The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1914-01-16
Why Came to
America
By JOSE HERRARA

my dear fellow said n Spaniard to
another. IFS that l might get rid Of
! friends who were liable to involve me
in anarchical plots that are honeycomb.
ing the social condition Of my coun
try. Whether those 1orking for some.
thing better than the present socia
status are right or whether they ar.
wrong 1 don't pretend to say. VIVA:
I do say is that I had no mind to bt
mixed up in their plans. One episode
that came very rear to me decided mi
I to leave Spain.
"a friend Of mine-we will call hin
| Manuel. for I shall not give you rea
names Of persons in the story / an
about to tell-asked me to visit hi
| summer home in the mountains lynn,
directly south Of Madrid. I accepted
the invitation and found a colony o,
summer homes. l met a number o.
charming persons. but I will mentio,
only two. both of whom are connected
with my story. I will call one Conci
and the other Inez. Manuel, it seeme
to me. was on the verge Of formin;
a union. but with whom I could no
tell. Concia was a gentle little thin;
with-so far as l could discover-n'
other desire but to love and be loved
and If married would devote hersel
to husband md children. Inez, on tn
contrary, was full of grand theories, !,
::adical by nature. / understood from
Manuel that she was a disciple of on
who was attempting to found a new
school of morals. did not believ.
that she was sincere. It seemed to m
that in everything she did she had
sinister motive. Perhaps. l said to my
self, she is attracted by the novelt.
Of this mans ideas and deceives her
self into the belief that it is sympath:.
with humanity that nov her.
81 was not long in discovering tina
these two girls were Manuel's good ant
evil geniuses. His heart when in 81
normal condition was with Concia, but
he was influenced by Inez's views
coming through Inez herself-that is
it was rather Inez than the views that
moved him.
"Concia did not evince any concern
as to this influence that Inez was ex
erting over Manuel. Not the least
jealousy did she show when she saw
the two together. but at times l
thought l could detect the glimmer of
a hidden fire. One day I made a re-
mark to Manuel which would lead
him, If he chose to do SO. to confde to
me the situation. He told me that he
loved Concia. but that 1nez, who was
intellectually very much Concia's su-
perior. inspired him to do great things
for humanity. This gave me the u
Concia was influencing him in one
way. Inez in another. +
I'VE all went back to Madrid to.
gether in the autumn, and n day
Manuel stated that he was an active
member Of an %anarchical society
whose object was the elevation of the
lower orders Of humanity. He expect
ed that in time poverty would be
eliminated. His idea In confiding In
me was to induce me to join his So
ciety. 1 told him that I preferred to
live in an imperfect world rather
than die to establish a perfect one.
knew that Inez had triumphed and
COncia had been defeated.
II kept away from him after that,
for I feared he would become involved
In some of those radical measures
which thus far had been condemned
by all but a small portion Of the
worlds people. and ! preferred to keep
myself 90 free from him that I would
not suffer in case he got Into trouble.
It was lucky for me that I did, for
one morning, looking out through q
window, I could see excited crowds
moving in the street and, leaning out.
asked one passing what had happened.
He told me that a prominent govern
ment ofncial had been killed by an an
archist. When a special issue of the
newspapers came out what was my
horror to see the name Of my friend
Manuel given az the assassin.
manuel. was tried and executed. 1t
was not long after his execution that
Inez began to spend money in q way
that she had never spent It before.
She was also seen frequently at court,
and. a general in the army became at