The Washington herald., 1921-10-16

A SHORT tim. ago the people 81 Peru
n celebrated the centennial of their indie
pendence from Spain.
II was q great event. The Government
1T aside a whole week for rejoicing. Bust
ness stopped. The wheels Of industry were
made motionlesS. Statues and monuments
wsre unveiled and all the ceremonies in har-
no1y With the spirit Of the occasion were
eundueted with ostentatious display. Rep
ses,nnttyes from the various republics Of
he New World were present to join in the
6ls1inss t-at a hundred years Of freedom
from the yoke across the seas had bestowed
sn he Estsr republic, ..-.
while the masses were thus engaged In
ne larger cities, simple bot impressive
ceremony was held far away from the
~nadding" crowds at the top of the Andes
Mountains, where the vhite-eovered ground
supplied q pleasant contrast to the sweltsr-
ing plains In the valleys below. 1t was an
approximations hag-raisng affair at Tielio,
the highest railroad station in the world
IS ,s55 feet above the level Of the sea. 1t
vas 10 the memory Of Henry MeigEs, an
American, dishonored and hunted ct home,
but reyerenced In q foreign country for the
great thing that he had accomplished and
which 30 many Of the republics good citi-
sens had failed b perform. MeiEgs built the
highest railroad In the world. He tackled a
Job that engineers Of South America said
could not be finished, but then they did not
know the skill and ingenuity Of Meiggs
the American engineer.
To finish the work and earn his reward
from the Peruvian Government Meiggs was
required b leap over bottomless chasms and
o. eore through mountains Of solid rock, all
ene while pointing his nose to the top of the
ks6ea, he was forced b stop colossal slides
Il ezs1n and rock in his undertaking. He
manned frenzied rivers-an this 10 achieve
his oAicet-to girdle the cordilleras Of Peru
Cifs G ihoon of iron and to weld together
o rxokcad that would connect the plains be-
lra vftn the peaks Of the Andes. Little did
b. tnapp4 while he was engaged in this work
VIA Wfr-S vigor the officers of his Govern
Sct st come were pursuing false clues in
q s>-css to land him behind the bars.
UENpY MEIGGS caw service during the
IL early DAYS Of the Civil War Is q rail-
p~-d enginees. When the rebellion was
saslleS he went to California to make his
psee Ia the world, but fortune did not
sn-lIe upon him, as IL did upon hundreds Of
Ma eount-ymen who went there in the search
If gold. Thip.r appeared to be going from
nad T. worse 1or Meigss. Then be had the
-ood fortp7e-or perhaps the i'll fortune
b ind q friend who got him a cIerkship
IN q bank in San Francisco. Meiggs came
- contact with gold in great quantities.
pore gold than he had ever seen before
Cor it flowed into that bank like water from
N 'hs principal mining camps of California.
Doe dev, the story goes, q shortage Of sew
~ thousand dollars was discovered By the
aerf ofieials and about the same time Henry
Ea,Ezs disappeared from the face Of the
ssrA-4t least a. far Is the officers Of the
W. could learn.
hx1cIs VIA hunted far and wide He was
secsnt In the mining camps and cities and
vhec,ez men gather to spend fortunes
saHh gained. But there was no trace Of
Aasss. Jusrice bad been outwitted.
One day an American tramp schooner
anehsrsd = the Peruvian port Of CaIlao-