Show SAD FATE OF FiFTY FILIBUSTERS Landed Upon a Desert Key They Are Drowned WERE LEFT FOR SAFETY o TALK ABOUT CUBA HAVING NO GOVERNMENT IS FALSE All That the Friends of the Insurgents Insur-gents Desire is That the Actual Facts Shall Be Made Known to the WorldFlag of Single Star Waves in Undisputed Sway Over a Great Portion of the Island Farmers Have Been at Work as Though No Revolution Even Existed Ex-isted Madrid Jan IA special dispatch from Havana to the Imparcial says that 50 men comprising the filibustering filibuster-ing expedition recently landed upon a desert key by the steamer Three steater Friends have leen 1 drowned The men were hastily put ashore on the barren island after the Three Friends had been pursued by Spanish gunboats with which the filibustering steamer had an exchange of shots and the cargo of arms and ammunition provisions pro-visions etc on board of the steamer were also landed with the men The Three Friends being closely pursued by the Spanish war vessels was com pelled to put the men ashore on this barren island or take them back to the United States and i was in making an attempt to leave the island the dispatch says that they were drowned This dispatch also says that 360 rifles which the filibusters had with them were lost in the sea I was learned here today that subsequent sub-sequent to the landing of the expeditioa I on the key two of the party took a small sail boat and went to Key West They subsequently returned to the island is-land in the same manner they had I come The fact that they were able to make the journey in a small boat vas I considered sufficient evidence that the island is not far distant from Key Vest I DIAZ IS DEFIANT Prepared to Show That There Is an Organization In Cuba New York Jan 1A special from Atlanta Ga says I Rev Dr Diaz who is banished from I Cuba by Captain General Weyler received re-ceived a commission from President Cisneros YBetancourt today I propose said Dr Diaz to put a stop to the talk about Cuba having no government and that government having I hav-ing no residence I hereby declare my readiness to personally conduct any j agent President Cleveland may designate j desig-nate to the seat of the Cuban govern ment in Cubitas and into the presence j of President Cisneros This I will undertake un-dertake to do not only with assured safety to the agent but with the same I ease and speed with which he could go I to Havana I I Our government only asks that the I agent shall examine the facts as to j the authority exercised and extent of j territory controlled We challenge a j I comparison as to results between such personal investigation as has been I made on behalf of the Spaniards by Consul General Lee from Havana and I r by such agent as may be sent to Cu bitas on behalf of the Cubans Consul General Lee will find himself blocked Ion I-on the outskirts of Havana unless I backed by an army while the agent at Cubitas will find the whole island open to him except the spots occupied by Spanish forts Dr Diaz spoke with great earnestness earnest-ness He says that he is armed rith official documents to undertake the Cuban end of the task proposed EASTERN CUBA General Galixto Garcia Sends Out a Latter of Importance New York Jan 1 General Galixto Garcia wrote of the peaceful condition of the eastern part of Cuba in a letter let-ter to his wife received yesterday I was dated at Bayamoon December 7 The flair of the Cuban renublie Garcia wrote waves in indisputed sway over the entire province of Orient Ori-ent You can drive for miles across the country and never meet a Soan iard Free schools modeled after those of the United States have been established estab-lished The farmers have been planting plant-ing and tilling the fields as though no revolution existed My army of 2000 men is in splendid splen-did condition The officers are all brave young fellows many of whom belong to the best families in Cuba Jealousy among them is unknown We are all animated by the same love of independence and hatred of the Spaniards Span-iards General Maximo Gomez is well on his way westward He crossed the Morin trocha into Santa Clara during the last week of November It Was Landed Jacksonville Fla Jan 1There is I no longer any doubt but that the Three Friends expedition was landed on Flor ida key alter tne vessel had been chased from the Cuban coast by a Spanish boat A telegram from Miami says that the Dauntless reported there last and went on to No Name key where a large body of men are reported to be wrecked and that two of their number num-ber are reported to be dead A telegram tele-gram from Key West says that when the steamer City of Richmond passed No Name Key the Dauntless was then taking on board a party of men and a cargo The Three Friends is still In custody of the collector of customs No legal proceedings have yet been instituted 1 against the vessel or crew The statement sent from Madrid of the drowning of 51 men landed on Florida Key by the steamer Three Friends is declared by the Cubans here a mistake J A Huaia agent of the junta says if the story was true he would have been so informed The Laurada Gibraltar Jan IThe former Cuban filibustering steamer Laurida which arrived here from Messina yesterday has sailed for Baltimore The Commodore Jacksonville Fla Jan IThe filibustering fili-bustering steamer Commodore left Jacksonville this morning with a cargo a of arms and ammunition Three miles below the city she stuck in the mud and the revenue cutter Boutwell passing pass-ing down the river pulled her off and escorted her safelv across the bar Papers Must Shut Up London Jan IThe Madrid correspondent corre-spondent of the Standard telegraphs that the government intends to prosecute prose-cute several newspapers for imitating the Imparcial and Heraldo which were I seized yesterday for condemning the I military administration in Cuba and demanding General Weylers recall The government is determined to suppress I sup-press the press campaign against the cabinets policy in Cuba but notwithstanding notwith-standing this fact the opposition has I decided that it will stir up the cortes on the Cuban question when the session ses-sion opens THE PROPOSED REFORMS What Spain May Possibly Do For Cuba Washington Jan IThe effect of the reforms proposed by the Spanish government for Porto Rico when extended ex-tended to Cuba as is proposed when the insurrection has been brought under further control will be to create three sets of administrative bodies in the island independent of the representatives of Cuba in the I Spanish cortes The voters under a system of limited suffrage are already al-ready permitted to choose the boards I of aldermen of municipalities and the mayors are to be chosen from these boards by vote of their members The I next body in rank is the provincial assembly of which there is only one in Porto Rico but one for each of the I six provinces of Cuba The functions of the provincial assembly are largely I united with those of the proposed council of administration in the case of Porto Rico because thereis but one body The council of administration will be an independent body in Cuba and will for the first time give the I Cubans a large share of control over their internal domestic concerns The home government will retain control of the laws levying taxation and will reserve re-serve the right to review the budget of appropriations but the appropriations will be made by the council of administration ad-ministration subject to the approval of the ministry at Madrid The Spanish Span-ish government does not propose at present to widen the limits of the suffrage which extends to persons paying pay-ing a combined tax of 5 and to several of the learned professions The reforms re-forms in contemplation for Cuba are largely those which were embodied in the decree of March 15 1895 but which have not been put in force because of the insurrection Changes which have been proposed in this law will require to be submitted to the cortes at their I meeting in the spring but it is not doubted that the plans proposed by the ministry will be accepted NEED NOT BELIEVE THIS Fact That Weyler Says I Is True Is Enough Havana Jan IA reporter of the Diaro do la Marina has had an interview with Captain General Weyler in the Mata Toro camp Speaking of the situation in the province of Pjnar del Rio General Weyler said that Speaking fromfhe standpoint of strength and importance the insurrection in that province had been crushed The fev insurgents remaining re-maining were obliged to hide like wolves in their caves Fevers and smallpox had j I thinned the rebel ranks His own column j and those of the other Spanish commanders I command-ers had overrun the base and interior of j I the hills and had met no rebels The I insurgents after the death of Maceo were without a leader Rivera Maceos successor was unpopular among his men General Weyler added that his statements ould be continued after Generals Mel drizo and Arolas had completed their operation which included the sweeping ot the province from west to east Generals Gen-erals Hernandez Velabco Obregan Ber nal Ruiz Fuentes and Segura were now in the center of the hills Perhaps General Gen-eral Arolas was also there Once the Rubi hills were fortified a severe blow mrrht be directed against the rebels under un-der Ducassis An odd feature of the above interview is that General Weyler while declaring that Piuar del Rio is practically free of I insurgents finds it necessary to have the Rub hills fortified before he will at tert to strike a blow at the rebels under Ducasbis I Dont Believe It New York Jan 1 Cubans in this city scout the report of the drowning of the members of the Three Friends expedition They note the fact that the news comes by way of Madrid though the island is not far from Key West and such a disaster must of a certainty if true have reached there I Dr Costillo of the Cuban junta said The report is ridiculous There is no truth in it I is a pure fabrication We know where our men are They are all right Beyond this the doctor would say nothing i The Porto Rico Reforms Washington Jan ISenor De Lome the Spanish minister furnishes the United Associated Presses the following follow-ing copy of a telegram from Foreign Minister Tetuan at Madrid In the council of ministers presided pre-sided over by her majesty the queen regent a royal decree was signed I which applies to the Island of Porto Rico the laws of reforms voted in the I cortes on the 15th of March 1895 I The preamble to this decree is of the greatest importance because of the I statements it contains regarding Cuba I begins by explaining the reasons why the reforms are applied there and why this has not been done before Amongst other paragraphs it contains the following which owing to their importance im-portance I copy in their entirety In the actual circumstances the government considers that the proper time has arrived for giving to the world ample proof of its firm resolve to fulfil the engagements voluntarily contracted by the nation by implanting and carrying into effect in Porto Rico the reform system of government and civil administration voted by the cor tes and sanctioned by her majesty and which conveniently enlarged and extended Cuba ex-tended will be applied in due time to CubaIn In unfolding the basis of the reforms re-forms with the scrupulous care which the complex nature ofthe case and its many and varied problems demand the undersigned minister has been inspired with a sense of necessity of ample administrative ad-ministrative decentralization and has proceeded to the utmost limit which the tactual law allows without diminution diminu-tion of the inherent sovereignty of the nation At the same time true to the solemn promise made before parliament parlia-ment by its president the government proposes to give a more ample scope to the reforms when as a herald of peace the happy moment arrives for the definite application of reforms to both the Antilles As soon as possible her majestys government will hasten to apply to Cuba not only the reforms whicn form the groundwork of the law applied today to Porto Rico but also will exteifd to both provinces the reforms re-forms which have been offered with the view of conferring upon both Antilles An-tilles an administrative and economic personality ofa local character which shall facilitate the complete Intervention Interven-tion of the country in its own affairs Continued on Paso 6 I 1 I i t = SAl FATE OF FIFTY i I S FILIBUSTERS Continued from Page 1 maintaining at the same time intact the right of sovereignty and the conditions con-ditions necessary to the maintenance of that right as was stated in the I I words her majesty deigned to address ad-dress to the cortes by the advice of her responsible government upon the opening of parliament These amplified reforms can be partly put into practice by means of the path pursued by the executive government and partly will require the sanction of parliament The government govern-ment is confident that i will not encounter en-counter insuperable obstacles to its rapid action in this sense looking to the patriotic uniformity of open respect re-spect of the tundamental ideas which underlie the application of the reforms re-forms fors formsBriefly the law of reforms voted by the cortes and sanctioned by the crown which is today to be applied to Porto Rico will form the foundation stone of the new regime but an additional ad-ditional decree account of which will be given to the cortes will amplify to i such extent these reforms that a genuine gen-uine home administration will be constituted 1 con-stituted in our Antilles in the first iJ stance for Cuba but to be extended to Porto Rico as soon and at the same time as it may be possible to apply to the former island TETUAN Minister of Foreign Affairs |