Charles Scott, an employe of the American Gas Company, was arrested at Regla, charged with having Cuban postage stamps in his possession.  He was in solitary confinement, in a damp, empty cell, five feet by eleven, for fourteen days.  Once during his imprisonment he was left for two days without even a drop of water.  General Lee, then United States Consul at Havana, cabled to Washington, asking that arrangements be made to send war vessels to Havana, in case of necessity, and declaring that unless his requests were complied with, he would leave the island.  In this affair, as in many others, General Lee proved that he was the right man in the right place, for it was due to his efforts in Scott’s behalf that he was finally given his liberty.

Mr. Charles Michaelson, a newspaper correspondent, and his interpreter, were imprisoned, in Morro Castle as suspects.  It required fine detective work to discover this fact, for they were missing for some time before it was definitely known that they were in the clutches of Weyler, but the “Butcher” finally admitted it, and after a short delay was persuaded by the United States Consul to release them.  Mr. Michaelson’s treatment was almost brutal in its nature.

The interior of the castle is like a dungeon, and he was compelled to sleep on the floor, as a hammock sent to him by friends outside was not given to him till the day of his release.  His food was thrown to him through the bars of the door, and meals sent in to him were eaten by the guards.  Rats were his constant companions, and when, occasionally, he would sink into a light slumber, he would be suddenly awakened to find one of the animals in his hair, another burrowing under his coat, and still another making a meal on his shoes.  On one occasion he threw a shoe at a rat, which struck the door of his cell, whereupon the guard threatened to punish him for a breach of prison discipline, the noise being against the rules.

Walter Dygart relates his experience while the enforced guest of the Spanish government.  It is evident that the keeper of a prison in Cuba has a profitable occupation.

    “A child may weep at brambles’ smart,
     And maidens when their lovers part;
     But woe worth a country when
     She sees the tears of bearded men.”

“These lines by the poet, Scott, recurred to me when I saw aged men weeping and heart-broken at being separated from their families and shut up in this hell.  But why does the Spanish government shut up helpless cripples and non-combatants?  This is a question that puzzled me for some time, but I finally solved it, and will answer it after I have described the food and water.

“A little after six in the morning we were, each of us, given a very small cup of coffee.  The first meal of the day, if it could be called a meal, came after nine o’clock.  It consisted of a little rice, which was generally dirty, a few small potatoes, boiled with their skins on, and often partly rotten, a little piece of boiled salt beef, or beef cut up in small bits, with soup, just about half enough, and of the poorest quality.  The meat was often spoiled and unfit for anything but a vulture to eat.  The second and last meal of the day came about four in the afternoon, and was the same as the first.