The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It, Vol. 2, No. 24, June 16, 1898 | Page 5

gone by way of Tampa, and been joined there by the other transports.
A great quantity of ammunition and supplies will be sent with the troops, so that they may not suffer from lack of material to make the invasion successful.
One of our New York papers publishes a letter, written by a young girl in Havana to a friend in New York; it gives an excellent idea as to the true state of affairs in Cuba. Among other things, she says:
"Our fisherman brought in some papers from New York, and what a lot of lies they contain! My father and all the other officials say that we have food here for five months--flour, codfish, beans, and groceries--all brought down from New York, and salted meat from Montevideo. . . .
"Pa says that if you Americans had attacked Havana when you declared war it would have surrendered in five hours, but that it is now fortified so that it is strong as Gibraltar. You know, they built a great big railroad upon sticks, in front of the forts, and took cars of sand and dumped them down, so that they have a mound in front of all the forts about thirty feet wide and ten feet high. I went over the fortifications yesterday, and I saw fifteen of those immense 12-inch guns. They say they can shoot twelve miles. We have got 50,000 troops here in Havana, and 60,000 in the provinces, and some 40,000 volunteers. These are all veterans, and all the generals say that it would take an army of 200,000 to beat us. The coast is all supplied with telephone and telegraph wires, so that any time your boats attempt to land we can have a big force there in a couple of hours to drive them off. Part of Cervera's fleet is in Santiago. There is so much mystery about this! Whether the admiral is there or not, no one seems to know. The rest of the fleet, some fifteen vessels, is somewhere down in the Antilles, and Captain-General Blanco says they are going to attack your coast in about three weeks.
"The Alfonso XII. has been turned into a hospital ship, and all her guns have been taken out of her. You know she is the boat that was anchored opposite the Maine and had in her the pneumatic torpedoes. They say a man named Arjona had something to do with the blowing up of the Maine, but I guess it was Weyler's orders. . . .
"The whole city is divided up into sections on what they call the 'Humanity Committee's plan.' They find out who are in sympathy with the Cubans or with the United States; and in case Havana is bombarded all these people are going to be thrown into Cabanas or shot. The people are such fools they think nothing is known about what they are doing."
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We told you in a recent number about the unsuccessful result of the attempt to land an expedition in Cuba; this result was largely due, no doubt, to the fact that the Spaniards were advised in advance, through Spanish spies in this country, of the intended departure of the expedition. On May 31st, the steamer Florida returned to Key West, after having successfully landed an important expedition on the island. This time they succeeded in taking their departure without it being known to any one. The expedition, consisting of about four hundred men, with a pack-train and a large quantity of arms and ammunition, sailed for Guantanamo on the night of May 21st. The expedition was under command of Colonel Lacret, with whom was Captain J. A. Dorst, of the United States army. The men were equipped with canvas uniforms furnished by the Government, and had rations sufficient for fifteen days after landing; the pack-train consisted of seventy-five mules and twenty-five horses; the expedition landed on the coast of Cuba, Thursday morning, May 26th. The Florida, escorted by the gunboat Osceola, drew up close to the shore, and first landed scouts to ascertain if all was clear; these scouts were met by a band of 1,500 insurgents, under Captains Vereira and Rojas. There was absolutely no interruption to the unloading of the Florida, as no sign of a Spaniard was seen. This is the largest expedition which has ever been landed in Cuba in aid of the insurgents.
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There is a very interesting account of the origin of the Red Cross Society in The Churchman. About forty years ago, M. Henry Dimont, a native of Switzerland, having witnessed the unnecessary suffering of the wounded, from lack of care, at the battle of Solferino, was so much impressed that he published a book, pointing out the necessity of forming a corporation of nurses