The record-union., 1899-09-11
REMARKABLE ADVENTURES.
u. S. CONSUL HANNA AND CAP
TAIN EULATE.
How They Brought a Venezuelan
Dictator to Terms in
La Guayra.

Consul to San Juan de Porto Rico, who
is now in New York on vacation,
from Antonio y Ferry Eulate, Span
ish naval officer brings to light fo-
mantle story, in which war and friend
snip play conspicuous parts. The early
incidents in this drama of real life were
made the subjects of a speech in the
House of Representatives three years
ago by Amos J. Cummings, but the m
cidents made possible by the Spanish
American war have never been told.
The letter. which contains the informa-
ton that Captain Eulate is now a
Commodore and in command OF the
navy yard at Cadiz. reads as follows:
''Cadiz, Spain. July 70, 1899.
My Dear Distinguished and Highly
Appreciated Friend: 1t gives me great
pleasure, now that our Governments
have cen fit to resume their old time
diplomatic relations. to felicitate you
upon the same and to convey TO you
the sentiments of my heart. You can
never know how much Of the balm of
consolation was contained in your mes
sages and letters during the late
trouble, and thereafter when my cen
tai agony produced greater pains than
my wounds. In spite of the excitement
Of war and the load IF responsibility
upon you, you consoled me by showing
that your friendship was of character
that stood the test.
I'VE have both been loyal to our
countries; we have served them the
best we could; we have no apologies to
make to the public for our behavior,
neither have we apologies to make to
a nj n
me in wishing you the highest prosper
mandante here. with the rank Of Com
modore. l remain. my dear friend,
your faithful
"ANTONIO Y F. EULATE.''
1t was on a September morning in
1892 that the story really begins. Ven
zuela was in a revolutionary tumult A
dictator, Mendoza. had seized the Gov
ernment few months before. and in
stalled himself in power at Caracas, the
inland capital He had gathered about
him an opera bouffe army and had cap
tured the place without much blood
shed, but the deposed President had
afterward made a determined stand.
The war had grown rather serious by
September. Mendoza had suffered one
or two reverses. His troops clamored
for pay. That was circumstance the
dictator had not looked forward to. The
treasury had been depleted long be-
fore, SO there was no money to be had
in that quarter.
SEIZED SEVENTEEN CONSCLS.
General Escheverra was Mendoza's
principal supporter. 1t occurred to him
that the quickest way to get money
was to take it by force from whonso-
ever had it. So he arrested eighty-five
of the wealthiest people in La Guayra,
the seaport and commercial metropolis
of Venezuela. The prisoners were
mostly merchants of foreign birth, but
the really serious part of the affair
was the fact that seventeen foreign
Consuls were included in the arrests
the Consuls of Russia. France, Bel
gium, Hawaii and nearly every Latin
country.
They had money as we'll as the mer-
chants, and in the desperate straits of
his chief, General Escheverra did not
hesitate to lock them up. A Venezue-
Ian troop was stationed outside the
fortress, while inside the gates the
prisoners had the greatest freedom
compatible with their surroundings.
The officers quarters. carpeted luxu-
riously, were given up to the more dis
tinguished that is. the richest ones Il
list was kept of the names of the pris-.
oners and of the amount of money ex-
pected from each before he could be
liberated In all the ranso1ns demand
ed footed up more than a quarter of a
million dollars.
There We're two men in La Guayra,
however, upon whom EScheverra had
not reckoned One was tall, slender
young American, with an aquiline nose,
a smooth face and a pair of gray blue
eyes that dilated in mild surprise or
flashed in anger as occasion arose. He
was "Phil' Hanna. an Iowa man, the
American Consul at the port. Esche-
vera had either ignored his existence
or forgotten him. Anyway, whether
from prudence or disdain. he had not
imprisoned the young man.
FRIENDS IN VENEZUELA
The other man who was destined to
interfere was Lieutenant of the Span
ish navy, a dark visaged, taciturn
man, who had taken liking to the
Iowa boy and whose vessel was lying
in the harbor. This vessel, the Jorge
Concord, of the American navy.
The two men had been acquainted
about six months, Lieutenant Eulate-
for such was the Spaniards name
visiting the bachelor quarters at the
Consulate for smoke and a chat and
and Consul Hanna going aboard the
tiny war ship whenever it came in from.
coast survey duty. There was no war
anywhere, except in Venezuela. Spain
was friendly to the United States and
Indifferent to the revolutionary quar-
rels of Crespo and Mendoza.
On the morning in September referred
to, the day of the wholesale arrests
Consul Hanna received note from the
prison, telling him there was an Amer
lean locked up, a man who had been
naturalized and who had acted former
ly as a sort of consular agent. The
Consul was alone. He tried to tele-
graph to Minister Seruggs, at Caracas,
for instructions, but the local authori-
ties shut off his dispatch. Then he
tried to get word to Washington by
the Central and South American cable
and telegraph route, but the La Guayra
censor refused to send it.
BY this time "Phil' Hanna was
aroused. He was fighting mad. He
a squad of United States soldiers. or.
even a dozen Dubuque policemen. But
he hadn't a man of that sort within a
radius of 1000 miles. Eschevrras
troops were lounging in front of the
fortress when the Consul strobe up and
demanded. the release. of the prisoners.