The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-01-03

Intimidad agreed TO attack the front
door of the palace with 80 men at pre-
( cisely l o'clock in the morning. His
! men were to be provided with moth
/ ing but blank cartridges, and they were
TO fire away until the front door could
/ be broken down. after which they s!ere
so rush into the palace and find that
the president had fled.
/ 1ntimidad said that he could rely
perfectly on his 80 men to obey his or
! ders. and that they were ignorant In
dams, who could never suspect that
the storming of the palace was put
up job.
L had arranged that the president
was TO leave the palace soon after
dusk on the night of the revolution,
accompanied by a single trusty servant
to carry the treasury, and l calculated
that he would be we'll on his way TO
the coast before the revolution could
/ break out.
The thing that gave me the most
trouble was to provide for the proper
firing of the rifles in the second story
windows of the palace. 1 couldn't fire
them myself, for it would have been
a breach of diplomatic etiquette for a
foreign minister to take part openly
! in revolution.
Il puzzled over this problem until
my head ached. and finally / went TO
.
difficulty / was in. He solved il at
once by telling me that he would send
| his particular friend, Lieutenant Par
tagas, to do the firing from the palace
windows, and assured me that Parta
gas was a man who could be implic
lily trusted.
II did not particularly like the plan,
but as I could not suggest anything
better 1 agreed to it. hoping that Par
tagas would have sense enough not to
shoot any of the attacking force in
real earnest.
There was one thing more to be
settled. Intimidad insisted that two
men must be killed in the attack, and
that their corDses must be left lying
on the front steps of the palace. where
every one could see them the morning
after the revolution.
He said that two men were always
killed in a Central American revolution,
and that he doubted if revolution in
which nobody should be killed would
be strictly constitutional. He was as
anxious that everything should be con-
stitutionally managed as was Don Viii
lar Villar himself.
L saw that there was force in what
he said. but l wasn't willing that any
human lives should be sacrificed, and
unfortunately there were no Cinnamon
i'll the country who could be passed off
as soldiers slain in glorious revolu-
ton. / suggested that two dummies
be dressed in the uniform of the guard
of honor and shown to the public as
the two regulation victims of the rev.
Olution, but Intimidad said that dunn
mics would not be of the slightest use.
At last I had to leave the matter in
his hands, the agreement being that
none of his soldiers should be killed.
Monday evening 1 said goOd-by 10
Don Villar Villar and had a final in
terview with Intimidad. He told me
that he had two corDses all ready,
and that he would put them on the
steps of the palace before beginning
the assault
When l insisted upon knowing how
he had obtained Shese corpseS he eX-
claimed that there were IwO men in
Jail awaiting execution for murder, AMI
that the governor of he Jail. being an
intimate friend of his, had kindly shot
the men and placed the cOrpses at his
disposal. Naturally l didn't like this,
but inasmuch as the men would have
been garroted in another week if they
had lived, their premature death wasn't
a matter of any great consequence.
Il sat I'D that night till l o'clock,
when the revolution Dunctually began.
There was a tremendous lot of firing,
and could hear people all over town
slamming their shutters, as was their
habit when a revolution b. oke out
EARLY the next morning put on my
uniform and started for the palace to
congratulate the new president. When
l entered the palace gates | was aston
ished and Mortified to discover about a
dozen corpses lying on the grass and
on the steps. and / SdW az once that
Partagas must have made 4 terrible
mistake.
THE sentinel at the door admitted
me as soon as 1 had convinced him that
l was . member Of the diplomatic
corps, and l sent uD my card to the
president. begging the favor Of an i'm
mediate interview
L was shown into the reception
room, and presently Il man wearing a
generals uniform came in and ex-
pressed his thanks that l had been so
prompt in calling to congratulate him.
AS I didn't know the man / didn't at
first understand what he meant, and
I replied that l had called to see Pres
ident Intimidad.
There is no such rerson,' replied
the general I am President Parta gas,
and | trust that your government will
make no difficulty in recognizing me as
the only legitimate president of Ear
guela.'
But where is Intimidad?' 1 asked.
L thought he was to be the new presi-
dent
Captain Intimidad recently in
command of the guard of honor. vas
killed last night in an attack upon the
palace, in which / had just installed
myself as president. I am at a loss
to understand why you should have
supposed that he was president. 1r
why YOU should have suspected that
your friend. the late President VillaF
y ViIlar, had been overthrown. Let
me suggest TO your excellency that a
terest himself in the domestic con-
Germs of the government to which he
is accredited, and I am sure that Don
Smith would never have under any
circumstances be guilty of such an
imprudence.'
u said good morning to the preSi-
dent, and l went back TO my lodgings
and wrote a dispatch to Washington
asking to be recalled at once. You see,
Partagas had come 10 the conclusion
that he might as we'll have the presi-
dency for himself. So he had fired en-
the attacking force so rapidlv and
skilfully that he had killed at least a
third of the men, including Intimidad.
and had driven the remainder away.
There was no one to dispute his claim
to the presidency; and when he issued
a proclamation setting forth how he
had overthrown the tyrant Villar V
Villar and had liberated the people
from a crushing yoke of despotism, he
settled down to the work of filing the
empty treasury and making ready for
q trip to Paris when his term of Office
should come to an end.
Il have always felt sorry for poor