The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-01-01

ance crusaders engaged in raiding rum
shop. knew, OF course. that the price of
their seats would be charged to me- but
that didn't trouble me much. had already
made up my nird that / was bound to be
ruined by those women, and it didn't make
much difference to a ruined man whether
his debts were large or small.
The American women sat as still as if
they were at a prayer meeting until the
first bull was let out. The Spaniards looked
at them and wondered why people who had
come to amuse themselves could wear such
solemn faces, but as rule, Spaniards don't
trouble themselves much about other peo-
pies affairs, and so long as the bun fight
promised to pan out well, the sour faces of
the Americans did not disturb Them But
when the women saw that the fight was
about to begin, and that picador was adj
vancing on the bull with handful of darts,
they rose up in a body and shrieked to him
to let the poor beast alone Both the bull
AMI the man were a good deal astonished,
but their establishment was nothing to that
of the spectators when the one American
woman who could speak Spanish began to
address them. She told them that they were
brutes and towards, and that, although
they might think themselves civilized and
religious they were the wost set Of bar
barians on the face of the earth. She spoke
for about five minutes, and still had a good
deal Of language to get rid of, when the
people judged that the time had come for
putting the Americans out. / was sitting
on the opposite side Of the arena, and
couldn't have helped the women even if
had been anxious to help them, which, 1
am free to say, I was not. For a few min
utes the air was filled with fragments of
bonnets and back hair, and then the police
came in and carried the women off to jail,
with about as much uproar as a first-class
revolution would have made.
I was so savage at the way in which I
had been treated that resolved to let the
women spend a night in the lookup before
taking measures to have them released. The
prison was a middling comfortable one, and
I knew that they could come to no harm
by merely occupying it for a night. The
next morning oversight myself, and it was
towards noon before I went to the chief Of
police, with the intention of getting the
women set at liberty. The chief welcomed
me with enthusiasm. He threw both his
arms around me and kissed me on both
cheeks and congratulated me because as
he said the American women were where
they would never give me any more trouble
You're very good, I said; "but I'm not
rid of them yet. I can't allow them to stay
in prison, and when they are released they'll
continue to prosecute me just as they have
been doing"
MY dear sir" replied the chief, ''as you
know, 1 am your most devoted friend, and
it has been a terrible grief to me that I
could not send those women out of Spain,
and so restore tranquility to your BOSOM
F3lIf I no Ion no
dared to create a riot and attack the ma
tional custom of buIlfighting my course was
plain. They had proved themselves to be
rogues and vagabonds by engaging in a
public riot and that made it possible for
me to send them across the frontier OF
course, 1 cannot interfere between you and
the hotelkeeper, or protect you against the
manager of the bull-fight, who claims dam
ages to the amount of five thousand pesetas.
And I am afraid you will have to pay the
fines which the court inflicted this morning
on the women, and which amount to about
six thousand pesetas. Nevertheless, that is
of little consequence, for l have the great
JOY of assuring you that the women left
here for the French frontier four hours ago.
and there is no possibility of their coming
back again"
l thanked the chief for his kindness. There
was no use in telling him that he had driven
the last nail in my coffin. You see it was
absolutely certain that the women would
complain to the Washington government,
and would represent that they had been
Illegally sent out of the country and that /
had refused to give them any help. There
would be a tremendous row in the American
newspapers and even if it should prove pos
sible to settle the affair without a war with
Spain, nothing could save me from being ig-
ANONYMOUSLY turned out of office Moreover,
oven if l should not be removed, it would be
impossible for me to stay in Aragua. for
could not pay the claims that those women
had run up against me, and my failure to pay
would be followed eventually by stab in
the back.
There was only one thing left for me to
do. l went to my lodgings and wrote letter
OF resignation to Washington, explaining
that my health had suddenly given away.
Then, as soon as it was dark, I shaved off
my mustache, put a clean collar and tooth
brush in my pocket, and took the express
train for Gibraltar where l caught the
steamer for New York. I kept out of sight
III America until the uproar about the base
insult to American ladies', and the cowardly
conduct of consul had died away, and then
L went to the Sandwich Islands and went
into the sugar business. ] never saw one of
the women after / left Spain, and | trust
that never will AS for the consul at
Avilas who dumped those thirty-two women
on me, L wanted to meet him the worst way
for several years, but now that the thing has
become an old story have got over my rage.
and sometimes 1 find myself coming pretty
near to admiring him for the way in which
he got square with me. That man would
have made a first-class Anarchist conspira-
tor, # such had happened to be his path in
HE, for. considering what he did with those