Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1909-12-09

ruled by J. Rufno Barrios, the first of
the stern liberal rulers of the Portfirio
Diaz type.
No country was ever more complete
ly organized under military rule than
was the little republic of Guatemala
at that time. Barrios had not only re-
organized a very much dilapidated
army but he had virtually created a
seT one. He had stationed garrisons
in all the little towns, strung his
country with network OF telegraph
wires, ordered his local commandants
to report by wire to the national capi-
tai daily at sundown that all was well,
and thus he had established peace in
his country and put an end to revolu-
ton that was lasting.
In this army of Barrios, Zelaya, the
exile from Nicaragua, sought and OBJ
tanned service. Commissioned only a
lieutenant, for Barrios was frugal with
his commissions, he was soon given a
place on the presidents staff, where
he took full advantage of the opportu-
mites given him to study the "old
mans" method of governing a would
be troublesome republic
Barrios, the strong man of Central
America, had his life's ambition ever
before him, and that was the unifica-
ton of the five Central American re-
publics. 1t was this ambition that led
to his undoing, for one bright morning
in February, 1885, proclamation ap-
| peared nailed upon the door of the
capitol, and upon the doors of the
cabildos, or town halls, throughout the
republic announcing that he had uni
ted the five republics, and for fear
| that some of them or all of them
might see fit to disunite he was at the
head of an army of 10000 well-discip-
lined troops marching to the first and
/ strongest one of them, San Salvador.
1t is said that similar proclamation
appeared on that same morning on
the breakfast table of each of the
presidents OF each OF the other four
republics informing them that they
had been united, or annexed, as they
claimed.
| However, marching with Barrios at
! the head of that army Of 10000, the
| grandest army Central America had
ever seen, was the young lieutenant
and exile. Jose Santos Zelaya. But
Salvador did not propose to be either
united or annexed, and Barrios, the
greatest president undoubtedly whom
any of those turbulent little republics
have ever known, rode to his death.
He fell upon the plains of Chalchuapa.
mortally wounded, in the very act of
leading his army to victory
Young Zelaya was not only stanch
admirer of old Barrios, as he is affec-
tionately remembered, but he believed
in him and his methods of government.
AS he rode by the side of him to that
fatal battlefield of Chalchuapa he eX-
pected to continue with him across
Salvador and Honduras into his own
country, where he would see the prin-
ciple for which he had stood and for
which he had been exiled, thoroughly
established. But with the fall of Bar
rios the army which he was leading
fled. Ielaya returned to Guatemala.
where he received promotion for
bravery on the field. and there he con-
tinued in the army of Guatemala until
I the opportune moment arrived, when
he threw up his commission and dis
| appeared.
1t was in the early '90s that he re-
appeared in his own country leading
a band of insurgents against the gov.
ernment. He met with success from
| the very commencement of his cam.
paign, and it was not long before he
landed I'm that ultimate goal of all