Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-11-28
The Panamanian Mercenaries.

The Panamaians. like all Colomhians.
are brave people, but. somehow, most of
the fighting on the isthmus seems to be
done by foreigners During the last cam
paign most of the revolutionists and a good
many of the government troops were Brit
ish subjects-Jamaican negroes. Many
thousands of these men were brought over
by the French company to dig the Panama
ditch, and on the work coming to a stand
still they We're thrown out of employment.
When the revolution broke out they eagerly
embraced the chance of excitement and
loot, for the jamaican negro dearly loves
fight or a 'contenshun, as he calls IT,
Some rose to high rank. even becoming
generals and handling large bodies of men.
Two other foreigners bore a prominent
part In the fighting and won for themselves
great regulations among the Panamdns.
They were General Herbert O. Jefries.
an American who graduated either from
West Point or Annapolis-it was never
quite clear which-and Captain Charles E.
Tilton. a merchant skipper, who was real
Captain Kettle at heart.
JeffrieS has come into the public eye lately
by taking command of the warship Padilla
for the Panama republic. During the revo-
luton he was in the service OF the Colom-
bian government and became one of its
most trusted henchmen. He was sent to
Genoa to buy the American steam yacht
Namouna, and brought her over to Colon
converted into warship for use against
the revolutionists. Jeffries has lived in Co
lombia many years and made a great deal
Of profit by the sale of his military genius.
His answering loyalty. his fearlessness
and his skill" said an enthusiastic Colon
bian general. have won for him not only
the confidence of the chief authorities. but
also one of the highest military positions in
the country
Captain Tilton has disappeared from View
lately, but he is supposed to be still knock
ing about the isthmus somewhere. He
studied at Annapolis, but did not enter the
navy. He became in turn a merchant sea-
man. a whaler and an official of the Pacific
Mail Steamship Company. Then he went
into the Colombian service skipper of
the craftsmanship which Jeffries bought at
Genoa
Stories are told of him at Panama and
Colon which make the famous Captain ket-
tie look like a baby by comparison. Time
and again he has fought for his life against
Latin-AmericanS
Wien he is asked the meaning of two
deep scars running right acress his face
fro m cheek to cheek, he tells a thrilling
tale of how be fought, single handed,
gang of Colombian wharf rats who
wanted revenge because he made them I'M
load cargo on a saints DAY. One of the
Colombians slashed his face twice with
knife. Next moment Tilton fractured the
mans skull with terrible blow of his fist.
1T was his life or mine," says the skip
per, when he tells the story. 1.-The Colon
bians had their knives. but had only my
fists, and, besides, l was spoutng blood
like a whale / had to hit him while l
had my strength. If l hadn't been losing
blood so fast 1 could have hit harder.
When the others saw him fall dead you
can just bet they got a move on! If had
had Delaying pin l would have followed
them to the wharf"
The blow that killed the Colombian was
such terrible one that Tilton's hand was
broken in five places.
Jeffries and Tilton-but especially Tilton
are good types of the soldiers of adven-
ture who are to be found mixing up in
every Latin-American squabble. There
were many of them on the isthmus during
the last revolution, and doubtless they are