteers Secretary Alger has made public cor respondence between himself and Col Roosevelt in which the latter asks to have his regiment of rough riders sent to Porto Rico Roosevelt makes reflections upon the merit of the State troops as a whole Algers reply is curt and cautions Roosevelt against making invidious com parisons lie says the State volunteers are as brave and capable as the rough riders or any other troops CAMP ALGER WILL BE MOVED First Step Is Taken Toward Changing the Location Orders have been issued for the move ment of the second division of Camp Alger to Manassas Va twenty five miles south of the old camp This makes the first step toward the abandonment of Camp Alger made necessary by an in creasing epidemic of typhoid fever MONTAUK POINT WHERE SHAFTERS ARMY WILL CAMP EIGHTEEN CUBANS KILLED Put to Death Because They Fought for Spain Cubans bring reports to Santiago of the revolting slaughter of eighteen of their countrymen who bore arms for Spain The guerrilla were captured at Gibrara and were put to death by machetes for bearing arms against the patriots Spain Denies Statement The Spanish Government denies that it has asked the King of the Belgians to exnel Don Carlos from Belgium llnwaiians Given a Chance Hawaii is to have the honor of furnish ing some of the garrison of United States troops for those islands Maj Gen Mer riam received word from Washington au thorizing him to muster in a battalion of infantry in Hawaii and to nominate offi cers for the same Treats His Prisoners Well Consul Wildman at Hong Kong has sent a dispatch to the State Department that Aguinaldo is treating all prisoners including monks humanely and brand ing as false all contrary statements MFETirKJ OS tfSNERALS SHAFFER AND TORAL AT THE CAPITULATION OF SANTIAQO -New York Herald TO INCREASE DEWEYS FrEET Oregon Massachusetts and Newark Are Likely to Be t ent On account of their protracted stay in equatorial waters some of the ships of Admiral Deweys command need over hauling and before long they must be cleaned and otherwise put in order The Nary Department is considering the question of withdrawing some of Deweys vessels to Mare Island and Port Orchard fo dry docking and assigning other ves sels to take their places The MAJOR GEXEKAl JAMES F WADE ties are that the Asiatic squadron will be greatly increased in the number and char acter of ships When the Spanish Gov ernment has complied with the terms of the United States concerning the evacua tion of Cuba and Porto Rico there will be no necessity of keeping so large a fleet in West Indian waters The sending of re enforcements to Dewey will begin as soon as vessels have been cleaned and oerhauled at New York Norfolk and Port Royal The cruiser Newark and the battleships Massachusetts and Oregon are likely to be the selections for service on the Asiatic station forming with the ves sels now at Manila a powerful ileet of four armorclads and seven other fighting ships not including supply and dispatch boats and the Spanish gunboats picked up by Dewey in the Philippines WADE MUST WAIT Proposed Expedition to Porto Rico Has Been Postponed According to the present understand ing there will be a suspension for the present of the proposed expedition to Torto Rico under the command of Maj Gen Wade This statement was made by an official at the War Department Gen Corbin denied that any such order had been issued in writing but it was said by others that a verbal order thus under stood had been repeated to officials in charge of some of the departments One reason given was that the removal of the sick from Santiago was the first object now Another reason stated was that the peace negotiations might render unneces sary a second Porto Iticnn expedition 3HAFTER FREED FROM BLAME FOR BIG v30PEAN SQUADRON THIS IS A BURNING SHAME t Horrible Treatment of Sick Soldiers on Their Voyage to New York New York special There are many bright pictures in tha present war and some unfortunately that can create no other feeling than that of stern condemnation Of the latter class is the incident of the transport Concho which reached New York with 172 in valids from Siboney Cuba The misery which these unfortunate men endured during the voyage is almost incredible Before the vessel sailed from Siboney 177 sick and wounded had been shipped aboard and it never occurred to any one to find out what accommodations there were for that number Hardly had the vessel got to sea before the men began to suffer with seasickness and fevers of va rious kinds Dysentery diarrhoea and other diseases also broke out and the vessel was a pest ship from the first day Within twenty four hours all the ice had been used up There was no fresh water the water in the storage tanks being near ly putrid and there was not sufficient dis tilling apparatus There was not even food for the sick to eat the vessel having been supplied with army rations some thing which even well men do not greatly relish There was also a lack of sur geons and nurses to care for the sick ami almost no medicine to administer From the first the men suffered horri bly They lay in bunks between the decks Iii a heavy atmosphere that was almost intolerable Some had no blan kets and none had mattresses Their com partments after the first days sickness were reeking with filth and the odor was enough to sicken a healthy man Mem bers of the Red Cross Society endeavor ed to clean the bunks but the former were so few and the latter so many that on the second round the condition was as bad as on the first and while the nurses were thus engaged there was no one to minister to the sick and suffering There was not even a disinfectant on board ex cept a few ounces of creolin and in this foul atmosphere the men who had risked GENERAL ADNA P CHAFFEE their lives for their country were forced to live or die Before reaching Fort Monroe three had died and this fact was reported to the quarantine doctor early Thursday morn ing That official could do nothing with out hearing from Washington and he went ashore after examining the ship to telegraph the authorities No answer was received The dead lay on the second deck with the living lying around them until Friday afternoon when the captain went to sea and buried them in the waves That evening another death occurred and another sea burial Meanwhile some sup plies had been ordered and when the Con cho started for New York she carried a few necessary supplies for the sick Even then the vessel left under Government or ders before opportunity had been given for the purchase of many necessaries MEN ON YALE FARE POORLY Officer of the Ship Tells ot ttte Voyage to Cuba An officer attached to the auxiliary cruiser Yale which recently sailed for Cuba with a regiment of troops aboard slated that the troops were detained aboard the crowded decks for three weeks two weeks of which time was spent after the ship had reached Cuban waters He said the men got soaking wet every time it rained and were herded like sheep on board that there was but a ton of ice aboard which was kept for the sick and the captains table that water was scarce and its use restricted and that there were sixty cases of typhoid fever aboard re sulting in several deaths FEVER DEATHS FORTY A DAY Frightful Sanitary Condition of the City of Santiago The reports regarding the healthfulnoss of Suntiago are not borne out by facts There in little yellow fever among the residents they being acclimated but oth er diseases are causing a high death rate The sanitary inspector has made a report to Gov Wood which says that dysentery and malarial fever are epidemic in the city The deaths from these causes aver age forty a day Under Spanish rule no attention whatever was paid to sanita tion L WAR HISTORY OF A WEEK Saturday Madrid advices said the Spaniards are entrenching themselves at San Juan de Porto Rico The Navy Department received a dis patch from Admiral Dewey saying that our forces may have to fight the Philip pine insurgents owing to the attitude as sumed by Aguinaldo their leader All quiet at Manila Gen Merritt arrived and assumed command of our army there M Cambon French ambassador in Washington on receiving President Mc Kinleys reply to the Spanish note pre sented credentials empowering him to act for Spain in the matter of peace negotia tions In consequence the terms as pro posed by President -McKinley were dis cussed at once and when M Cambon left the White House terms had practically been agreed upon Sunday Gen Wade relieved of the command at Camp Thomas to lead a provisional brig ade to Porto Rico Retreating Spanish soldiers in Porto Rico indulged in gross atrocities De fenseless women and children were their victims Battleship Texas arrived at New York for repairs having suffered to a consid erable extent in the engagement vith Cerveras fleet Monday Spaniards at San Juan sank a steamer to block the entrance to the harbor Said that President McKinley will call an extra session of both houses of Con gress as soon as there be peace terms for ratification by the Senate Lieut Richard Pearson Hobson given a welcome at Atlanta Ga and then went to Lithia Springs where he met his moth er and was given a reception Latest advices from Manila said that Admiral Dewey had received word from the city that the Spaniards were ready to surrender whenever called upon to do so A direct cable dispatch from Ponce Porto Rico said Gen Miles troops were gradually and cautiously making their way northward on the military road that extends from Ponce to San Juan Gen Brooke arrived at Ponce Sagasta and his cabinet held a four hour session discussing the terms of peace A telegram was sent to Washing ton asking for an explanation of some point in dispute and pending the receipt of an answer an adjournment was taken Tuesday Gen Garretsons brigade arrived at Ponce Porto Rico Stories of outrage by retreating Span iards in Porto Rico denied Madrid reports 2000 Spanish volun teers in Porto Rico surrendered to Gen Miles Gen John C Breckinridge arrived at Camp Thomas Chickamauga and as sumed command of the troops there Arroyo and Guayama in Porto Rico seized for the American army of inva sion to be used as a base of supplies Gen Garcia and his forces of Cuban in surgents reported to have defeated Span ish soldiers near Mayari after heavy fight ing Notwithstanding the apparent speedy termination of the war preparations go on in Washington to rush re enforcements to Porto Rico Gen Merritt sent a telegram to Gen Merriam at San Francisco virtually de claring that 30000 more troops should be sent to Manila because of fear of trouble with the insurgents President McKinley received dispatches from confidential agents in Europe which were confirmed by advices to for eign diplomats in Washington that Sa gasta had decided to accept the terms of peace proposed by the United States Wednesday Eighteen regiments ordered to Porto Rico under Gen Wade Gibora Cuba captured by troops under Gen Gomez A dynamite gun materially aided in the victory M Cambon French ambassador was in conference with the President regard ing the terms of peace Reported that the President denied Spains request for modification of the terms Manzanillo ready to surrender to Gar cia on condition that the Spanish troops be allowed to march out with their arms Garcias army having captured Wayari reported marching on Holguin Thursday Third Illinois regiment landed with Gen Brooke at Arroyo and engaged in skirmishing with the Spaniards Gen Miles formed practically a new plan of campaign in Porto Rico his object being to hem in the Spanish troops at Albonito as well as to avoid mined roads In consequence of an appeal by the commanding officers in our army at San tiago the President ordered Gen Shaf ters troops brought home as soon as pos sible Sagasta summoned political leaders to a conference in Madrid presumably to discuss the peace terms All information as to the progress of the negotiations withheld from the people of Spain Friday Captain Edgar Hubart Eighth Infan try died of brain fever at Ponce Porto Rico Cape San Juan Porto Rico captured without opposition and the American flag raised A schooner and a sloop captured as prizes Sagasta issued orders to the Spaniards in Porto Rico not to resist the Ameri cans to the utmost He realized that San Juan must fall and he would avoid un necessary loss of life Iron ore importers benefited by a change in the eastern Cuba tariff decreed by the cabinet The export duty on iron repealed and a cargo tax of 20 cents a ton one way 10 cents both ways and no charge for vessels in ballast ordered put in force Notes of Current Events Mrs Eliza Guy colored aged 102 years died at yoming Del Strong efforts will be made to stimulate the raising of cotton in Hawaii A wealthy American named Reegel lost his life on Mont Blanc by falling into the crater Samuel D Haynes of Maine a life con vict and former incorrigible has become a devout Christian Ex Queen Liliuokalaui of Hawaii will seek -to recover from the United States crown lands and a large sum of money 0 STOCK BRANDS JMetzger Bros 7 E I B flf B K SHTkH l OMI dj y fffflfttyfiifwE Pullman Neb Cherry Co Brandon left elds and thigh Earmark square crop right ear Southern branded cattle have but one brand on left side Native cattle- bare throat wattle Rauire on tordon and Snake Creeks Horses have same brandfon left thigh A Jftcicard of 100 will be paid to any for information leading to the arrest and nal conviction of any person or persons steal ing cattle with above brand Joseph W Bownet P O address Merriraan Nebr Kightcar cropped Hole in center ot lelt ear Range Lake creek S D VPftSB I William M Dunbar Lessee from Heine Kroeger Cody Neb DUn Either side AIsi Louis F Richards y o I TIC Al low on right I eft car ut cattle Split Kange head oi Hay Sreek Henry Pratt Rosebud S D Left side Horses same on left shoulder Deerhorn clip on some cattle L J1 fa William Shangren Cody Neb W Hlfl 1 J Jack LePoint Merriman Neb Cattle branded on left side Some on hip also Earmark round bole In center of left ear Also use WBWt on Kfl left And RZlside Dnlap underside oi neck T J on right side Range Lake Corn ana Bear creeks Charles H Faulhaber Brownlee Nebr Either right or left side on cattle Horses same on left shoulder Left ear cut oft ot cuttle Range Loup river Marshall Wolfenden Kennedy Neb Some 3 on the left hip Horses 2 on left shoulder Brand is small Earmark Quarter clip behind half cir cle forward on left ear Range Lone Treo Lake fa Merriman Neb Charles Benard Rosebud S D Range Big White and Bad Rivers JMk W R Kissel Brownlee Neb Also some below lelt hip Also m ir Range Kissels Ranch Wheeler Bros Cody Neb Range on the Snake River and Chamber lain flat 7B Charles C Tackett B 1 Rosebud 3 D Hange head of An telope near St Marys mission Horae3 brandpd on left thigh William FSchmidt xtosebud y D On left side Horses branded same on left hip or ahoulder Range in Horse Creek B rm i