The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-05-17

trenely rare. The people lead natul a
out-of-door life; their houses are open
their food is the natural products of the
| country
The American who goes to Honduras
lets drink alone. and takes as good care
of himself as he does in his own country
will not suffer from sickness as much as
he did in the rigorous climate OF the
north. Indeed Honduras is natural san
itarium.
AS to reptiles. We did not see living
snake while in Honduras although we
spent considerable time in the dense bush
and walked many miles through one
heavy grass of the savannas. The only
snake which the natives seem 10 fear is
the ''tamagas" or yellow-jaw Cbara anna
rilla). This snake is not aboreal, but
lives on the ground. 1t is said TO be very
poisonous. and is analogous to the rattle
snake of the United States-minus the
rattles. The Indians say it's bite is deadly.
but that they have a secret medicine
which will invariably cure the victim, #
they can get to him soon after he is bit
ten. This would indicate that the bite is
not particularly dangerous since secret
remedies usually act through the mind.
Physicians recognize the fact that peo-
pie often die of fright When We witness
IN the native his abject fear of the tama-
gas, we are convinced that its bite would
brighten him TO death. even if non-poison-
Gus. The boa-constrictor exists in Hon
duras. but is not common and does not
attack man. There are very few other
snakes. The scarcity of them is said 10
be due to the presence of hundreds of
warri, or wild hogs. which devour them
We saw neither the tarantula nor the
centipede, though both are found in the
country The former is slothful in his
movements, and bites very rarely. The
natives dread him because he bites and
disables their mules occasionally. They
say a mule loses the hoof after having
been bitten on the leg by tarantula, and
is, therefore, unserviceable until a new
hoof grows. The poison Of the centlpede
causes an ugly sore and a fever, but is
not serious. There are numerous alliga-
tors, but they never attack the people.
One ca ntravel on foot for months
through the jungles of Honduras without
fear Of injury from reptiles.
Regarding revolutions. According 70
the most reliable information we could
obtain, the recent row in Honduras %
iginated as follows: There were three
candidates for President: General Man
uel BonilIa mot ex-President Policarpo
BoniIla), Senior Marco Sofa, and Dr. Juan
Arias. The election was held about No
vember l, 1902. We were told that the
votes stood: for Bonilla, IS, 600; for Soto,
s. 600, and for Arias. 5000. The govern
ment claimed fraud in the election. saying
Bonilla received more votes than there
were voters. In other words-that his
partisans had stuffed the ballot-box."
Congress convened January l. and later
pronounced the election void, and under a
clause in tbe<SSnstitution declared Arias
President
Bonilla then gathered an army to aid
him making the Presidential chair by
force. which he has accomplished The
last city 70 yield was the capital. Tesuci-
galpt which surrendered on April 13.
Judging from the talks we had with the
common people, they were with Bonilla TO
a man. 1t would seem that only the Off
tion-were opposed to Bonilla, for the
very good reason that they held fat jobs
which they wished TO retain and would
retain under Arias. who was the admins
tration candidate. while they would be
politically decapitated If BoBnilla became
President
The period of actual hostilities lasted
only about sixty days. during which time
one town or city after another surren-
dered to the insurgents with scarcely any
semblance OF resistance. In fact large
ma jority of the soldiers in the govern
ment army were in sympathy with the
Donilla movement and only waited an OPP
portunity TO desert and join his followers.
The commander of one garrison told us
that he and all his men would go over
and join the insurgents the moment they
appeared. Another said he must make
show Of resistance, hut did not intend to
see any of his men killed. It is said that
I'm the outset Bonilla commanded his gen
erals to avoid bloodshed and TO prevent
the destruction of property by looting.
As far as we were able to judge the
revolution was a triumphant march OF So
called "insurgent squads constantly aug
mented by the addition OF something
like 90 per cent of all the government
troops they met. There was, OF course.
some fighting At TruxiIlo. for instance.
the commaudante was faithful to the ad-
ministration. When the insurgents sur
rendered the fort there and opened fire, 1t
is alleged that this commandante and his
officials stood behind their men with
drawn revolvers ard told them they must
shoot straight or be shot by the officers
There were about one hundred men in
the garrison They were equipped with
rifles and small cannon. The first de-
tachment OF insurgents came without
cannon Another company arrived with
a cannon. which they at first Intellectually
fired at the fort from the mountain be
hind the city. The fort occupies a space
between the plaza and the bay. Directly
across the plaza from the fort. and facing
il. stands an old stone church with double
towers At night the insurgents cut a
large hole in the rear wall Of the church
and entered with the cannon. which they
planted opposite the church door by cut
ting a hole in the floor and letting the
cannon drawn until only the muzzle OF il
projected above the floor.
There were great stone steps in front
OF the church door. which largely pro
tected the gun and the men who fred II
Others Of the insurgents stationed them
selves in the towers OF the church and IT
the windows where they could fire and
then dodge behind the walls 70 reload
The shooting was done under cover OF
darkness and both sides rested during
the day. on the third night Of the battle
the occupants Of the fort escaped towards