Show CONFLICTING KG PORTS But Through the l l1 It May Be I Seen lie Insurgents Make Gains HAVANA March CaptainGen eral Weyler visited the hospitals today and expressed himself satisfied with the manner in which the wounded and sick were being cared for and with the condition of ihe buildings Up to date the insurgents have burned thirteen villages and towns in the province of Pinar del Rio Among them are several important places including in-cluding San Juan de Martinez In addition they have burned many tobacco to-bacco houses and the extensive sugar estate at Guacamaya Carillo and Rojas the insurgent leaders at the head of about 700 of their followers recently attacked a I company of Sicilia battalion and the local guerilla force of San Andreas near Holguin province of Santiago de Cuba The soldiers made a brilliant defense and repulsed the insurgents with a loss of twentyfive killed The enemy retired with many wounded CaptainGeneral Weyler has Ftsued a circular prohibiting the sale of petroleum petro-leum and other inflammable articles of a like description in the villages of Cuba and regulating their importation Major Farrer in charge Of a detachment detach-ment of troops guarding a provision train bound from Santi Espiritus to Pico Puerto province of Santa Clara I has repulsed an insurgent attack Four insurgents were killed and the troops lost six menThe men-The Spanish gunboat Lines conveying I convey-ing provisions to Jibacoa found the entrance of the river closed by a chain stretched from bank to bank The insurgents in-surgents fired upon the gunboat and I the latter returned the fire The troops were sent in pursuit of the insurgents INSURGENTS CAPTURE A FORT i I A detachment of insurgents belonging belong-ing to Maceos forces have captured the fort at Santa Cruz a small place I north of Jibacoa by unfair means it I is claimed The insurgents called upon the little garrison to surrender and the I Spanish in charge left the fort for the purpose of conferring with the insurgent insur-gent leaders In the meantime the insurgents surrounded sur-rounded the fort entered it and made prisoners of volunteers defending i also capturing all their arms and the supply of ammunition The volunteers were subsequently released and the military governor of Jibacoa sent a detachment of troops in pursuit Generals Prats and Arolas are closely cose ly pursuing Gomez who is now on the limits of the border of the province of Santa Clara according to the official ficial advices The situation in the v province of Pinar del Rio has greatly improved I was recently entirely I lacking in telegraphic tele-graphic communication and in garri sojfs and was at the mercy of the in suiigents But order has been restored and matters are now in their usual state although communication is maintained main-tained by the heliographic system The insurgent leader Calunga who was reported to have been killed is still alive General Melguize had an engagement engage-ment at the plantation of Moraloc near Casigues this province with the bands of insurgents belonging to Ma ceos command The troops dislodged fjj e insurgents from the positions waich they occupied and the Castillos squadron and the Tareteces volunteers in pursuing them killed eighteen of I the enemy wounding many more The troops had several wounded Colonel Martin later had another engagement en-gagement with the insurgents at the Yero farm after crossing the river Tuncio not far from Santa Cruz in the province of Puerto Principe and I the colonel afterwards dispersed the insurgents in-surgents at Saboracoa and Pico Pica where the insurgent had again united their forces Colonel Martins cavalry I charged the insurgent forces and dis i 41 tii li lodged the enemy from the position occupied oc-cupied with loss AN APPALLING SITUATION The reopening of telegraphic commu cOlmu nication with the region of Pinar del Rio brings the first detailed information informa-tion of affair in that province for several weeks The condition of affairs disclosed is little less than appalling The rich Vuelta Abajo district seems to have been put to the torch and is apparently reduced to a wilderness while towns have been obliterated and their inhabitants in-habitants are wandering helpless over the country many of them starving The villages and towns of Cabanas Bethia Honda San Diego de Nunez Santa Cruz de Los Pinos Los Palacios Paso Real de San Diego and San Diego de Los Ratios are known to be reduced re-duced to ashes and reports of others will bring the number destroyed up to thirteen All these were Important and thriving centers of population and business The lasfrtown which has succumbed suc-cumbed to the insurgents torch is San Juan Y Martinez The tobacco from this town is famous the world over STARVING When the first column of Spanish troops arrived onHhe site of the town they found only debris and smoking ashes A hundred desolated families had taken refugein poor huts outside of what was qnce the town and were waiting helplessly for any assistance They were without clothing and without with-out food In consequence ofhe distribution of a circular containing General Weylers proclamation requiring the concentration concentra-tion of all country people within the limits of the towns for protection there have been many delegations of farmers farm-ers coming to Santiago de Cuba to inquire of the military authorities hot far the requirement applies to them and for an interpretation of the provisions pro-visions Consuls of foreign governments are seeking the same information A column of troops coming into Ramon de los Taguas Santiago de Cuba > was fired upon by the insurgents near the mountains of Palmarcas The latter were routed leaving several dead The leader Vega Verala Was wounded and made prisoner The Spanish bark Grain Canaria of 500 tons na been lost off Cayo Con fites north of Romano I is believed all of the crew were saved Generals Bernal and Vicuna have arrived ar-rived here for a conference with Captain Cap-tain General Weyler I |