The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1909-12-05
CURTAIN IS LIFTED
BY YANKEES DEATH
Killing of Two Americans
DiScloses Despotism, Bar
barism, and Contempt.
CONTINUED from First Page1

mus. Cannon looked on eagerly while
his comrade talked. but was himself
silent and uncommunicative- It was
evident. says this traveller. that their
mutual trust was deep.
little inquiry at Harrisburg and
Uompstead-the latter being the small
town In Texas where Groce was born
gives color to this recollection. Meth
er has left behind him. seemingly,
single anecdote to be told now he is
gone. Both were self-contained to the
degree Of satrninity Each pair of
eyes was glued on the main chance
and saw that chance IN Central Amer
ica. But By much questioning Of old
friends II Is still possible to understand
the better this late memory Of the two
who stood before the rifles in the
courtyard Of a prison, in Nicaragua at
10 in the morning of November Y.
Roy Cannon was twenty-nine IN
September last. If he had remained IN
Harrisburg he might have become by
this time hand IN one Of the mills,
a clerk in one OF the stores, beginner
at the law, medicine or theology, or
even. as one Of his classmates has done
clerk to the mayor. The State capital
OF Pennsylvania is filed with young men
sn Just such positions. the products OF
the educational system which shaped
the earlier years Of his life and his
friends
On HIS grandfather's farm down in
York county this variation from the
type was born. Whoever has ridden
through Pennsylvania viii know the
York countryside. rolling from noun
tain to p,ein. cultivated into the corners
Of all the fields. the whole story Of its
Pennsylvania Dutch husbandry told in
its barns a dozen times larger than
its houses.
Cannon's Family
Were Scotch and Irish.
Tke Cannons were not Dutch, but
Scotch and Irish. and something OF
this was revealed in the boys fair skin
and blue eyes under a shock OF heavy
black ard waving hair.
The expectation in my mind as I rode
through York to Harrisburg was that
Cannon would prove 10 have been "only
like other boys" But this was far
from the fact. Through the graded
schools IN West Fairview-which is
across the river FROM Harrisburg-the
grammar schools anu two years Of the
high schools. Roy seems 70 have de-
veloped as decidedly otherwise.
One Of his teachers told me he had
been leader from the day be first en-
tered the school house. Another said he
had made life miserable for every
teacher he had, and they had all loved
linn for it. A third. laughing as she
spoke. despite manifest dismay at his
death. observed: lie made a fighting
record through every school ROOM
Star Athlete
During Term At School.
Shouting, running. tlmbling, fighting,
studying. he went at thcm all alike with
his whole soul In 1895 and 1886 the Har-
Tisburg High School won the State foot
ball championship for schools Of its
class. 1t was assumed the eleven would
took up the moment Roy made II,
and 1t did. And this expectation is the.
more significant in light Of the fact
that Cannon was not the teams cap
tain. Again. when he joined the has
ketbsll and baseball teams there waAsa
corresponding faith ne would infuse new
life into them; and he did. He had a
parching thirst for certain kinds OF
knowledge and a fighting determination
70 get the better Of certain other kinds.
in the languages and the arts he made
slow Roadway: in history, mathematics.
and physics he ate EN- up"
Teacher Tells
Of Boys Strong Impulses.
His teacher when he.was thirteen and
fourteen was Miss Anna L. Morgan and
her recollection Of the long-boned young
nBhter are clear Roy was not bad"
says she, but he was terribly mischief
I fr--f
his Impulses would finally get him into
serious trouble. we had Just one real
difficulty. he and l. gave him 10
understand he had 10 listen. II tool,
him several days. but he came around
70 my point OF view finally. With all
his daring and determination he was
always a gentleman. Oh. I can saw
truthfully that my recollection Of that
big tail boy with pink checks is one Of
the best OF my school years"
The present home Of the Cannons Is a
trim, three-story yellow brick business
building near Thirteenth and Market
streets, IN Harrisburg. possibly half a
mile from the Pennsylvania and Read
ing stations. David = Cannon. the
boys father, has a butcher shop on the
ground floor. Behind tho counter. the
afternoon 1 called, vas Mrs Cannon
sturdy, competent, self-rellant woman
who might not be able TO hide the signs
Of grief IA her eyes, but would not let
bDge Of II show IN her voice
From Harrisburg, she said, Roy went
10 Drexel Institute. IN philadelphia He
had two years there at advanced studies.
Then he Joined HIS parents and his
brother Porter In Washington, and
through the next two years-from 1897
TO 1s99-he worked on the construction
OF the Columbia street railway under
Charles Fernald ard T. W. King. Both
these men. Il should be said in pass
ing, recall Cannon pleasantly and con-
firm the picture OF him drawn by these
other friends. In the latter year he
set of for NicaragIA
Saw Chance
At Door of Treasure House.
Why? Wen. we must conjecture the
greater part Of the answer. The boy
had read avidly OF Balboa and Drake.
Garcia and Zelaya- While he studied
engineering he may have thought and
probably ID think Of II in connection
with his study OF chemistry as a prep
aration for mining. The Spanish-Amer-