Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1909-11-20

~ the San Francisco tommerichl
in 1854 His name was William
Walker. he was small and slender
beardlcss and ught-hared. a runt of "a
human among the tens of thousands OF
bg-framed powerful adventurous
spirits drawn 20 California from all
parts of the world boy the lure Of gold.
lie was born in Nashville. Tenn WAS
q graduate of the University OF Nash
willie. and had practiscd law and medl-
cine before becoming journalist He
was well yersed in International Law
and had Travelled widely. lie spoke
French, German. italian and Spanish
almost as nuently as ne did English He
was only 80 years old and considered
himself a man of destiny. a year be-
fore az tho head of party of a. men,
he had captured the Mexican town OF
ia Paz and elected himself president ot
Lower California, and gravely parceied
out the portfolios of navy, army, state
and treasury among has companions.
Then he had invaded the upighboring
province of sonora and. creating
paper republic of bis own and cousOli-
dating Sonora and Lower California
under tho name of N. Republic oi SO
nora proclaimed himself president tic
planned "a conquest of Mexico. u was
the Widest and most fantastic OF crazy
projects and the invaders had not
marched FAR into the rugged. iuhospit-
aolc country before they were ragged,
barefoot and half starved. They had
no supplies and had to live ON the
country For while they were able Co
overcome such opposition az the In
diaus and the Mexican troops under
Coz Meleudrez oiforod, but disease ana
dcscrtion thinued the ranks NJ the 0li-
busters and thpy were forced 20 retreat
h.rrfr1 "a ufnnu tho limo
hut finally "a of the invaders. gaunt and
almost naked. reached American terri
tory aud surrendered to Mai. Macku-
stry OF the United states army ia
charge of san Diego.
NINETEENTH CENTURY COBTEZ
Such rashness and daring appealed o.
the imagination of the 49ers. and when
Walker reached san Francisco ho re-
Ceived Joyous reception As for the
leader himself. he looked upon the So
nora expedition merely as an incident
an Introduction or a preparation for the
great scheme he had I'm mind-thc con-
quest Of Mexico and Central America
and the extension OF slavery throughout
those lands, lie considered himself a
nineteenth century Cortez. and although
he may have chafed because he had To
return TO the editorial desk he made no
sign He took himself very seriously
and was taken very seriously by every
one else. No wonder he received recog-
milton. There was no question as to his
courage He never weighed more than
1870 pounds. but big men covered before
him when he was I'm anger. lie never
was known TO raise his voice. but what
terrified those who aroused his passion
was the fact that his eyes turned
green, He was punctilious In matters
of etiquette and form, but was simple
and transformations I'm dress. Although
he lived In community of lavish
spending. hard drinking, high playing
and among riotOus- minded people. he
never drank, never gambled and never
was known TO utter profane word
Surely an odd character for California
In the early hfties.
While the president OF sonora gave
his attention 10 the news Of the mining
camps and occasionally fought "a duel
with an offended argonaut, the owner
OF the paper, Byron Cole, was ON his
way back from New York to san Fran
cisco The principal route at that time
was by sea from New York to San
Juan del Nortc CGreytownl, Nicard-
qua. then by the san Juan river 90
Lake Nicaragua and by land from Viz
Gin Bay 10 San Juan del Sur whore
the steamers from san Francisco dis
charged and took ON cargo and passeu
gers The Atlantic side OF this traf-
Nc was controlled by corporation
called the Transit company, of which
Commodore Vanderbilt was the chlal
spirit The Pacific end was controlled
by San Francisco firm. The Transit
company was under contract 10 pay 4,
The Nicaraguau government $4,000 q
wear ana "a certain percentage OF Us ne
profits for the privileges 1t obtained
en- the country. Occasionally the bust
ness OF the company was interrupted
o. the iourneyings OF passengers acros,
Nicaragua made lively by the outbreat
OF @ revolution. gentleman coul'
not Doe elected president ot Nlcaragu,
IN those days without having tho chai
pulled from under him before Pc go
wen settled a revolution every foul
months-threc Ne1r-Was the aver
age Some Of the residents could mo-
read on write. ou' nat made mo- dt
florence iu "a count where only ] pei
cent OF the popul had been edu
Gated what ana alton amount q
anyhow. where mat -o had provide
everything necessary for mans exist
ence and welbeIng' Nicaragua Wa
known as Mahomets Paradise Tl'
climate n "a great part OF the repub
lc was ideal Work was unneces-ar.
o. almost Sd. Fruit grew ln uotou
proflsIou and clothing was not need
Man reapcd without sowing and Ca
harvest never failed IL would boz Pan
adiso indeed but for the N.ieness o
man.
OFF FOR NICARAGUA.
IN October 1854. Nicaragua was NOR
disturbed chan usual After thc cleo
tiou OF "a year before Chlmsrro. lead,
81 the lrg.tlWIst party. had oEileD
Castcllun. the loader of the Democrat
party Whereupou Castellon had De-
turned. started revolution with tu