Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1899-12-07

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promising to send an escort Of United
States marines to bring each president to
the hotel and to see him safe back to his
camp. Then went aboard the frigate
and arranged with the captain for the
use Of four detachments of marines,
consisting of four men each. got the
correct addresses of the four presidents
and started each detachment in time to
reach its particular guest and to bring
him to the hotel at o'clock sharp. I
ordered the best dinner that the land
lord could get up, and borrowed
dozen of champagne from the captain Of
the frigate, having sampled it on. my
way from the United States and know
ing that it was first class in every re-
spect.
''Of course / wasn't so foolish as to
let one president know that had invit-
ed any of his rivals. Each man sup
posed that he was the only guest and
naturally came to the conclusion that /
meant to recognize him as the only law
full president. This made it reasonably
certain that every one Of the four would
come to dinner, and calculated when
I had got them comfortably full Of the
captains champagne they would be
ready to listen to reason.
"For the first time in the history Of
Central America my invited guests ar
rived promptly at the hour specified.
This wasn't their fault, for if they
could have had their way they would
have struggled in at all hours from 9
to 10. But the midshipmen that were
in command of the different escorts
knew their business and, being ordered
to deliver the presidents to me at 10
minutes befors 6, had them on hand at
the precise moment. How they did this
/ never inquired. One Of the presidents
II think it was Garcia-complained
that it was contrary to the law of ma
tions for American marines to prod
Central American presidents in the
back with bayonets, but 1 didn't take
any notice Of what he said, knowing
that it would be impossible to convince
Central American of the value Of
punctuality.
when the four presidents met, they
were considerably surprised, and there
would very likely have been difficulty
then and there if Ihadn't made them a
little speech and begged them to OBJ
serve the laws Of hospitality and to abb
stain from shooting on the premises.
They saw the force Of what said and
concluded to keep the peace. Each man
gave the other dignified salute, but
not word would one Of them speak to
another until dinner was about half
over. They then gradually began to ask
one another to pass the salt OF, to circu-
late the bottle, and in little while
they were all talking together as fast as
so many monkeys.
"When the coffee was brought in and
we were all as sociable as if none of us
had ever heard of politics, got up and
; said: Gentlemen, have asked you to
meet together in order to settle your
| differences and enable me to find out
which president my government ought
to recognize. You can't help seeing
that this country is too small to furnish
| a decent living for four presidents.
You'll have to go on fighting till there's
only one Of you left, and it's mere
matter of chance which one that will
be. You are playing game in which
you stake your lives against the presi-
dency, and, though can't say what
you value your lives at, it's my opinion
that the stakes are far too high.
Now, / propose that you settle this
| business BY q friendly game of cards. ]
don't know your Spanish games, but
you can easily choose some game in
which each man that is beaten goes out
and leaves the others to play. The man
who finally wins is to take tie presi-
dency, and the others are to agree to
support him for, say, two years, at the
end of which they shall be at liberty to
start revolution if they feel SO dis
posed. You will arrive at the same sort
If result by playing game Of cards