FIGHTING IN HAVANA.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 87, 14 April 1899, Page 5

FIGHTING IN HAVANA.

FOUR PERSONS KILLED AND J SIXTY WOUNDED. d

MANY RIOTEES CAPTUEED.

A 'Sun' cable of March 19 from Havana says:—Serious fighting began here last night between a number of. white and coloured residents and some officers of the Cuban army on the one hand and the police on the other, and the trouble lias not yet been ended. So far four persons have been killed and sixty wounded. Last, evening a ball was given in a house" at the corner oj! Campanario and San Jose streets. A large number of persons were present, and a number of negro officers of the Cuban army were standing on the sidewalk, which they were completely monopolising. A policeman came along, and, acting under orders, made two attempts to clear the. sidewalk. A negro captain refused to obey the policeman and struck him, whereupon the latter clubbed the negro. The crowd then attacked the policeman, Avho was disarmed and badly injured by his assailants. > . Police headquarters was notified of. the disturbance, and Chief of Police Menpcal dispatched twenty-five men under Captain Joseph Estrampes, an American, who served as colonel in the Cuban army, to disperse the crowd and stop the ball. When the negroes saw the policemen coming they, nil retreated to the house in which •he ball was going on and to the one adjoining". Some of them went to the roofs and opened fire on the police with rifles and revolvers. Cuban officers with them took command of the mob. The first volley that was fired wounded . twelve policemen, among them Captain Estrampes, whose left arm was broken by a' bullet. He did 'not withdraw, however, but ordered his men to return the fire, and then forced an entrance into the house on the corner, the doors of which had been barricaded. Meanwhile a force of deetectiyes went to the assistance of the police. The negro civilians and Cuban officers then fled to the roofs, where they resisted until their ammunition was gone. During the^ fighting Captain Estrampes was wounded again, being shot through the lungs. When the rioters found their ammunition spent they attempted to escape, but twenty of them were captured. Twenty others were wounded, among them being' a number of women. the same hour there was another fight in Infanta-street between fho police and a riotous crowd, in which three persons were wounded. At one o'clock this afternoou a group of negros attacked a policeman named Carlos Gomez Fernandez, who killed one of his assailants and wounded two others. Fernandez was himself wounded. A policeman was badly wounded to-day in a fight with negroes at La Punta. There was another brawl at the corner of Soledad and Zanja streets, in which a policeman was killed and several persons, wounded. Captain Estrampes and three other policemen are dying from the effects of their injuries. In all the disorders the police behaved with great courage. In most of the conflicts the a^sa^lanta were notorious ; criminals,, > k_n,ow.n- aa 'Naniges,' who have combined to, attack the police. ■■■■$' Excitement among the lower classes is verjr great, and there is bitter feeling against the police. ■ Further trouble is likely to occur at any moment. To-night there are forty negro balls going on in different parts of the city, and the-negroes are\resolveYl to fight if any attempt is'made to stop them. ' ■ '. ' At 8.45 o'clock to-night a fierce fight is going- on at Cerro. Many persons on both sides have been wounded. Last night twelve American soldiers attacked .. several policemen at the corner of Togodo and' Monte streets. Two of the soldiers and a policeman were wounded. One ■of the soldiers

was arrested

During a demonstration in favour oi Generaf Gomez this afternoon two men displayed a Spanish flag. Two American soldiers attacked, the Spanish with their fists arid knocked then* out,, and the same fate befell the third Spaniard who attempted to assist his countrymen. . This put an end to the trouble. Three duels between Cuban officers, growing oiit. of the political conflict between General Gomes and the so-called National Assembly, are to be fought shortly. ...