When the Americans were going to see the cell in which poor Dr. Ruiz had
died, they were obliged to pass along a corridor lined with other cells,
in which more prisoners were confined.

As they walked along this passage, several of the poor captives came to
their doors, and whispered that Ruiz had been ill-treated, and they
thought murdered. They declared that they had heard sounds of blows coming
from his cell, and that the jail had rung with the poor doctor's cries for
help.

This may not be true, because Cubans shut up in jails by Spaniards are not
likely to feel very friendly toward them, and these stories may have been
invented with the hope of angering the Americans into making war on Spain.

But whether these stories be true or false, it is very well known that the
Spaniards do not treat their prisoners kindly, and there is good ground
for suspicion in this case.

Our Consul was so disturbed by the news that was brought to him, and by
the sights that he saw in the jail, that he sent word to the government in
Washington, asking that warships be sent to Havana to protect the American
prisoners who are in Cuban jails.

There have been, and still are, a number of our citizens under arrest in
Cuba, and the case of Mrs. Rodriguez, about whom you read in Number 16 of
THE GREAT ROUND WORLD, followed so closely by the death of Dr. Ruiz, has
made General Lee feel that the Americans in Cuba need some better
protection than they have at present.

The government however, has refused him the help he asked for, and it is