The Washington herald., 1921-06-12
By E. de Laureal Slevin

A CAREER that ran in q devious circle
"A for forty years came 10 q close the
ether day In Havana. A chiaroscuro
eareer, lurid with tragedy, dark with soroid
scheming, tremendous in success and failure
was ended. Reputed q year ago to be the
richest man in Cuba, this same man the day
before his miserable ending declared the
wealth which had cost him forty yeas
Of unremitting toll had not yielded him one
hour Of happiness
Here was q strange, q sinister and q
dominating figure, and q remarkable example
Of what can be accomplished BY the con-
stant, ruthless application of all ones power
b . hngle purpose. "Ferve el Pote" (the
pot bofls) was his watchword; his motto;
his tnvariabls form of salutation, expressive
sf ths eonstancy With which his mind dvelt
at svsry moment upon money getting; and
% hs came to Be called Pote (Po-tay), q
nsms familiar to millions to whom jose
Lopez Rodrigues would have meant
Dothing-ths name which appeared in the
hts head lines announcing the suicide Of
Caba's most famous millionaire, the maker
Of other millionaires and the breaker Of
many, the man to whom all went for help
In time or sorest need, to be given II or
the coup De grace as best suited Pote's
book.
Not more than i've feet In height Pote
had the powerful, thickset frame typical Of
the Gallego peasant. His large heaa was
set on q very short neck between heavy,
bumped up, rounded shoulders, reminding
one Of q swapping turtle, a resemblance no,
belied BY the cruel wide mouth and SIitter-
ing little black eyes. His. nose was long.
thin and predacious. The coarse black hair
which be wore clipped short stood erect like
bristles, until grizzled and thinned by the
years and driven back from the sloping
brow and temples. Until, in very recent
years, his large activities in the banking
world caused him to visit New YORK, ~nere
he was forced to . certain recognition OF
the conventions, he went about Havana
eollarless, coatless and hatless, his costume
consisting Of coarse shoes, i'll fitting trousers
held up with a narrow strap-in lieu Of belt
and a blue hickory shirt. So attired he
entered the Offices Of the leading lawyers
merchants, bankers and even invaded the
presidential palace and the departments to
xive his orders to cabinet ministers who owed
MN money. 30 hN -
ovn house congressman or senators for
whom he had sent to demand OF them legisia-
t;on that he desired or to warn them against
the enactment Of measures contrary to ms
interests. They owed him money-in many
eases their election-and they were com
PEELED to do his bidding.
TosE LOPEZ RODRIGUEZ was born In
u Orense, q province Of Galicia. SPAIN
and .nisrated to Cuba in his fifteenth year,
s..;n. from the hard conditions OF the
CALICO peasant life. In Havana for
while he worked with pick and shower, Out
ss soon a. be could be abandoned such hard
manual labor to work for an old second
hand book dealer, peddling the books from
house to house. One morning his aged
employer was found dead in his bed and
young Lopez Rodrigues, who slept on the
premises, was arrested on suspicion Of
murder, but after spending some time in
prison he was released for lack of sufficient
syidencs to indict-
The widow Of the murdered bookseller
continued the hldness and Lopez Rodriguez,
after his release from prison, returned to
his old employment. One morning the widow
was found hanging in her room, but no
evidence being found to confirm . suspicion