The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1905-01-27

will make the lurid tales of our West
ern scouts seem to fit only for the rur-
sery," said the member of the Geolog-
ical Survey, who has spent consider
able time in Central America, says the
San Francisco Bulletin.
"It 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
tlfTturbulent Central American repub-
lies to satisfy me that he has not had
a 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 a New Yorker by birth
a 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 a 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 revolutionists with equal courage,
and usually with success. 1t cannot
be said that his rewards We're ever
commensurate with mis- 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.
'In those fights, as in all others, JEFF
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
head. He fed to Guatemala with Gen.
=. 2. Brannon redOubtable Pennsyl-
vania fighter.
Both were welcomed by Don Luis
Bograu, known as the Diaz of Central
America, then President. They
planned the ambuscade which resulted
in the slaughter of nearly 400 Guate-
malan invaders.
Under President Bograu's admins
tration Americans were strictly lin 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; Louisianian was chief of
police, and Major Burke, once State
Treasurer of Louisiana, managed thG
mineral resources.
Among the Americans who fiocked
to the capital at Tegucigalpa was a
New Yorker named Palmer, a polished
gentleman and the possessor Of a mag
nifcent baritone voice. Palmer and
Jeffries became chummy at oLce, and
for months were inseparable. Both
were in demand at social functions.
Jeffries being a fine tenor singer and
passionately fond of music.
'Their popularity aroused the jeal-
ousy and envy of Cecil, who, while
carefully avoiding Jeffries. constantly
sought a 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 Cecils infiu-
ence that he was not even arrested.
"Jeffries was at Yucatan, two days
distant by the usual mode of travel,
UuL ne luC jun hCJ III bNChAy
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, he found Cell in tn barroom
surrounded by a number of native Of
ficers, Boosting 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-
err. Jeffries strobe into the yard