The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1912-08-02

Hernandez, the famed "El Mocho," who was
minister of public Improvements in Crespo's
cabinet, but an opponent of the new president,
took to the hills at the head Of 5000 troops.
Crespo really was responsible for the curse of
Castro, for had he selected a strong man as
his successor the mountain brigand never could
have commanded a force sufficiently powerful
to overthrow him.
Within a month Andrade went through the
form Of appointing Crespo commander in chief
of the army, in order that he might clinch his
dictatorship. For a while Crespo contented
himself with enjoying his new title and direct
ing operations from the capital, but the Her.
nandez revolution finally assumed such proper
tons that he took the field in person to stamp
it out. The two armies met in the mountains
near Victoria, June IL, 1898. Hernandez was
led into a trap. given a d%rubbing and captured,
After the battle Crespo walked across the field
and was leaning over a wounded man when
he was shot from behind and instantly killed.
Some few months after Crespo's death, Cas-
tro. who had made himself governor Of the
state Of Los Andes, visited Caracas and
called on Andrade to demand an important
position in the new administration, as the
price OF peace. Andrade. to his credit be it
said. tiouted him. Castro left the Yellow
house in a rage. sought the councils of AM
drade's enemies, and, after many confer
ences. a general Instruction was arranged
for early the following summer. The pres
idency was to go to the leader who devel.
oped the greatest strength during the cam.
paign.
Castro learned that he was alone In the revo-
luton, his promised partners having failed to
take the field on account of chickering's and
jealousies among themselves. This discovery
and the addition of Ferrer's forces gave him
his first really serious notion that he might be-
come president and he marched forward in a
frenzy of bombastic joy.
By this time the people of Venezuela, be-
1leying that no one could be worse than An.
drade, and finding out, as had Castro himself.
what a powerful person he really was, accept
ed him as their master.
Almost the first thing he did was to annul
our cohe-ssion. along with a dozen others, on
the ground that its terms had not been com.
Piled with, az the beginning of his war on all
foreigners. I denied this right to cancel our
grant, especially as 1t contained a. clause which
stipulated that any disagreement betweer the
government and the concessionaire should be
referred to the Alta Corte Federale, or Su.
preme Court for adjustment.
The troops were continually spying on us and
annoying us with fictitious charges, but it was
a year or more before the government, angered
by its failure to get rid of me, resorted to ex.
treme measures. A new governor was sent
down with strict orders to remove me, by force
IL necessary. He advanced toward the house
with about rs soldiers. l ordered my men
into the rifle pits and met the general at
the gate.
The general could see my rife pits. but
he did not know how many men they held nor
how well they could shoot. After a Fort
consultation with his staff, he gave the order
to advance, wAile he bravely directed opera
lions from the rear. AS his men crossed the
line and eight Of them fell. They continued to
advance. and We fired again, dropping nine
more of them while several others were hit.
That was too much for them, and they broke
and ran. leaving seven dead and ten badly
wounded.
In two or three days they came back, with
their force slightly increased, and the gen.
eral again called on me to surrender under
penalty of being arrested as a disturbing fac.
tor. l gave him the same reply as before, and,
after thinking 1t over for a while, he marched
his troops away again.
That little encounter produced pronounced
respect for the Americans among Castro's sol
afterward.
This enforced idleness eventually became
intolerable, and early in 1906, the company In
the meantime having sent one of its officers to
Caracas to protect its interests, l returned to
New York, after having held the fort for ten
years. came back much poorer in pocket,
but with a fund of information regarding Ven
ezuela and its people.