Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1899-01-17
A Tragedy In PermutatlOnS'
By JOSEPH u. ROGERS.

[Copyright 1885 by the Author
Now that there hns been so much
falsehood published about the miserable
San Cas,araguan affair propose to tell
the whole truth about IL from beginning
to end. and | expect to be believed.
am tired Of being called n buccaneer, a
flibuster and pirate. What l did
stand to. Of course, but want to show
that it was all a mistake which would
be ludicrous il it were not so tragic. 1t
does not seem likely on its face that a
mischievous office boy could precipitate
o South American revolution, but he
did. and am as innocent Of 1t as the
late General Othello, whose advice
shall follow in my story, setting down
nothing in malice. nothing extenuat-
ing. But first l must 90 back little.
was reporter on the New York
Eagle for several years and did well at
il, though | used to get tired Of the
everlasting night work. Well, once l
got great beat on the town. IL in
volved a corner in the coffee market,
and il made sensation at the time. IL
was double loaded, with scars head
on the first page, and Tommy Walling
Of The Globe nearly had fit over 1t,
for he had tip ON the story. but could
not run il out, and his interview with
his city editor next morning was inter
esting.
Old man Flamipgo, who was big
coffee broker, was greatly tickled with
the story, aud the upsho. OF the matter
was that be offered me a position in
his office at q good salary aud commits
sion with chances of partnership in q
few years | accepted, for l saw no
show at reporting, though | knew no
more about the coffee trade than did
about Choctaw.
But you know newspaper man ID
never afraid to tackle anything. and IN
few weeks was regular tradesman.
aud | looked forward 10 the time when
the firm would be- Flamingo q Boggs
and | should drive my carriage. Well,
in six months what does old Flamingo
do but turn up his toes without warn
INK aud leave me high and dry. Every
one thought he was rich, but when his
affairs were looked into il was found
that he was not only bankrupt but had
cheated lot Of his customers and raised
the devil generally The Globe made a
feature Of it. and Tommy Wallina
roasted the life out of me in his account
of the affair, making IL appear that i.
Hosea Boggs, was stool pigeon for aii
Of old Flamingo's crookedness II was
mean thing in Tommy, but he wanted
10 get even with me for that scoop,
which landed me in the trade. II was
a lie made ont Of whole cloth, rs the
examination showed, for had discreet
IL burned all the books and papers
which concerned my doings In any ques-
tiouahle transactions. have as good a
right AS any man 10 maintain my repu-
taiiou.
l had got far enough into the trade
10 like il fairly well and decided to set
up as a broker on my own account In
small way, trying to retain some Of old
Flamingo's trade. rented al Office IN
an eligible location. put up partitions
and had painted on the doors "Mr.
Spencer" "Mr. Oldham" "Mr. Go
mez" and "Stenographer, TO indicate
tha, il was a fiourishipg firm, though
the whole establishment consisted OF
myself and an Office boy. When think
Of that Office boy, have 10 restrain my
feelings for he was-but well come
10 that later. / can't say my blu!f
worked very we'll did little bust
ness as custom house broker. and oc'
casionally made fair deals in coffee,
sugar and fruits, but the big houses
had cinch on the trade, and 1t was
slim picking. At night used TO walk
along Park row and look up at the
newspaper offices and wish was back
again, but there was prejudice against
me OH account Of that story of Flamin-
go's affairs, though they couldn't prove
a thing. and still hoped to get estab-
lished.
Matters were going from bad To worse,
and should probably have closed mp II
il had not been for the appearance OF
fernando Bosenko on the scene. Bosen'
ko was merchant Of Cordova, the
principal seaport Of san Castaragua. he
had done business with Flamingo. and
/ had got little trade out Of him. He
was typical Spanish American,
swarthy, we'll groomed and easy going.
He came into my Office one afternoon