The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-12-25
A BLOODLESS REVOLUTION
lama Drama as 1t Was Played at Colon.
BY MERRILL A. LEAGUE.
Special Correspondent Of the Morning News

il
alton was the securing of the COM
mercial advantages to be derived from
the ship canal, having been completed
at Panama on Wednesday, the scene of
action was suddenly shifted to Colon,
where the leading officials of the Pam
ANA Railroad were keeping a close
watch upon events. On the morning
Of the 3rd of November (Tuesday).
when the gunboat Cartagena appeared
at Colon, these officials sent a manda-
tory order by telegraph to Capt. John
r. Beers, the companys representative
closest to the Panamians, directing
that under no circumstances should the
scheme to win independence be aban-
doned or allowed to miscarry because
of the arrival of a force of Colombian
soldiers. This order was obeyed and
Capt. Beers and Supt Prescott WELD
ed an influence in forcing the original
clique of conspirators to proceed with
the execution of their project
OF what happened in Panama that
day, when Gov. Obaldia and Gems.
Trovar and Amaya were arrested and
the Independence of the republic pro-
claimed, Colon was kept in entire ig-
norance. All of these happenings were
delayed in the execution until after the
departure of the last train from Pam
anna to Colon on that day, so that per-
sons arriving at Colon on Tuesday ev-
ening had nothing of importance to re-
port. The only other medium of COM
munication across the isthmus is by
the telephone and telegraph lines con-
trolled by the Panama Railroad. The
officials of this corporation exercised
a close censorship over all messages
passing back and forth, and it is a fact
which cannot be disputed that while
the independence of Panama was prac-
tically proclaimed on the evening of
the 3rd of November the people of
Colon, only forty-seven miles away
were in total ignorance of what had
taken place until the arrival of the
first train from Panama at II o'clock
on the morning of the 4th of Novem-
Der
When that train arrival, bringing
passengers from Panama with more or
less exaggerated reports of the occur
FENCES in the metropolis of the 18TH
mus the day before, Colon prepared at
once for the shock she had reason to
expect because of the presence of 45O
Colombian soldiers within her limits.
The train from Panama brought an
order from the governing junta dis
missing Gen. Cuadros from the Office
OF governor of Colon and appointing
Senior Mollendes, mulatto of some
ability, to succeed him. This was in
accordance with a scheme arranged on
the second of the month, when Molten
des was called to Panama by tele-
graph to meet the conspir-ators. at
which meeting it was arranged that
he should be appointed governor of this
province, and he was directed to stand
ready to assume the office the moment
the order for his appointment should
be communicated to him.
Looked Back in Colon bia.
Mollendes needed no great amount
of encouragement, and when the train
arrived from Panama at II o'clock on
the morning of the 4th, he Immediately
announced himself governor of the
province by appointment of the Junta, !
and took charge of the local govern
ment This had hardly been done when
OOlOA was l4lIOWll IHlO d state OF great
excitement by the general circulation
of the news that Gems. Tovar and /
Amaya had been arrested, and were /
even then in prison in Panama. The |
450 Colombian soldiers were quartered
in the Colon barracks, a large building |
formerly used by the railroad as a |
passenger station, and these soldiers |
at once assumed threatening atti- |
tude. Col. Torres, who was left in
command when TOvar and Amaya |
went to Panama, was most obdurate,
insisting that what had been done
should be undone and the mischief re-
paired, and promising to visit upon
all concerned the direst penalties. The
situation looked black for the Ameri-
can and other foreign element in Co.
Ion, for the number of men who could
be mustered to oppose any attempt by
the Colombians to work vengeance
upon the town was so small as to be
almost insignificant in the face of the
Colombian battalion. which was we'll
armed and equipped.
The United States gunboat Nashville,
with her jackies aboard was swing
ing at anchor in the harbor; but the
one thing for which the secessionists
and their American allies on the 18TH
mus were most desirous-actual Amer
lean intervention-had not been accom-
complished. Capt. Hubbard of the
Nashville had, it is true, issued on
the evening of the Sd an order to the
Panama Railroad forbidding it to
transport armed men in either direc-
ton across the isthmus; but no Amer
lean force had been landed. 1t was at
this juncture that Gov. Mollendes ex-
ecuted little coup of his own, to
which American Intervention is direct
" traceable. Mollendes invited Col.
Torres, the Colombian commander, to
meet him in conference at the Hotel
Washington, another isthmian institu-
ton which is controlled by the Pan
anna Railroad. Employing all his per-
suasive abilities, Mollendes urged Col.
Torres to re-embark his troops and
sail away, leaving the isthmus to pur-
sue its own course. This line Of argu-
ment only increased Torres bitterness.
He became more defiant, even bonn
bastic, and at 1890 made a behement
threat that if Gems. Tovar and Amaya
We're not given their liberty by 2
o'clock he would turn his battalion
loose and slaughter every American in
Colon. Nothing could have suited
Mollendes and the other secessionists
better than this threat. Mollendes
waited not a minute after hearing
Torres avowal Despite his exces-
sive avoirdupois, he broke from the
conference room in the Hotel Washing
ton, and running all the way, covered
the 300 yards to the general offices Of
ba al In slroIn