Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1905-11-13
officials of the Asphalt Com.
pany Claim Venezuelan Pres
ident Attempted Blackmail
100000 THE AMOUNT ASKED
Conference Said to Have Been Held at
castro's Palace, at Which the Presi-
dents Wife Dictated the Terms
Sensational Details Given by Agents
Of the comnanv.
Of the Company

New York, Nov. S.-Allegattons that
high officials in the Venezuelan gov
eminent deliberately attempted to ex
tort from the company the sum Of
100000 are made in a statement given
out yesterday by the New York and
Bermudez Asphalt company In refer
ence to the suit brought by the Vene-
zuelan government for $11,000,000
damages for aiding In the Matos re-
bellion.
The means used by those officials,
according to the allegation, included
blackmail, confiscation Of the COM
pany's property, the manufacture Of
false testimony and the making Of de-
crees without regard to law. The al
legations made in the statement are
based upon letters which, 1t Is de-
ner, now receiver, holding the conn
pany's property for the Venezuelan
government, but who In 1900 was the
conpany's agent at Caracas and the
representative Of Colonel Victor NJ
01SnuSoy WIN was 6elAI " VOllSZucld AL
1900 as an Independent agent Of the
asphalt company. The statement con-
cludes with an exhaustive review o.
what 1t describes as "the asphalt com
pany's actual relations to the revol1l-i
tion.'
In this connection It is explained THAT
100000 was given to General Matos
by the officials Of the National As
phalt company on the generals re-,
quest. Further sums. aggregating $780,
900, were paid the revolutionary leader
soon afterward. This money was paid,
the statement says, to guarantee pro-
lection Of the co1npany's property at
time when the territory in which the
company's property Us located was in
control Of the revolutionists.
The statement maintains that the
company at all times observed abso-
Lutte neutrality. even going to the ex-
tent Of paying customs duties to both
the governm emit and the revolutionists
when the custom houses were controll-
ed by the Insurgents
One OF the letters from Mr.. Garner
10 the Bermudez Company, dated Dec.
%, 1900, when he was the cMnpany.s
Caracas agent, which is quoted in the
statement in support Of the allegation
of extortion. says:
They (t1e government agents. are
after money. That Castro is behind
/ am morally convinced, and, little by
little, am getting closer to 1t. 1t Is
now only a question Of money and we
can have all the Justice we want"
Alleges Castro Asked Bride.
Another letter, dated Dec. 20, 1900,
quotes Mr.. Garner as Saying: II have
received a plump offer from an agent
(well known to be such) Of the dicta-
tor to the effect that he would guaran-
tee to put OUT case through exactly as
I wanted 1t and In such way as to
insure us against any future difficult
ties in the matter Of our rights and
properties, all for the sum OF $4O0, 900.
While things were going ON in this
way, the statement says, the company
sent to Venezuela Colonel v ictor NJ.
Backus Of Indianapolis, as an inde-
pendent agent to ascertain as far as
possible the true conditions there.
AS result Of the conference, the
statement says, the agreement was
made whereby Colonel Backusi was to
pay to Mr. Arocl1a 1920, 1000 for La ven-
ezuefa mine.