ly routed the main body
of the insurgents, capturing all their supplies of ammunition and
provisions. This practically ended the trouble. Estenoz was killed in
the fighting, and Ivonnet was captured and then killed; "in an attempt
to escape."

Another embarrassment for the passing administration occurred in August,
1912, when the United States government called upon President Gomez to
make prompt settlement of certain claims which had been pending for two
years, amounting to more than $500,000, and growing out of contracts for
the waterworks and sanitation of the city of Cienfuegos. President Gomez
protested that the Cuban treasury was without funds for the purpose, and
that it would be necessary to wait until Congress could make a special
appropriation. This reply was not convincing, seeing that payment of
these identical claims had been made in a loan of $10,000,000 which the
Cuban government had made in New York with the approval of the United
States; and it was naturally assumed at Washington either that the money
had been spent for other purposes or that it was being purposely
withheld by President Gomez on some technicality or for some ulterior
motive.

As an incident of this controversy, in the closing days of August, the
Liberal press of Havana conducted a campaign of vilification against
Hugh S. Gibson, the American Charge d'Affaires in Cuba, which culminated
in a personal assault upon that gentleman by Enrique Maza, a member of
the staff of one of the papers. This outrage provoked a sharp protest
from the Washington government, in terms which implied a menace of
action if reparation were not made. This alarmed President Gomez, and
caused him to make at least a show of punishing the offender, and to
write a long message of apology and pleading to President Taft, in which
he promised to deal with Maza and with the newspapers which had been
slandering Mr. Gibson, to the full extent of the law, and begged for a
reassuring statement of friendship from the United States government.
Ultimately Maza was punished by imprisonment, and the penalty of the law
was also applied to Senor Soto, the responsible editor of one of the
papers which had most libelled the American Charge d'Affaires. The
Cienfuegos claim was also paid; but because of it an attempt was made to
enact a law excluding all foreign contractors from participation in
Cuban public works!

The Presidential election occurred on November 1, and resulted, as w