The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 27, 1903, Page 13

THE SAN FRANCISCO SUNDAY CALL. 13 F GLOBE TROTTERS they had spent at home. But when they tasted it the resemblance ceased. It was fishy and tough. The meat was llke knotted rope yarn and the gravy suggested tar. However, it was a New Year dinner all the same, and it was enjoyed as keenly as the finest feast ashore that day. An American traveler, who is well- known commercially in the West In- dies, was mixed up In one of the perennial revolutions of Haytl in his hot and foolish youth. Unhappily. he allled himself with the weaker side, and on New Year's eve found himself one of a small band of desperadoes d fending the stockaded town of M goane against a government army, which outnumbered them by more than 100 to 1. During the night the Government soldiers forced their way into the town. THE QUEER NEW YEAR GRIZZLED, sun-tanned, hard- featured man, whose face bore the stamp of hardship and ad- venture, was sitting in the smoking yoom of a New York hotel. He happened to glance at & calendar and saw that the day was De- cember 31. | By Jove!” he exclaimed. “So to- is New Years day. Unless ng happens before then, it will be the quietest New Year I've spent in years time 1 have never been my old home in Scotland as I w. Often I've tried to get home, somehow or other New Year has ays found me in a tight corner in some out-of-the-way part of the world I man’s experience is typical of Only about thirty of the defenders A that of many of the globe-trotters in were left alive. . this age, when people are so fond of Stand them up in a line and shoot T “going to and fro in the earth and walking up and down in it,” like a cer- tain personage in the Book of Job. The queerest and most adventurous New Years nowadays are spent by globe- trotters, who alm lways have ex citing stories to tell about what hap pened to them when the festive season ceught t in Chinese Tartary or in the wilds of New Guinea New Years day, 1897, found one Eng- lishman facing death from hunger and hirst on board a life raft 300 miles southeast of Madagascar. a ndered seven ricane. The boat smashed by the fu of the wav some of the crew washed overboard. The rest made a raft out of planks and spars, but during the night high seas swept over the frail structure and car- ried away most of the water and food. “All we had left,” said the man, who went through this terrible experience, “were a few tins of potted meat, a emall barrel of biscuit and the small- est of the water casks. That was all we had to keep life in twenty-five hun- gry men. We made it las t f day them,” commanded General Manigat, the Government leader. But they were too weak to stand. All of them were wounded, half-starved and fever-stricken. So the Govern- ment troops propped them up In chairs and shot them as they lviled there. Only the white man was spared, in or- der that his case might be inquired into. ‘When he protested to General Mani- gat against the cruelty of shooting helpless captives that triumphant war- rioer merely blew a cloud of smoke and remarked calmly: guerre.” “Late on New Year's eve,” said the American, “they tried me by court- martial. When I woke up on New Year's morning I was in the calaboose, sentenced to be shot at sundown. It wasn't very pleasant waliting. I was quite glad when a gold-laced officer en- tered the cell toward evening, with a paper informing me that ‘his excel- iency, the citizen President,’ had been pleased to pardon me, in consideration of the request of the American Minis- ter and of the fact that it was New Year's day. “I believe they had never intended to shoot me, but only to frighten me, for they hardly dared to touch a white man whose country owned a navy that might bombard their ports. Anyhow, I got out of jall in time to eat my dinner with some American and Eng- lish friends on a coffee plantation near Miragoane.” An American globe trotter tells how he once spent a New Year's day hunt- ing a crocodile in Jamaica, West Indies. After a long hunt the crocodile was found buried beneath the mud in a shallow bend of a river on the planta- Dece ceep up N " R X * $ tion. The hunters only carried small Q. 1 s I had & ¢ ‘ g ¢ : shotguns, which were useless against the beast’s tough hide, covered as it was several inches deep in mud. But the planter was a man of re- source. He sent hurriedly for negroes and set them to work to construct two strong walls of bamboo poles across the bed of the stream, thus Inclosing the crocodile in a prison from which he could find no escape. After the walls were built everybody hid quietly in the tall grass on the banks and waited. Hour after hour they Jaid there. Their luncheon con- sisted of sandwiches and a flask of rum punch. It was not until the end of the after- noon that the crocodile, finding it could not break through the bamboo barriers, crept out of the Water. Before it could drag the whole of its huge carcass out of the mud it was lassoed and hauled toward the bank by twenty willing hands. Too surprised to offer resistance, the clgarette C'est la fourth swam air, one of the men scr: ed hys! and polnted tc trail of WHEN I WOKE UP ON NEW YEAR'S MORNING I WAS IN THE CALABOOSE.” ke on the sky line. It was a New er headed straight for our tearing gale, which prought her mizzen apprentice piped out: The skipper was superintending the gested an old tar polnting to several Lerey mamied s ihe Sank, bat 1t f hours her doctor mast down on deck and ripped out "I say, fellers, this is New Years day. work from the poop rail and heard the albatrosses which were circling about caugcht on the edge with its forepaws ng us a hearty dinner of slops ali her sails. For days she drifted Have you all forggtten 1t?" conversation. the wake of the ship. “We'll stretch anq made a desperate struggle. Twen- dy and water helplessly, exposed to the full fury of They had. In the fury of the tem- _ “Cook!"” he bawled out. “Lay aft 2 point this day and be forgiven for ty velling negroes hung on to the other man spent another the western gale pest. the thought of New Years or even here!” it, I guess. end of the rope, but could not drag that Cape Horn. He The crew labored industriously at (pristmas, usually so religiously ob- _The cook cgme out of his galley and After several attempts an albatross crocodile up; they could only prevent m iso in a British TEEing up spare and bending new o4 "Blucieh ships, had slippeq the captain asked what he could give was captured with a big fishhook bait- it from flopping back into the water “windjammer,” exp: 1g to reach his salls. It was a ta mendous . " Koning 1 them for a fancy dinmer. ed with salt pork and dragged aboard again. Honors were easy In that ter- Scottish home in t to spend his difficulty, for &g combers rolled 47 ey tortea the . “Nothin' but split peas, sir, an’ salt triumphantly. Served up nice and rific tug-of-war. rst Christmas there for many years, OVer the forecastle head continually, b : L& : o ‘,‘r‘;”fp & "“,:"'“" any horse an’ marmalade. There ain't no brown and swimming in gravy, it At 13st a yoke of eight oxen had to calms delayed her for weeks in filling the vessel amidships with green gruff old ma G her: 3 on’t be _3 turkeys in my store-room, sir,” he said, looked so much like a real turkey that be brought. They soon dragged the e Bouth Pacific Ocean, and when she S€as. New Year dinner to-day, except YOur garcastically. it warmed up the men's hearts and bheast to the bank, where it was tled t off Cape Horn she ran into a Suddenly in the midst of this toil an usual w k of lobscouse. “Let’'s catch one o' them birds,” sug- made them think of the holidays around a tree and dispatched with axes. THE TYRANT'S HAPPY NEW YEAR--s, wittiem mors bt T was high noon on insists that he must apologize. It is t! emselves to the top of their bent in priest and general alike, and stopping is not unlike the proverbial bull in a he is not yet enough of a despot in Ven- New Year's day at here, in a cablegram from Washing- the light-hearted Latin way. 1In one row and then to chaff the prettiest of china shop. More than one poor girl ezuela to make the laws exactly what sl deinlioy oty of the streets the Presidential party the girls in a town where nearly every that night paid with a torn frock for he wishes. If he could he would re- . , "8 “The factotum threw up his hands in encountered an immense crowd—im- woman is pretty. the honor of dancing with the presi- enact the laws of King Solomon on the perched away up gespair. mense, at least, for La Victoria—and But this grew tiresome after awhile. dent. And some of the men against subject of matrimony. Those laws, as in the mountains of "It is impossible, senor, You cannot strolled up to see what was doing. Hearing the band play was not excit- Whose partners he bumped in the you may remember, provided that every Venezuela. Cipriano talk with the President. He does mno It was simply a gang 0f boys play- ing enough for a man of his tempeia- v{hlrl of the waltz lookéd as if they man might have as many wives as he Castro, Citizen Pres. business. He dances. He has danced Ing one of the favorite juvenile games pmant. Wwould have liked to express their feel- chose. The President says he thinks, : s for a week.” of Venezuela. A triumphal arch had g1 he syddenly shouted to the INBS had he not been at once their in a country like Venezuela, a man ident of the “Estados “But my cablegram'— been erected across the street and a .. 00, € SGEN BIOMRC 10 ne, host and the man who could order ought to be allowed. at the least. to Unidos” @ that country, was having “Here are fifty unopened cablegrams. big basket was swinging from it about bandma d _littéd them to be hanged before breakfast hase a w 4 Enough of this! We will g0 to th ast have a wife in every town which he is the time of his life at an open air I cannot show them to the President. ten feet above the ground. This basket e g s Wobe’ i, G e s it Do bt ot TRk ¢ palace and dance. Everybody Is in- If he chose. 3 dr¥rigd . liable to visit. He points out that the fiesta. As you perceive”—pointing to the mer- Was filled with cakes. candies, ftuil viteq. There Is room for all, and Thope FOr a counle of hours the ball pro- male population is seriously decreased Half Europe was besieging his coasts, 'Y Broup who were doing the Vene M 1 g i Wt 5B, N everybody will come.” ceeded in a stately, dignified way as from time to time by the numerous » lan equivalent of the cakewalk—"he tbings dear to the boyish heart all the In V g Ay most Venezuelan functions do. But revolutions, and he thinks his scheme and America, England, Germany and gances” = world over. The boys were jumping In Venesuela Cipriano Castro’s wish a4 'the drinks circulated and the host's would remedy that misfortune.” 4 Italy were bombarding him with cable- “And when will he stop dancing?” Up to the basket and trying to knock I8 equivalent to a command, and the D N N L = - magnetic enthusiasm warmed up the His E 1 . ; . 50 ¥ s Excellency the Citizen President ams every half hour or so to ask The factotum shrugged his shoulders. out the contents with sticks. When C¢Onsequences of disobedience are MOt guegts the fun bec # i g - iyl i it g i peofy | Z kg they succeeded, of course, there was Usually pleasant. So everybody trooped Sug. ame fast and furl- ganced and made speeches until 5 jan’t worry. It was New Year's day, The music stopped. Castro saw the 27 exciting scramble, compared with after him to the palace, from the In- o'clock in the morning. He had been After midnight Castro developed a i Foscdeiad g ® which a college football serimmage dian peon in his osnaburg smock and 3 ks doing the same thing steadily for a end he danced. m:ar:r“ndmi “lfm» g rr\ix,oi}:zed e: seemed a merg circumstance. canvas sandals to the Governor of the :’:?wanlh;; o a(.tn;lnvi F\{e‘;y qudl"er NEEE. S0 ha Rept I o Wati the Fyw Yade pression on h\s face and the open T, 01" 1 province in his gold-laced uniform. UL OF 50 NI LTS G St . Yoy Under the spreading palm trees he _aplegram in his hand. Ever curious, Bueno!"” safd Castro, in high glee. 8 e ping the music and making a speech. frolicked in very lively fashion with the he walked over, with his pretty part- That sort of fun appealed to him Castro made no distinctions. All of [, course he was applauded to the The American was anxious to cable “ " his guests had the freedem of the pal- 2 the news of th dol; to Amer- e o wer on his arm, and asked wha was Strongly. “Juan.” he ordered, turning e T echo by the dancers. In Venezuel news of these gay doings P R T M abont ot w e irons 0 one of his aldes-de-camp, “run and ace for the night and he ald his level i1 is healthy 10 appreciate. Cadirg's icd. but the discreet censor at Caracas . . BN Walided Rl to apologise. fetch the band. Luls, get me some best to see that everybody had a good oratory. would not pass his messages on the WHE S SRR AR, B CONEE, Immediately he struck a Napoleonic boxes of cigars and a few bottles of time. He handed around the drinks, Byt there was one speech which evi- Subject. He tried to Send them in A military band, dressed in most BT~ .\ e waved his arms excitedly in 8guardiente. We must treat the crowd. found the girls partners, chatted amia- French, in German, in English, In dently hit the merry crowd hard. T geous uniforms of yellow and red and the air and exclaimed: Rolando, buy some more oranges and bly with the dowagers, talked politics cg{,‘;,’; \\l'ere a;“ he;'"y“l“dh“';d sp-rl':?f Italian, in Portuguese. All these fail- blue and white and silver and gold and “Not while life remains! General candies for the boys, and be quick.” ~ With the old men, showed the band- taneous that the American asked what P& In despair he tried American @ few other colors, played dance musie, Castro never apologizes. He demands _The band arrived and the game went master how to put more spirit into the {¢ was about. He didn't understand slang, hoping to catch the censor nap- which sounded suspiciously like rag- an apology from Europe.” ahead with a musical accompaniment. music, and, incidentally, found time to Spanish. ping. He endeavored to tell his news- time. A number of little iron tables The girl hanging on his arm clapped The cigars and drinks were handed dance more than anybody else. He g it,” he inquired eagerly, “an im- PAaP°T, among other things, that Castro ¢ him on the back and shouted, * - around, the basket was filled again, Wwas as ready to waltz with the pretty po olitical pro 2 was ‘‘the joklest highroller that ever were placed upon the lawn, which [ o7 the DRCK and Showted, tBo;T(v::D and everybody voted Castro the best Deasant girls as with the blue-blooded hia Fxoellency declared’ s poiicy came down the pike.” served as the baliroom, and they Were yp,. iy \whirling their partners around ruler Venezuela had ever possessed. Senoritas of Castilian ancestry, but it toward the powers? Pray translate In vain. The censor wrote him a ed with bottles of champagne, in an excited fandango and beating the Meanwhile he stood on the sidewalk, Was noticeable that he only chose short his words for me.” polite note: diente, whisky and American 1ag- empty bottles on the iron tables. laughing as if he were a boy himself, Women for his partners. He is very “Well, sir,” replied an European “I regret that code messages cannot er beer. Most of the bottles were Affairs of state having been thus and making bets with his American short himself and rather touchy on the merchant who traded in La Victoria, be allowed to pass during the present mpty > strenuously settled, his Excellency the guest as to which of the youngsters subject. He does not care to be in “jt isn't exactly what you would call political crisis. Will you kindly eluci- :uddenly an American newspaper Citizen President was at liberty to de- would hit the basket first. the company of a tall woman. a political pronouncement, but it is date for me the meaning of ‘jokiest respondent broke in upon this pas- vote himself to pleasure for the rest of Tn the evening, after dinner, his ex- Many of the women did not seem a weighty deliverance on a great social highroller’ as applied to his Excellency al scene and buttonholed President the day. and he very kindly volunteer- cellency honored his faithful subjects Pparticularly glad when he asked them question.” e ident 2" tro's factotum. ed to show the American around the by joining them in the plaza, where for the pleasure of the next number. “Indeed, sald the correspondent, lhAngI?::? x:‘:fly the story of Castro's 1 must talk with his Excellency at town. everybody had cpllected to hear the Although constantly tripping the more anxious than ever. “And what happy New Year at La Victoria is now b once.” he exclaimed excitedly. I have The day being a “flesta,” the streets band play. He strolled around the light fantastic toe, he s one of the is jt?” v told in detall for the first time. F§ most important news for him. Europe were full of merrymakers enjoying square, talking affably to peasant, Wworst of dancers. In a ballroom he “The President says that he regrets (Copyright, 1903, by William Thorp.) % o proStIoML e — ()~