Evening star., 1900-04-26
ALL RESPONSIBILITY DENIED
MINISTER COREA GIVES THE FACTS
OF THE DAVID EXPEDITION,
A Party of Refugees From Colombia.
Who Returned to Their Re-
voting COuntrymen.

Senior Corea, the Nfcaraguan minister
here has delivered an emphatic denial of
the story that Nicaragua has any hostile
designs upon Costa Riea, and especially
that the David expedition was in any sense
governmental enterprise.
Because of the reiteration in the news
dispatches of rumors to that effect the
minister had long conference with Sec
retary Hay today and disposed of these
stories finally and completely. The min
lister says that ChiriQui, the point where the
expedition landed and made its way to
David, lies in northern Colombia, and is
separated from Costa Rica by an almost
impossible mountain range. No one with
any military talent would ever seek to
make Chriqui basis of operations against
Costa Rica.
1t is true that the expedition did sail
from Nicaragua on a Nicaraguan govern
ment tug, the Monotombo, but this fact
was explained by the minister in a man
ner to completely eXonerate the Nicara-
guam government from any knowledge of
the departure of the expedition. A num-
ber of ColOmbians, some of them refugees,
had taken up their residence in Nicaragua.
Some of them We're men of ability, and the
Nicaraguan government finding them use
full members Of the community, had placed
them in office. The leader of the David
expedition was one of these Nicaraguan Of
flee holders. which fact. taken in connec-
ton with the use of the government tug,
naturally gave ground for the assumption
that the NicaraSuan government was aid
ing the expedition In fact, according to
the minister the government knew nothing
of that leaders plans. The master of the
tug was accustomed to making short trips
up and down the coast, looking after snug
glers, and without specific orders from the
government.
The leader of the expedition made a pri-
vate arrangement with the master to trans
port his party, and as it was small, num-
bering only about twenty men, and as the
tug was used TO setting off without orders
the Nicaraguan government was ignorant
OF the whole proceeding. In proof of this
statement it appeared that when the tug
master returned from Chiriqui and admitted
that he had acted without any authorization
from the government, he was promptly i'm
prisoned by the Nicaraguan government
1t was further stated that the Colombians
went aboard without arms and that their
purpose was to aid the revolutonists in
the eastern part of their own country, Co
lombia, rather than attack Costa Rica is
shown by the fact that they went to David
with the purpose of collecting from their
friends in that section funds to aid the c.
lombian reVolutionists and not to engage in
hostilities on their own account. In fact,
it is said that they have not been in hostile
collision with the government troops since
they landed.
All these facts. in the opinion of the min
lister, make 1t plain. that the Nicaraguan
government is no more responsible for the
David expedition than the Tnited States
government was for the Cuban expeditions
which slipped away from the Atlantic ports
of the United States before our war with
Spain.