Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-08-07

TTAD you forgotten that Uncle Sam
n has an armed force of a hun
= = dred men sitting upon the lid
of that most revolutionary of the
Latin Americas, Nicaragua? Had 1t
slipped your mind that this handful of
marines Is in the far interior with but
| thread of a railroad connecting 1t
with the coast and then but an oc-
casional steamer from the outside
world making a landing.
This little band of men from the
United States has been stationed at
Managua for three years. Matters
have been so deadly quiet in Nicara-
qua during that period that it has
scarcely had a date line in a dis
! patch.
I Yet before the marines landed
there had been many years of con-
/ tinuous revolution. No sooner would
| one faction come into power than 1t
would break in two and begin to
! fight again. There was a desperate
| war going on when the American ma
| rines landed. In two weeks, however,
| all was quiet. 1t has been quiet ever
since. Nicaragua has enjoyed an era
of peace and prosperity such as 1t
had never known before. Every man
in the nation sleeps peacefully In the
assurance that his life and his prop
erty are safe, and there is an era of
development going forward that not
| even the present commercial condi-
tions can disturb.
Interesting Experiment
This experiment of Uncle Sam in
maintaining peace in a Latin Amer
lean community Is particularly inter-
esting in the face of other delicate
situations that now exist. There is
Mexico, for instance, which has had
five years of continuous warfare in
which one leader after another at
tempts to make himself supreme
There is santo Domingo, in which
there are just now many evidences of
a new revolution ready to break
Santo Domingo which has not known
a peaceful decade in 800 years. Haiti,
on the same island, is almost con-
stantly at war, being now In the
throes of its customary summer up
| rising with bodies of these same
| marines ashore to restore peace.
But all is quiet in Nicaragua. Since
this nation has been enjoying pc
culiar peace and prosperity, may II
not be we'll to look into the peculiar
conditions which there exist and see
if there is a lesson that may be ap-
piled elsewhere?
Cannon's Execution
But a vague impression remains in
the public mind of the issue whlch
arose half a decade ago between the
United States and President Zelaya
of Nicaragua. Theer was a reVolu-
ton in progress down there at that
time. Two Americans, Leroy Cannon,
of Harrisburg, Pa, and Groce, got
mixed up in 1t, were captured and
summarily executed by Zelaya. so dis
pleased was the United States that 1t
exerted such pressure as to force
| President zelaya to give over the
government to a DR.. Madriz, against
whom a new revolution was tnaugu-
rated which resulted in his being
driven out of office by Juan Estrada.
and Adolfo Diaz.
But there was a big. fighting In
dian, General Mena, with political am
bitionS, who started a new reVolu-
ton, and the chaos continued. he
terrorized the capital and other cities
and his followers hacked lot OF peo-
pie to pieces with machetes, which
are very desperate implements used in
cleaning up the jungles. Among those
Injured and endangered were many
1 foreigners, some of which, were Amer
leans.
The United States decided that, for
the protection of its citizens and OF
American property, and also to avert
a seemingly pending great tragedy, 1t
was the part of wisdom to land ma
rines and bluejackets at Managua, the
capital. a hundred miles inland, and at
Granada, at the top of the continent
It was a spectacular campaign that
ensued, and one about which COM
paratiyely little has ever been SAID
| Admiral Southerland, an effective OF
ficer who had reached that position
from the enlisted ranks of the navy,
was in command OF the Pacific fleet
off Corinto, the port of Nicaragua on
the west The battleships, California
and Colorado, and the cruisers, Den
YER, Cleveland and Annapolis, were
lying off shore with marines ana
bluejackets ready for action.
Force Is Landed
II was on October 4, 1912, that the
order came from Washington to land
a force and to proceed inland. 1t was
merely a matter of hours when 2,S5O
men were ashore and ready for the
expedition. They Immediately helped
themselves to all available stock for
the railway, made up long trains, load
ed them with ammunition and food
and were ready to proceed
The marines, soldiers and sailors,
too" are specially trained for this
sort of expedition. There are among
them men who can turn their hands
fo almost any sort of operation. The
trains we're handled entirely by the
military forces. Engineers from the
battleships ran their engines, while
marines acted as trainmen. Colonel
j. H.. Pendleton was in command with
Lieutenant Colonel Long and Major
Butler under him.
Battle From Train
The first stop was Leon, city
of $4,000 people. Here the revolu-
tionists got their first taste of Yam
kee fighting. They met the incoming
train and started a battle. The Amer
leans had machine guns mounted on
the front of the train and they NOW
ed their way into Leon with them.
Revolutionists were killed by the
score. So deadly was the fire of the
Yankee guns that the men took to
Atheir heels.