The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1894-12-08

tics of that kind. Some were buried prop
eriy and some were not. Hundreds of
skeletons still lie in the jungle. Ii has
been said by a writer that a man could
walk all the way from Colon To Panama
on dead mems bones. but perhaps he was
imaginative. In six years twenty-four out
OF thirty-six Red Cross nurses and thirty
eight out of eighty European and American
doctors died.
Stories of these things began to come
back TO France. The canal treasury, which
had contained so much. was almost empty,
and there was very little 10 show tor il at
the lsthmus besides the work of the
American contractors. An opposition
party developed among the shareholders
But at one OF the meetings, when they
attempted to say something against the
management, they were Jeered down and
De Lesseps and his friends were still
supreme But NJ. Paul LEROY Beaulieu
wrote In l. EconoBiiste Francois against
the canal. He said that the French were
squandering their monef and that the
canal would not be built NJ Bonaparte
Wyse went there in 1Ss6 and said il was a
stupendous failure. All the Americans
who visited Panama said so, too. But the
bulk of the French ascribed these asser-
tions to personal jealousy or national
envy. When the complaints of trouble at
Panama reached NJ. de Lesseps he told
them q story: When we were about TO
open the canal at Suez," he said, ''and
great ssemblage was gathered, a man
vita n long face came to me and whispered
that a loaded vessel had sank in the
middle of the canal and blocked it
up. / told him TO get dynamite
and blow it up. That ended the
matter. / was not going TO have such
an event spoiled by tribes, and the
next day was my wedding day, too"
Thus he waved away any complaints about
Panama and he was as great man as
ever. He came to the United States and
was magnihcently entertained. But these
things aid not cure the ills of Panama.
The blacks still died of the fever, the
money was still wasted and very little
work was done. Tn expenditure had al
ready run far ahead of the original estl-
mate. New subscriptions had bean called
for and many we're obtained, but the
"woollen stockings" were growing wary.
At last the French government sent out q
commission headed by NJ. Rousseau to
examine the canal. This commission told
part of the truth about the immense cor
ruption and dishonesty at the lsthmus but
another appeal by De Lesseps and his
friends brought some money. Sooc after
this the grand crash came. The canal
company bought the Panama railroad
1000 shares. at about SZ62 80 share, when
its real value was about par. But this
railroad Is now almost its only available
asset The canal was thrown into the
hands of receiver, NJ. Nonchicourt, and
the exposure of the vast frauds which
overthrow the French ministry and IN
settled the republic itself has followed.
Thirteen hundred million francs were
spent. Almost the entire press of Paris
was bribed. q, O00. 900 francs it is said, be-
ing paid for that purpose. 1t was charged
that 200 members of the chamber of
deputies were bought. and Baron Jacques
de Reinaeh, who received large sums, COM
mltted suicide.
The newspaper men OF Paris were the
first TO discover the crookedness of the
letting of contracts. They did not expose
the frauds, but blaekmailed the perpetra-
tors of them. Ii the sum of money given
for brides end oiackmail had been ex-
pended on the canal, that canal would to-
day he in operation. Its construction is
feasible. but con parativeiy little money
was judciously expended IN construction
work. One of tie chief biackmailers was
DR.. Cornelius Herr. Hebrew quack doc
tor from san Francisco, famous in Paris
for his tine horses and carriaces He is
now living in England on his spells. The
French government authorized lotteries to
raise funds for the canal and the corn
pany. to secure authorization of these lot