DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, OFFICE OF U. S. MARSHAL, SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA, KEY WEST, FLORIDA, May 9, 1898.
_Miss Clara Barton, President American National Red Cross._
DEAR MISS BARTON: On board the captured vessels we find quite a number of aliens among the crews, mostly Cubans, and some American citizens, and their detention here and inability to get away for want of funds has exhausted their supply of food, and some of them will soon be entirely out. As there is no appropriation available from which food could be purchased, would you kindly provide for them until I can get definite instructions from the department at Washington?
Very respectfully yours, [Signed] JOHN F. HORR, U. S. Marshal.
Appended to the above letter was a list of fifteen Spanish vessels whose crews were believed by the marshal to be in need of food.
In less than three hours after the receipt of this communication two large ships' boats, loaded with provisions for the sailors on the Spanish prizes, left the _State of Texas_ in tow of the steam-launch of the troop-ship _Panther_. Before dark that night, Mr. Cobb and Dr. Egan, of Miss Barton's staff, who were in charge of the relief-boats, had visited every captured Spanish vessel in the harbor. Two or three of them, including the great liners _Miguel Jover_ and _Argonauta_, had provisions enough, and were not in need of relief, but most of the others--particularly the fishing-smacks--were in even worse straits than the marshal supposed. The large transatlantic steamer _Pedro_, of Bilbao, had no flour, bread, coffee, tea, sugar, beans, rice, vegetables, or lard for cooking, and her crew had lived for fifteen days exclusively upon fish. The schooner _Severito_ had wholly exhausted her supplies, and had on board nothing to eat of any kind. Of the others, some had no matches or oil for lights, some were nearly out of water, and all were reduced to an unrelieved fish diet, of which the men were beginning to sicken. The Red Cross relief-boats made a complete and accurate list of the Spanish prizes in the harbor,--twenty-two in all,--with the numerical strength of every crew, the amount of provisions, if any, on every vessel, and the quantity and kind of food that each would require.