The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1895-08-31
AMONG THE S1CARAGuANs.

AMONG THE SICARAGUANs.
A Recent American Visitor De-
scribes the Country.
Vincent L. Cooke has recently re-
turned from Nicaragua, where he spent
considerable time with the untamed IA.
tives. This visit was sufficient to sati-
ate Mr.. Cooke with the Central Ameri-
car states, and he returns convinced
that he does not care to spend his days
In that sunburned country. There are
a good many opportunities for making
money in Nicaragua" said Mr.. Cooke.
"if one could stand the climate. But
this Is hard for an American to do, on
account of the fevers of a malarial sort
which take hold very readily upon I'M
acclimated persons. There are a good
many Americans at Bluefields, and one
of them, q Missourian, keeps the hotel
at which I stopped. He charges his
fellow-countrymen $3.50 for a bottle Of
beer and so cents for an ordinary
drink. That is the usual charge, but it
varies according to the rate Of ex-
change. Outside of Blle1ields and Grey
town, however, there are no Ameri-
cans or English, and from the Atlantic
to the Pacific nothing but Spanish is
spoken, and 0 equently, it is a little
i~nconvenient 70 one not speaking
Spanish to travel through the country.
I made the trip and was followed most
of the way by a government detective.
| who finally succeeded in stealing from
my grip q lot of notes that I had made
to s in my articles. They were in
English, and he probably could not
read them. The country, about that
time, was keeping a strict espionage
on all strangers, and 1 may have been
regarded as a suspect.
1.-The first night I was in Bluefields I
was arrested, considerably to ,ny sur
prise, for being On the street after 3
o'clock. I was wandering AROUND very
innocently when two guards threw
their guns up in my face, and demand
ed, in Spanish, who I was. Not being
able to understand or answer them, I
said: NO savoy and they took me to
the hotel and communicated to me
that I had better stay there all night.
The country was undergoing one Of its
frequent changes in the heads of de-
partments about that time, and the
officials were careful to prevent people
being around too much.
Nicaragua is divided into depart
ments, corresponding to our states,
each department being under a pre-
feet, or, as it would be called in this
country, a governor. The president,
who is elected, appoints the projects,
and they make all the laws for their
departments, which are absolute and
constructed entirely according to the
humor Of the project making them.
The law against murder Is such as to
almost encourage the taking of human
life. The penalty for a person con-
victed Of this crime is ten years i'm
prisonment, but in order to convict,
there must be two witnesses to the
deed. AS a result, it is comparatively
easy to commit murder and be acquit-
ted. When a foreigner is convicted
they usually bleed him and his friends
as much as possible and then kick him
out Of the country.
1.-The country's standing army Is q
| ridiculous affair. 1t consists of from
1900 to $500 men and boys, ranging
sixty years. The men are armed with
| LAAC O1O 4kCuuAA6LOA AlAC VI LAC ASs3 PoCN
ent, but when they get into the heat Of
a fight they throw away their guns and
use the machette, a knife something
like those used by butchers, but con
siderably longer. They s this, in
fact, for everything from a table knife
to O corn parer. The most of the sol
diers are barefooted, and they general
ly wear trousers made Of jeans and a
ISr1k eH$,.k nnoa To- <h4 Ano~% NJ . Ill
times. The costumes Of the civilians
are very limited, and the women usu-
ally wear nothing but a cloth around
their waists, and they, too, go bare
footed.
1.-The transportation facilities in Mic
aragua are both limited and primitive.
There is only n railroad, and that is
a short one The general method Of
travel is by small boats, built after the
pattern Of the stern-wheel steamers on
the Mississippi river, which ply slow
ly upon shallow streams, ranging in
depth from six to two feet. At the
start q boat Is taken which suits the
depth of water, and as the river be-
comes shallower the passengers are
transferred to other boats of less
draft SUCCESSFULLY. 1t took me six days
to make q trip Of 160 miles in this
way. There is a great deal of land in
the country out Of which a person
could make a fortune raising coffee
and other native products If there was
any lean Of getting what is produced
to a shipping port. But the water
ways leading from these sections are
so shallow that they would have to be
dredged to a considerable extent or
railroads would have to be built, which
would be very expensive on account Of
the heavy brush and underground
which would have to be cleared away.
The land, however, which is al the
shipping ports is we'll worth investing
in II. q man can stand the climate.
Anyone who can afford to invest $1,000
without getting any returns for five
years can make a fortune quite rapid
" after that period Of time has elapsed
by planting coffee. It takes the coffee
five years to grow and bear q good
crop, but at the end of that time a per-
son would realize $50 per cent on the
money invested.
The Nicaraguans are very much
provoked with this government on &C.
count Of the part it took IN the Blue
fields troubles. They thought that the
United States should have sent a feet
of war ships here to blow the British
boats out Of the water in order to pro-
tect their mud huts, and they cannot
IN oonvincod fhat uo uyor.o riOht in NOT