Los Angeles herald., 1909-12-13

Dec. 12-It is the opin-
ion of Panamans that President
l. Zelaya of Nicaragua is deliber-
ately working to bring about inter-
vention by the United States, having
chosen this form of humiliation IN
preference TO the greater one OF SUI
fering defeat at the hands of the rev.
clutionists.
For the sixteen years in which Ze-
lava has been in power in Nicaragua,
Nicaragua has been ruled by group
of eight daring and constituencies men
who have looked upon the country as
their own personal property.
This group has grown enormously
rich by a systematized pillage OF the
revenues of the state and Oh lhdlViu-
uals. IL Is estimated that Zelaya Is
worth about S20,00O,0O0 gold, most OF
which he has invested I'm Brussels ana
London. 4,,o+
II is said to be well established that
+ha chief cause of the present revolu-
tion was the failure of Zelaya TO dls-
tribute among his seven associates
loan of $5,00O,00O obtained recentEy III
Europe. t,,+
The seven were given share put
not on the basis of apportionment tnat
hod Governed the distributions in the
past. -. - no mr.
nose Zelaya refused to pay Off on tne
did basis and even threatened thht u
thew did not submit graeefuliy ne
would turn against them the system
which they had jointly orsanizeo'
How System Works
This system was simple but effective.
Tts nodus operandi was about as toi-
lows: Whenever a citizen was loul"
In lawful possession of piece or Vaiu-
able property an agent or the sruup
was sent to him to ask the price ioi
which he would sell. - ,,,owp
When the price was made known
the agent would ofer TO ouy IL Aoi
about one-tenth of its value.
This offer being refused, the agent
was then at liberty to outline MS pro-
posed relations, saying: =, ,..,,voo
"If Won don't sell, we will denouhce
Won as a conspirator. we VIII spIedu
rumors about your activity IN pehalI
of the revolutionary faction, Wnich we
are careful always to have SURFING
about somewhere in the country.
I'VE will try you with our JUDGES III
our courts, before our jury, and SEN
tonce Won 10 be shot and have your
property confiscated. VIII you pe
shot, or will you sell?'
Sometimes the men were shot' anu
the country at large imagined that
these men were real traitors ana ap-
plauded the execution. When orig
inators of this system found then-
selves threatened they promptly sur
rendered-all except one.
That is the view of the situation as
taken on the isthmus, where, TO pe
sure. there are many Nicaraguans'
naturally strongly opposed to the pres
ent administration in their country
They are of the opinion that Zelaya
sees that the game is up and Is anX-
ious to make his departure in satety'
He would rather stand in the eyes
OF the world as having been forced out
by the United States than by MS own
people, and this is why he mas pro
yoked reprisals by the brutal shooting
of Cannon and Groce.
The statement issued by Zelaya 10
the effect that the revolutionists had
employed the two Americans to mine
the San Juan river, and that they
were captured after they had exploded
one mine near the transport Diamante'
is given no credence here.
This version is contradicted by de-
serter from the Zelayan forces. who
confirmed the previous report that each
of the Americans was captured while
accommodating in some hills near the
river.