The San Francisco call., 1896-03-29
zETES STORY IS TOL0.
The Crew of the Barclay Golden
Give His Side of the
Case.
NOT A COWARD IN ACTION
He Has Plenty of Money and Is Only
Awaiting Another Chance
to Fight.

The remains of General Antonio Ezeta's
expedition to recapture San Salvador ar
rived in port yesterday. The tug Barclay
Golden came in through the Golden Gate
quite UNEXPECTEDLY and at once docked at
Main street wharf. The officers of the
| vessel bring quite different tale from that
which was telegraphed, and they also deny
IN most emphatic terms that Ezeta and
Casin are "hard up" and depending upon
charity for their bread and butter. Ac-
cording to them Ezeta's wife keeps them
supplied with money, and he and his de-
rendents are living on the fat of the land
at Panama.
They are particular in denying the sto-
ries circulated to the effect that Ezeta and
Casin are towards. According to them
two braver men never stepped in shoe
leather, and had there been fifty men at
their back when they landed at Acaiutla
Antonio EZeta would now be master of the
re Du blic.
''We reached Acaiutla on January g."
SAID Chief Officer H. Spring yesterday.
"We had been up and down the coast look
ing for some sign of Ezeta's friends, but,
as we learnt afterward, the revolution had
behind the fair. The rendezvous was to
have been at a farmhouse near the coast,
and we determined to land on the pretext
that we wanted to get some mescal. In
the first boat were Casin, Kenealy (who
carried the demijohn), Bermudas and
three others. | was in command of the
second boat and had three men with me.
'CaSin and his men got ashore first and
had reached the farmhouse before We
reached the beach. Before we could land
we saw party of thirty Salvadorans sur
round the farm house. and we at once put
| TO sea again. Casin and his men did not
wait to be attacked, but began firing at
| once. They then made a rush out of the
! front door and the troops did not wait for
| them, but ran away as fast as their legs
would carry them. Their leader. who was
on horse back, led the way. Had Casin
at that time had fifty men behind him he
could have regained his kingdom. There
| is no doubt about that.
"Well, as we were pulling back to the
Barclay Golden the troops came out of
hiding and began firing at us. Second
! Mate Melander took the oars and Casin
and his men returned their fire and several
of the troops dropped, but how badly they
were hurt / don't know. l do know, how
ever. that some of their shots came too
/
aboard the tug Ezeta and Casin took up
/ their stand behind the coal sacks and
returned the enemy's fire until we got
under way. l suppose that is what gave
rise to the absurd stories published about
! the two men getting into hiding as soon
! as the first shot was fired.
cat Punta Arenas one OF EZetas fol-
| lowers came aboard. He told me it cost
him 5000 to get boatman to row him out
to us. He brought the information that
twelve men who had favored the return of
Ezeta had been shot and that wholesale
arrests were being made.
''At Acapulco We took aboard fully
three tons of cartridges. They came to
1 Panama on the schooner Una, which also
! brought down Dan Mclean, the famous
poacher. Dan took command of the little
schooner Silver Wave, and on her the car
tridges were taken to their destination.
| If Ezeta and Casin had 100 men like Dan
! Mclean they would overrun Central
America. After getting our powder aboard
We again cruised up and down the coast,
/ but there was never a signal-fre. We had
! a good time, as there was plenty to eat and
drink aboard and little to do. Finally we
put into Panama and there our cargo of
arms and ammunition was seized.
'There is no truth in the report that
Casin was going to shoot every body on the
tug The only person he had a row with
! was myself. and that was over an awning
| ne wanted spread at once, and | took my
time about doing it. 1t was all over in a
minute, and we were the best of friends
thereafter. When we left Panama on
February "a it was understood that Casin
was to leave for San Francisco on the next
steamer. In fact, he may be here now for
all | know.
''Ezeta and his private secretary, w.
Devlin, were staying at the Hotel Marino,
and it cost them So each day for their
meals, SO that doesn't look as though he
was hard up. Casin also stayed at the
same hotel. The day before we sailed /
| was in the generals room, and he then
had big pile of gold in front of him, SO
cannot conceive of his being broke. You
mark my words, Ezeta has not made his
last attempt at recapturing San Salvador"
The Barclay Golden will go back into
the towboat business, or she may make
| another trim down the coast