Show 4 g WM 10 MW V drw men af betanc tincha t there has been very tery with the prisoners colonel doraey of df the marine c corps who is id command of the camp holds a police court whenever necessary but has seldom been required to enforce discipline occasionally there is a quarrel among the prisoners or ft a case of insubordination and there Is a guard house bouse in which such men are confined As a rule the prisoners treat the american officers and the guards with the greatest deference and obey orders promptly but they do not show the same respect to their own officers As a rule they are pot ot intelligent and only a few of them K have any education they appear to have been recruited from the very lowest classes of spain and among them is a large number of convicts who were taken aboard the cruiser cristobal colon ot at the canary islands the greatest difficulty has been found in compelling the prisoners to observe the sanitary regulations and to cultivate habits of cleanliness they are required to wash their clothing and bathe frequently at least twice a week either in the river or in a bath house bouse that has been provided for them when they arrived they were positively filthy and were utterly indifferent to all the laws of hygiene this made it necessary to frame regulations which have been energetically enforced now after an experience of a month they are beginning to lecog nize the advantages of bodily clean cleanly li kness dess and decency and they may be able to introduce some north american notions into spain upon their return every prisoner has been furnished with a full outfit of clothing as complete and of the same materials as is provided pro viled for the seamen of our navy each man has a hammock one blanket a hair mattress one suit of blue clothing two suits of white three y pairs of socks two suits of underclothing clot bing two hats and one pair of shoes the most of them seem so keenly to appreciate the value of such a wardrobe as to suggest that it is a 5 new experience in their lives ar all of the prisoners are inveterate gamblers lers and when they first arrived the officers had a great deal of trouble from this source until colonel forney issued an order forbidding all betting and games of chance now when they are detected violating this regulation their money is confiscated and used as ag a fund to purchase stationery and postage stamps for those who wish to write letters not only would they play for money stakes but many gambled away the clothing that was issued to them the officers have endeavored to keep up with events of the war and the negotiations for peace but the sailors show very little curiosity on the subject occasionally one of them asks a question as to the progress of the war and repents repeats the information he be receives to his comrades but they are so well fed and so comfortably housed that they hey are perfectly contented and ev dently prefer to remain as the guests of uncle sam no man thus far has attempted to escape the authorities at washington have been endeavoring through the french ambassador to arrange with the spanish government to take them home but the ministry at madrid thus far has shown no intention or desire to do so it costs about a day to feed them without considering the expense of the hospital and of maintaining a guard of men now that the peace protocol is signed and hostilities are suspended the efforts to persuade the spanish government to arrange for their return will be renewed |