Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-05-17

one by reason of the determination of
Estrada to succeed himself. He. seeing
that Mena was in command Of the army
by virtue Of his position as secretary of
war. decided to throw him out Of that
position and to remove all of the ofYicers
Mena had appointed. substituting there
for officers who were friendly to himself.
Mena was thrown into Jail and the Amer
!can minister went there himself to make
sure that no harm befell him as q result
of a deliberate plot to ASA ssinate him
under the guise Of keeping him a prts-
oner.
But the plans Of Estrada went awry
The army would not take orders from the
officers whom he had appointed to com:
been appointed by Mena. Mena was re-
leased from prison and Estrada, realizing
that health conditions would not be very
good for him in Nicaragua thereafter. alb
Dictated his Office and fled to the port at
Corinto. He expected to get certain
steamer out OF Corinto. but missed II by
reason Of the fact that his friend. Moi
fatt. who was departing on that steamer,
ordered held was Mena, and he in turn
ordered that it should not be held. The
result was that Estrada had to remain in
Corinto until the next steamer, two weeks
later.
Meanwhile. the liberal leaders who had
been exiled when the Zelaya regime was
forced out
Espinosa Greeted Of power.
With Ovation on Return. turned 70
Nicaragua under an amnesty proclama-
ton. The leader of the liberals at that
time was Dr. Rodolfo Espinosa perhaps
the leading physician In Nicaragua. That
he was popular with the people was evi-
dent from the ovation he received while
travelling from the port at Corinto to
Managua, and from the welcome he was
accorded in his home city. Later there
was an explosion in the arsenal at Ma
nagua. and Espinosa was thrown into
prison. charged with being a party to a
conspiracy responsible for the catas-
trophe. But for the Intervention OF Sec
rotary Knox. Espinosa would have been
shot. There is a wide difference of opin-
ion as to whether or not the explosion
was the result of careless smoking on
the part OF the soldiers in the arsenal, or
the result of a genuine plot. Any one
acquainted with the habits of the average
Nicaraguan soldier. who thinks nothing of
seating himself on a key Of powder and
enjoying a cigarette. can readily believe
that it was an accident. Nevertheless.
1t was a good opportunity to get rid of
Espinosa, and he was again banished
from the country.
When Secretary Knox visited Nicaragua
there was a rumor that dynamite had
been concealed under q bridge, and that
his train was to be blown up. The gov
eminent, as well as Secretary Knox, as
serted that there was nothing tangible
whatever about the rumor. Later copies
Of the official gazette OF Nicaragua reach
ed the public. containing a c.rcumstantial
account Of the finding Of the dynamite
through the premature explosion of q
cartridge. and saying that some of the
forty men arrested in connection there
with already had been executed. II is
impossible to say with any certainty
whether or not there was real con-
spiracy against Secretary Knox. There
are those who believe that the dynamite
was planted" and conveniently found be-
forehand by the very people who had