The record-union., 1899-09-01
REMARKABLE ADVENTURES.
u. S. CONSUL HANNA AND CAP
TAIN EULATE.
How They Brought a Venezuelan
Dictator to Terms in
La Guayra.

A letter which has just been receiv-
ed by Philip c. Hanna, the American
Consul to San Juan de Porto Rico, who
is now in New York on vacation,
from Antonio y Fery Eulate, Span
ish naval officer. brings to light ro-
mantle story in which war and friend
ship 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 IN
cldents 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 20, 1899
My Dear Distinguished and Highly
Appreciated Friend: 1t gives me great
pleasure, now that our Governments
nave 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 zen
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.
We have both been loyal to our
| countries: We have served them the
best we could; we have 10 apologies to
make to the public for our behavior,
neither have we apologies to make to
each other as friends. The ladies join
me in wishing you the highest prosper
| ity and happiness. l am now COM
mandante here. with the rank If Com
modore. l remain, my dear friend,
your faithful
| 'ANTONIO F. EULATE"
| 1t was on a September morning in
| 1872 that the story really begins. Ven
zuela was in revolutionary tumult. A
| dictator, Mendoza. had seized the Gov
eminent a 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 a 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 We're included in the arrests
the 5Consuls 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 peneZue-
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, We're given up to the more dis
tinguished, that is. the richest ones. A
| 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 ranSolns demand
| ed footed UP more than a quarter of a
million dollars.
! There were two men in La Guayra
however, upon whom Escheverra had
| not reckoned. One was a tall slender
| young American, with an aquiline nose,
a smooth face and 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
Juan, was about the size of the little
Concord, of the American navy.
The two men had been acquainted
about six months, Lieutenant Eulate-
for such was the Spaniard's 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
would have sgiven a years salary for
a squad of United States soldiers. or
even dozen Dubuque policemen. But