Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1903-01-24

81 puzzled over this problem till my
! head ached, and finally l went to Cap
| tain Intimidad and told him the diff
Guilty was in. He solved IL at once py
telling me that he would send his par
ticular friend, Lieutenant Partagas, to
| do the firing from the palace windows
| and assured me that Partagas was
| man who could be implicitly trusted.
There was one more thing to be set
| tied. lntimidad insisted that two men
| must be killed i'm the attack and that
| their cOrpses must be left lying on the
| front steps of the palace, where every
one could see them the morning after
! the revolution.
| He said that two men were always
| killed in Central American revolution
| and that he doubted If a revolution in
! which nobody should be killed would
! be strictly constitutional | saw that
| there was force in what he said. but |
Wasn't willing that any human lives
| should be sacrificed. and unfortunately
| there were no Cbinaucn i'm the country
| who could be passed off as soldiers
| slain in glorious revolution. At last
i had to leave the matter in his hands,
| the agreement being that none of his
| soldiers should be killed.
Monday evening said goodby 20
Don Villar V Villar and had final in
terview with Intimidad. He told me
that he had two corpses all ready and
that he would put them on the steps of
the palace before the beginning of the
assault.
when | insisted upon knowing how
he had obtained his corpses, he eX-
claimed that there were two men In
| Jail awaiting execution for murder and
that the governor of the jail. being an
intimate friend of his, had kindly shot
the men and placed the corpses at his
disposal
'I sat up that night till L o'clock,
when the revolution punctually began.
There was a tremendous lot OF firing,
and could hear people all over the
| town slamming their shutters, as was
their habit when a revolution broke
out.
Early the next morning put on my
| uniform and started for the palace to
congratulate the new president. When
L entered the palace gates, l was as
| tonished and Mortified to discover about
a dozen corpses lying on the grass and
on the steps, and l saw at once that
| Partagas must have made a terrible
| mistake.
81 was shown into the reception
| room, and presently a man wearing a
| generals uniform came In and express
| ed his thanks that | had been so
| prompt i'm calling to congratulate him.
| AS | didn't know the man l didn't at
| first understand what he meant, and
| replied that | had called to see Presi-
| dent Intimidad.
There is no such person. replied
the general. 4 am President Partagas,
and trust that your government will
make no difficulty in recognizing me as
the only legitimate president of Ear
| guela.'
but where is IntimidadY l asked
R L thought he was to be the new presi-
I dent
Captain Intimidad, recently in
command of the guard of honor, was
killed last night in an attack upon the
| palace, in which l had just installed
| myself as president i am at q loss to
understand why you should have sup
posed that he was president or why
| you should have suspected that your
friend. the late President Villar vii
lar, had been overthrown. Let me sug-
| gest to your excellency that n foreign
minister Is not supposed to interest
himself In the domestic concerns OF the
| government to which he is accredited,
and am sure than Don Smith would
never under any circumstances be
| guilty of such an imprudence.'
| 81 said good morning to the presi-
dent, and / went back to my lodgings
and wrote a dispatch to Washington
asking to be recalled at once
you see. Partagas had come to the
conclusion that he might as well have
the presidency for himself. So he had
fired on the attacking force so rapidly
and skillfully that he had killed at
least third OF the men, including In
trinidad, and had driven the remainder
away.
And when he issued proclamation
setting forth how he had overthrown
the tyrant Villar villar and had liber.
ated the people from crushing yoke
OF despotism he settled down to TIE
work Of filling the empty treasury and
making ready for trip to Paris when
his term OF Office should come to an
/ end.
81 saw ex-President Villar y villar in
Paris about three years ago, and he
told me that Paris wasn't what he had
supposed it to be and that he had half
a mind to go back to Central America
and enjoy one more revolution before
| he died"
| Chfue.e Fahua