The Monmouth inquirer. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1865-1933, 1925-03-05
When the President Passed


eerTHE President was ILL.," Captain
a Ira had begun tale of Central
America with those words The ten
boys of the Shippers Club" sat listen
ing. On went the story.
mot many outside the Presidents
mansion knew that he was i'll. Few In
the house itself knew tho gravity of
his sickness. And this was as well
for all of us there, or things might
have had different ending.
Yesterday the President had called
in his three loyal cabinet ministers.
OF the three, Zelala, The Gray Head
was said to be the craftiest. To him
was given credit for a large share of
whatever small success the Presidents
administration had won. Into his
hands the President now put the duty
of defending the nations capitol
against the rebel armies.
Back of this rebellion against the
President was net of intrigue and
petty pickering which would have done
credit to the Court of the King Of
France in the days of the De Medici
1T was through one Of these plots
that the men of my ship had been
drawn into the present affair. Our
boat was the property Of an American
company which had bought certain
trade rights from the President. These
rights included monopoly of num-
Der of very profitable items and our
business was fiourishing.
1.-THE money paid for these rights,
however, had gone into the personal
bank account of the President. The
state had received none Of 1t. Our
rights were valid, only so long as the
President stayed in power. Let him
be overthrown, and we were through.
1.-THE boat on which sailed had
made port loaded with a mixed cargo.
1t was just at this stage that the rebel
lion broke out. Our problem was to
pick the winning side. II we stayed
and the rebels succeeded, they would
at once cOnfiscate all our goods as
contraband Of war; while IL the Presi-
dent won, then our position would be
stronger than ever.
"sWell stick 1t out said our skip
per. And we did. That's the part
I'm coming to.
1.-THE rebellion itself was headed by
the vice president. From what / could
find out, he was man Of better type
than most of the others a planter
and not politician. But for the cum
ming and deceit of the President, the
vice president would long before have
been put in full power. The people
loved him. Pay alone held the Presi-
dents followers to his cause.
But we were little concerned in
the merits of the thing, Our interest
lay in our own affairs. and in the
property we were duty bound to
guard. Our captain offered the serv-
Ices of his entire crew to the Presi-
dents representative, Zelala, The
Gray Head zelala accepted. To
each Of us duty was given.
zone morning the rebel army, with
the vice president in command, moved
forward and occupied the town Just
outside the walls OF the mansion. A
few scattered shots were fred, but 1t
was plain to see that neither faction
took any great heart In their work,
and it seemed a pitched battle might
yet be kept away from. There was
more than a little parleying back and
forth.
'sThen the talking stopped. The
only way to settle 1t appeared to be
with bullets We got ready. The
attack might come at any minute.
There was a deal of scampering to
and fro. When saw the rolls of
fresh bandages which were made
ready and which was employed to
carry into the surgeons quarters, my
heart lost bit Of its buoyancy. 1t
had raised my spirits to think OF a
battle being fought here before my
eyes But this sight Of bandages
brought up sympathetic pains in all
parts Of my body.
"All at once, great silence settled
over everything. Then a whispering
crept about the place. Men ran rap
idly to and fro. A soldier clambered
/ to the roof and lowered the flag to
half-mast. In the town there was a
mixed sound Of cheering and lament
ing The gates to the courtyard were
flung wide open. In came the rebel
! army, and not a shot was fred. The
vice president entered the mansion
as the victor. He was the new Presi-
dent. The old President was dead"