The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1905-01-11

i
TX y the Pacific flotilla of the
WOW new Panama Republic,
will make the lurid tales of our West
ern scouts seem to fit only for the nur-
sery," said the member of the Geolog-
lcal Survey, who has spent consider
able time in Central America, says the
| San Francisco Bulletin.
ut was my privilege TO be on terms
of good fellowship for several months
with this daredevil soldier of fortune,
| and l gathered sufficient information
| concerning his remarkable career in
the turbulent Central American repub-
| lies to satisfy me that he has not had
surfeit of the commonplace. Very
little of this information was obtain
| able from him, for, like many men of
| his peculiar type, he was not given to
talking about his own deeds.
"Jeffries is New Yorker by birth,
graduate of West Point. and nat
| ural born fighter. He is an athletic
blonde. about five feet nine inches in
height, of calm and quiet tempera-
ment.
'In his seventeen years in Central
America he has been prominent fac
tor in every important revolution in
Guatemala, Salvador, Honduras and
the United States of Colombia, lead
ing the forces of the Government or
the reyolutionists with equal courage,
and usually with success. 1t cannot
be said that his rewards We're ever
commensurate with his works, the
adage, Republics are ungrateful,'
proving true in his case.
"Jeffries was the general in charge
of the forces that fought Guate-
mala under the first Barrios, a
tyrant and despot. Several of the bat
ties which he directed were marked
by deeds of heroism, and were full of
slaughter.
I'm those fights, as in all others, JEFF
fries led his forces, a custom which,
perhaps. it is unnecessary to remark,
is uncommon in those countries, where
craftsmanship is not strong point,
and where the machete has a more
prominent place in battle than the
musket. You see, your average Cen
trail American, being afraid of his gun,
shuts his eyes as he pulls the trigger.
and the commander in front stands a
good chance of being perforated in the
back.
"Jeffries fell out with Barrios. and
was exiled and price set upon his
II nnI IN - -, In ro,,
P. p. Brannon, a redoubtable Pennsyl-
vania fighter.
Both were welcomed by Don Luis
Bograu, known as the Diaz of Central
America, then President. They
planned the ambuscade whi1n resulted
in the slaughter of nearly 400 Guate-
malan invaders.
"Urder President Bograu's admins
tration Americans We're strictly in it.
Concessions were granted them for
nearly everything they asked, and
peace prevailed throughout the land.
"An American named Cecil was
made administrator of the telegraph
lines; a Virginian built the water
works and a wagon road to the Pa
cific coast; q Louisianian was chief of
police, and Major Burke, once State
Treasurer of Louisiana, managed the
mineral resources.
among the Americans who focked
to the capital at Tegucigalpa was n
New Yorker named Palmer, a polished
gentleman and the possessor of a mag
nificent baritone voice. Palmer and
Jeffries became chummy at-orce, and
for months were inseparable Both
were in demand at social functions.
Jeffrles being fine tenor singer and
passionately fond of music.
Their popularity aroused the jeal-
ousy and envy of Cecil, who while
carefully avoiding Jeffrles, constantly
sought quarrel with Palmer. On the
night of a Presidential ball, Cecil,
drunk and noisy. met Palmer in the
barroom of the Picadilly Hotel. gross
ly insulted him, and then shot him
dead. So powerful was Cecil's influ-
ence that he was not even arrested
"Jeffries was at Yucatan, two days
distant by the usual mode of travel,
but he made the journey in twenty
four hours. killing two mules en- route.
He wired Cecil that he was coming to
kill him.
"When Jeffries rode up to the hotel,
fully twelve hours before he was ex-
pected, lie found Cell in III barroom
surrounded by a number of native Of
ficers, boasting of what he would do
to Palmer's friend. Jeffries' entrance
was the occasion of stampede on the
part of the natives, many of whom
threw themselves headlong out of the
windows in their frantic efforts to es-
cape the calm, determined looking
man in the doorway, whose big re-
volver seemed to cover every man in
the room.
1.-TWO shots rang out almost togeth-
er. Jeffries. strobe into the yard.
quietly mounted his mule. and without
look backward, rode away.
Cecil was found a few minutes
later, dead, with a bullet in his heart.
Just over the panel of the door
through which Jeffries entered, on