The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-11-27
VALLADARES IS
 DOWN AND OUT Fate of the Turbulent Revolu- tionist of Honduras CAN HE COME BACK?? That Is the Question That Is Now Being Asked in All Seriousness
 by Officials in State
 Department q
CAN HE COME BACK??
By SIDNEY EsPEY

bouffe career. The general Is now a member of the Down and Out Club" but the question that is bothering state de- pertinent officials Is Gan Gen. Jose Ma ria, etc, come back?'
 There never was anything so really comic in the world as Gen. Valladares revolutionary state department officials will tell you, and in fact the tales of the atcions of the Honduran chieftain, as they have filtered out from Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capitol, and Amapala, the generals stronghold, would convince all most anyone that the doings of the gen comic opera success.
 Amapala, the Pacific coast of Honduras, occupies an island 20 miles from the mainland It is fortified as Notifications go in Honduras. The few boats that make up the Honduran navy-three barges an ancient tug, two little launches are under the jurisdiction of the com mandant of the "fortihcations" at Anna pala, who is also governor of the island and boss of the city. In addition, he is customs collector
 Four years ago, early in 1e07 General Valladares decided to 'revolute." His ambition was to conquer Honduras and 1 incidentally to reign as "conqueror of all | the Central American republics" He rev. olutioned successfully by taking com mand the boss" of Amapala. The government at Tegucigalpa, was glad the general was satisfied. It had neither | money, soldiers or navy to attack Anna pala, and, therefore, let Vallederes reign in peace. He collected the customs du- ties. making them what he pleased The yearly reXenue from this source Is said to be considerable. All of the provs- ions, machinery for mining, etc, pass
 through the port of Amapala. With the customs receipts the general built up'
 an army of devoted, tireless warriors.
 Soldiers to the number of 400 enlisted un- der his standard, and better yet, stayed
 enlisted, for they received their pay ev-
 cry day-1O cents in United States money
 ito the man. The army" was a won
 derful thing and never before in the his tory of Central American revolutions has
 it's like been seen.
 Everybody who soldiered for a living
 wanted to join the army. The general
 had his pick of recruits.
 Events moved rapidly for the general
 His success was heralded throughout
 Honduras and the Central American
 states. He was the admitted boss" of
 Amapala, and the government did not
 question his title. He kept all of the
 revenues and reigned supreme.
 His soldiers were devoted. It Is said
 that the general was held in great fear.
 An official of the state department who knew the boss of Amapala," described
 him as a little old dyspeptic man, con
 stantly ill of chills and fever. His sol
 diers did not fear personal violence, but
 dismissal, for, unless they soldiered for
 General Valladares the prospects of join
 ing another army which paid wages were remote indeed.
 A year ago, however, the general took
 it upon himself to assume national i'm
 portance. His reign at Amapala filled
 him with ideas of making the rest of
 Honduras part of his domain. He struck
 a popular cord when he began to abuse,
 intimidate and threaten foreigners who
 live in Amalapa, ana to raise the GUS
 toms duties on imports. To show his
 contempt for the United States he christ
 ened his yellow dog President Taft
 Then he began to get real frisky and or dered his soldiers to bully the for
 eigners.
 The United States stepped in then.
 Complaint was made to the government
 about the generals conduct. These came
 from foreigners at Amapala, who are
 mainly Germans. The Americans there
 are few and American interests nil. The
 complaint set the state and navy depart
 ments to working. The gunboat Prince
 ton, loahng in a Pacific port of Mexico
 was ordered to Amapala General Valla-
 dares heard she was coming and tried
 to "square' himself He protested tc Commander Hayes of the Princeton when the gunboat arrived, that he was real friend to the foreigner. The protest was not taken seriously, however, but Valladares promised to go to Tegucigalpa and Square matters with President Davila- He went ostensibly. resigned his position, promised obedience to the gov ernment and returned to Amapala, escort. ! ing his successor. When Amapala was ] reached General Valladares' fear of the I American gunboat had evidently passed away. No sooner was he back in Anna pala than he placed his successor under ! arrest and shipped him back to the main T land.
 It looked for few days as if General Valladares was to reign on forever, but the fine Italian hand of diplomacy soon showed itself. President Davila issued a decree closing the port of Amapala, de- claring that 1t was in the hands of revo- lutionists. The Honduras government sent detachment of troops down to the coast and developments were patiently awaited.
 The port being closed. no shipments came through. There was nothing on which the general could levy duties. He had no income. What money he had was daily dwindiing, as he made his evening payments to his soldiers. He did not : dare attempt a seizure of funds or pro- visions In the warehouses of the foreign CTS, for he was politely notified that Amapala would be shelled and that he would be shot if any move was made against the foreigners. The notice came from the commander of the German gun boat Brennan and Commander Anderson of the Unied States gunboat Yorktown which had, in the meantime, relieved the Princeton.
 The general was in dire straits. His army, seeing that the funds of theii leader were growing short. became rest less. General Valladares decided upor a bold stroke to retrieve confidence. Ht sent ashore a detachment of 15O soldier. to rout the government troops encampet : on the coast. The detachment wen ashore in barges. and did not return When they landed they marched to th encamprnent of the government soldier n and surrendered.
 To make matters worse, one of the off cers of the valladares force went on | debauch. He drank so much liquor tha he shot a telegraph operator, a foreigner In the foot Almost before the echo o the shot died away, bluejackets from tn | Yorktown and the Bremen were bein | sent ashore. They took command of tn