The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1906-12-10
CASTRO man OF MYSTERY
Marches Into Presidency Of Venezuela With
Amy Of Tweny-three---South Ameri-
cas- Remarkable Dictator.

Seven years ago a lonely gunboat
the entire sea-fighting equipment OF
the United States of Venezuela,
steamed from Port-of- Spain into the
harbor of Caracas, venezuela's capt.
tai city. The gunboat was the vessel
on which the deposed president, An
drade. mad fled from his conqueror,
Castro. only a few days before. On
board was this message from Andrade
to Castro:
II return you the navy; you may
need it for yourself"
But Andrade was bad prophet.
| Capriano Castro has not yet needed
the navy" to save himself. Though
menaced a thousand times by revolu-
tionists and plotters, he has never lost
his grip snrdlurooe Co.'S c m shh
seven years Of his usurped power.
Though born a rude mountaineer
perhaps of mixed blood, for it mas
been said that he is part Andean In
diam, and reared a cattle-smuggler
though favored at the start with no
the forced march to power, and with
no wealth but what he took by dint
nf tpin hot
this man Castro has been an absolute
dictator since the first day of his en-
trance into the capital, defying popular
prejudices, laws, courts of justice, Sc
cret enemies, and even the most pow
erful foreign nations.
No Rules of Law or Deeeney.
Boosting as he went on his way,
stepping into new tolls only to wriggle
out Of them the next day, looking
over the brink of ruin as If to discover
whether he could invent some new ef-
frontery by which to extricate him
self, he has succeeded in making his
position stronger year by year, pre-
tending at times to grant constitution
al rights to mis- subjects, but in reality
giving them nothing; defeating each
! plotting opponent in turn; bullying
foreigners to the last limit, but eau
tious enough to stop just in time to
| avoid war with a superior power; in
short, disregarding all the rules Of law
or decency for which other men, even
South American adventures have
some respect, and accomplishing
| through sheer courage and nerve"
| and Individual magnetism results lit
tie snort Of marvellous.
Altogether, Castro is a mystery His
| enemies say he Is not a diplomat, bus
merely an audacious spitfire; yet he
outwits the diplomats and overcomes
the conservatives Of his own and
other lands They tell you he has bad
| Judgment, no tact. no gentleness OF
feeling, no conscience, even no hon.
esty with his friends; yet he has been
| a match for the most prudent Of his
| traducers. a peer of the most tactful
and he has managed to hold together
round him a coterie of advisers, wheth-
er through friendship of fear, who
obey him implicitly, and apparently
nave no fault to find with the rewards
he has given them for their years OF
| service. But, after all. it is his army
that is to be thanked especially for
the continuance of the despotism and
the reason his soldiers stick to him
is that he pays them, which is more
than any Venezuelan president ever
did.
A Product Of the Andes.
There is a difference of opinion as
to the progenitors Of Capriano castro.
To his biographers and interviewers
he has not given an authentic account
of his parentage. Some say his moth
or or his father was an Indian. 9TH
era declare that he is sprung from q
| recreant scion Of Spanish nobility, a
runaway into the hill-country OF Ven
ezuela. In any event, Capriano first
saw the light in the far-away back
| woods of the province of Los Andes
and there, when he grew to manhood
he tended cattle on the hills. near the
Colombian borders. He is now In the
neighborhood of forty-five years-no-
body seems to know exactly when ne
was born.
The Army of Twenty Three. :.
When the governor of Los Andes
took mis- cattle, Castro stra1ghtWay
iourneyed to Caracas. He saw An
drade. The president would not neea
his complaint, but sided with the gov
ernor. Castro left the palace, very
wroth. Report has it that he went