The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1901-04-07


cuffed ANA shackled together and
marched through the streets of The city
barefooiei and barehealei surrounded
by strong armed guard Then he sen,
each to a stone CELL The Dimensions Of
which we're so small as 10 make 1t inn
possible for him to lie down, After
several days he ordered them to /,
transported to san Carlos. the old Span
ish fortress prison at Mara ,aibo. where
are confined all the criminal corvicts,
I Az the pleadIngs Of their families and
their friends they surrendered but not
until they had again plraled he streets
in shackels and barefoot and Win un-
covered head. Having paid over the
price OF their freedom-one SlOoOo an
other $4,000 ana the third S3O,OO0--they
regaIned their liberty. They subse-
quently escaped from the country in dis
guise and arrived a; Trinidad. In this
wav Castro raised the funds fer con-
Quoting the government dntn the rev
enues OF the war taxes began 70 come
in.
Another method Of raising money is
charging business men with "conspir-
ing against the government" and con-
iscat'ng their properly,
No; long ago a German merchant ar
rived at Barcelona from Caracas 10 COLI
leet moneys due on various Enterprises
in which ne WAS Interested. He coll
lec,ei N all $l2,0O0 Castro heard OF this
and gave orders that the money muse
not be taken out Of the country and
that the collector must leave the cash
with the government. The man was
seized and placed on q stool in prison
yard where the not rays Of the sun beat
upon his bare head ANA a soldier stood
on each side with fixed hayonet with
orders to run him through ii he at
suffering he announced that he would
give up $4,000 if they would release
him. That was not enough The whole
$500 or nothing. In the ninth hour
OF his torture he yielded. took the SOL
diers to the place where he had con-
cealed the money and surrendered it,
He sailed on the mex; steamer leaving
Caracas.
A month later a German cruiser en-
tered Laguayra. The captain and
twelve sailors pulled ashore and then
rode to Caracas. They at once entered
Castro's presence and peremp,orily de-
manded not only every penny Of the
$4,000 but the punishment Of the official
VINO had superintended the torture.
Without a word Castro paid the money
and ordered the official who lad car
ried out the presidents orders cast into
the Rotunda.
Curse all foreigners" Castro is re-
ported to have said, when once General
Ayala, the minister et Industry, suggest /
ed that foreign money and immigration
should be encouraged 10 levelop Vene-
zuela's resources. "Tll annul every con- !
cession held by foreigner in this coun-
Try" the dictator is nlleged to have
said. and sell the concessions over
again. :
In December he annulled all the con-
cessions Of the various Orinoco concerns |
the trading company. the colonization |
company and the shipping and trans
portation company. all American con-
Germs with headquarters in New York !
The reason he gave for this procedure
was that the companies had not car
ried out their contrac, conditions.
Previous TO this he hal annulled the
concession Of the asphalt ,1mpany in
the state Of Bermud-z, a concession
which for ten years or more had been
yielding the country a large revenue an
nuallv He then sold tn asphalt prop
erty. which had been purchased years
before in fee simple from the govern
ment OF Venezuela. The ASPHALT COM
pany protested and carried its case TO
the Venezuelan courts. wh=r- it was re-
warded with an adverse decision Then
the company brought its case To Wash
ington and placed it before The United
States government. The tate depart
ment Immediately sent instru :tiDns re-
garding the matter to Minister LOOMS
in Caracas. These instructions LOOMS
carried out to the letter This precip-
itated the trouble in Venezuela.
Meanwhile it was said by excellen,
authorities that each Of The entire dip ,
lomatic corps in Caracas is posting his ,
government daily regarding The state e :
affairs.
senor Augusta PuIido, charge a'af.
faires Of the Venezuelan legation. exam
inei tn. articl. with considera5 Die at |
tenton at the Waldorf-Ast,ria last !
night He said:
Il believe this article to be greatly tx !
aggsrate1. Cipriano Castro is not a die |
tator in any sense OF the word. He won
his office by force Of arms. but he has
Obeyed the constitution since his rise
70 power. l never heard Of he re-
ported amendment to the constitution