The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1907-07-13

It has just turned out that a mule
an ordinary. moth-eaten, weather-beat-
en- mule whose makeup includes about
Is percent Of the ingredients which
go toward making life a social success
IN Gehenna and % percent of pure
earth-born cussedness, which is worse
than outright MISUNDERSTANDING the
distinction Of having started the war
between Nicaragua and Honduras. This
war should be known as South Ameri-
can Revolution No. $500. The news
papers down there have already
spread" the fact that in a bloody en-
gagement one man of the Honduras
army received cut wrist and Near
aguan soldier suffered broken nose.
The distinguished mule which was
the bone, or rather the bones of con-
tention, has been lost sight of in the
general fracas. 1t got frightened, no
doubt at the promiscuOus way in which
bullets, which did not seem to belong
to anybody in particular, were clipping
sections of vegetation from the land
scape down there, and ran into the
horizon.
The mule belonged to Senior 1renea
Salgado when there was peace. There
was not a more cOmely mule in all
Honduras. AS it roamed about its mas
ter's ten acre pasture no thoughts OF
warfare disturbed its mulish brain.
Then one day it became a cause cele-
10 ~ no these
any more than it cares to be bone OF
contention. 1t is a horrible fate tor
any mule.
Thirty-five Nicaraguan cavalrymen
who determined that they had been in
active long enough and that there
should be a war at p. NJ. the Tues
day following saw the mule grazing.
They promptly decided that they would
coniscate his muleship. Why they
wished to appropriate SalgaGos mule
has not developed. 1t may have been
that one of their horses had died OF in
nocuous desuetude along the way, and
that they wished to provide beast OF
burden for the thirty-ninth man, who
rode behind No. 80 on his horse. 1t
may have been that the captain OF the
squad, finding his sabre too heavy,
wished the mule to act as SwOrd-bearer,
or it may have been that in all Nicar-
aqua there was no mule to compare
to Senior Salgado's.
Now, of course, the mule being in
Honduras territory, the Nicaraguan
cavalry had no right to transfer it.
They knew very we'll that if this mule
was lifted not only it but the Senior
Salgado and mayhap all Honduras
would kick up the dickens of mess
But they had to have that mule, war
or no war. One diplomatic Nicaraguan
plucked a bunch of Nicaraguan grass
just on the other side of the boundary
line and held it out temptinslE. The
mule advanced until its forefeet toed
the mark, where it shifted suspicious
ly, refusing to go another step ana
plainly indicating that the grass IN
Honduras was much more to its taste.
ThereupOn a rash cavalryman attempt
ed to haul it over by the front legs. At
that it wheeled suddenly and dis
charged it's heel battery of two rapid
fire guns.
When they plucked the cavalryman
from a nearby mountain the first cas-
ualty of the war had been recorded.
The services of an osteopath and two
masseurs were needed before he TOOK
on q vertical appearance again
Losing his temper, the captain Of the
Nicaraguan squad ordered a charge,
and the thirty-four remaining cavalry
men swept down upon Salgados mule
with the bayonet. There under the
spreading banyan trees, or whatever
kind Of trees decorate the Republic OF
HonduE1A, was fought sansuinary
eonffc The craftsmanship of Sal
gados mule was magnificent in its ac-
curacy. For time nothing was heard
except a succession OF dull thuds at
first the starboard and then he port
battery of the mule score bit m-As!ed
with the groans of the victims. II Is
. even reported that one Of the cavalry
men was kicked into San Salvador,
which Immediately adjoins Honduras
on the Pacific side. But what can one
mule do against thirty-five? II was
not very long before it became paf'
and parcel of the Honduras cavalry.
When Senior Salgado searched MS
pasture the next day and found no
mule he knew at once that there wouio
be war. He felt it in his bones. MOI
; long after that Senior Augusta Z. Coei-
| 10. the Honduran minister for 1orelsn
AFFAIRS wrote a note to Senior jose "
Gomez, the Nicaraguan minister AZ,
foreign affairs, in which he pro'eseeo
| against the theft Of the mule, para,
phrasinx Shakespeare to the effect Una,
| Ar1 -ha Alnhac from the Republic o.