The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-04-13
CASTRO PREPARES
 WRITTEN PROTEST Charges That International Law Has Been Broken IS EXPELLED BY FORCE Removal of Castro From Hotel to a Steamer Is Attended By Excite
 ment and Also Has Pitt
 fuI Aspect.
IS EXPELLED BY FORCE.

Fort de France, Martinique. April 12.-
 Versailles for deportation to France, ex-
 President Castro prepared written pro-
 test against the action of the French gov
 ernment, which has been submitted to the
 authorities here. It reads as follows
 T hereby protest against the action of
 the French authorities of Martinique in
 having me put by force on board an out
 going vessel First, because I was ill at
 the time and because the act imperiled
 my life; second, because ] have com
 mitted no offense against the government of France and the authorities of Mar
 unique during the time that l was per
 mitted to remain on that island; and,
 finally because the decree of expulsion
 which will again land me on French. ter
 ritory.
 Denial of Rights.
 Moreover, these conditions aside, the
 case constitutes breach of international
 law and denial of the rights of indi-
 viduals. That such a thing should have
 come to pass in the land which saw the
 birth of Josephine and from which came
 the inspiration and presage of liberity, and at the hands of a people who shed their blood by torrents hardly a cen tury ago, to maintain unimpaired the
 rights and prerogatives of man, is incon-
 ceivable."
 The ex-presdent said just before the sailing of the Versailles that if he was at liberty when he arrived at St. Nazaire, he Inn ptaI Sn1in in order to take passage for Santa Cruz, Teneriffe. General Castro said he was l leaving his brother, Carmelo. here for the purpose of receiving mail which he ex- poets to be forwarded from Trinidad and Venezuela.
 The Versailles will stop at Basse Terre and Point-a-Pitre, Gaudeloupe. Hardly had the steamer left port last night when party of Castros friends arrived on the steamer Goelette from Saint Lucia. They were very much surprised that the former president had been expelled from the island and had a long consultation with Castro's brother,1
 PitifuI Aspect.
 l The removal of the former president of l Venezuela from the hotel to the steamer was not without its pitiful aspects. 1 Immediately on the announcement by | the medical commission, which made a l lengthy physical examination or castro, 1 that he was entirely capable of making | the voyage, the commissary of police, 1 with an escort of gendarmes, invaded the
 hotel and proceeded to his chamber. They found the ex-President lying in bed, and although he still protested that he could not move, they carried him downstairs l on a mattress. the patient all the while
 moaning dismally, and placed him on a stretcher. Officers from the United States l cruiser North Carolina, in civilian dress l helped to make him as comfortable as l possible and then the stretcher was l picked up by four negroes and taken to the steamer dock. Gendarmes guarded it l on either side and a crowd of persons numbering fully 2000 followed the process | sion through the streets.
 The entrance to the French line pier 2 was guarded by police, and no one WAS l permitted to enter except those who were
 directly connected with the transference l of the ex-president Some difficulty was l experienced in hoisting the litter aboard, | and for a moment Castro was in peril of | falling out The stretcher was set down | in ohe of the cabins and Castro at once declared that the room was too small and l demanded that he be transferred to an- other cabin. He was promised that a l change would be made during the ycy- 1 age. In saying farewell to his brother,
 he waved his hand and exclaimed: "Goodby for the moment"
 l The Versailles immediately slipped her | cables and started on the voyage.