Show 1 A TRACE IN PERMUTATIONS BY JOSEPH M ROGERS k YRIIIT BTppc I 0 c MCtIIRF CO X n p n I i 1I 1 I t I 7 Uow that there ha b so much I I IfjiHsehood published about the misera II Me San Castaroguan affair I propose I to teil the whole it from I tl te whle truth about frm beginning to end and I expect t ben II be-n e I a tired of beg called a I Mguecaneer a filibuster and a pirate j fat I dId I stand t of course but I I wane t show that i was all a mistake mis-take which would be ludicrous if it hvere not s trade I does not seem I likely on its face that a mischievous office boy could precipitate a South frUnerican revolution but he did and I I umi a innocent of i a the late Gen erail Othi tttf whose advice I shall follow fol-low in my story setting down noting in mace nothing extenuating But ilrst I must bock little r Iust g ba a ltte I r I was rOe on the New York Eagle for several years and did well a it though I used to get tired of the everlaatino night work Well CKICC I got a great beat on the town I involved a corner in the coffee market and it made a sensation a the tinn fft T double leaded with a scare head on the first page and Tommy Wah s I r fbf the Giobe nearly bud a fit over it liTer he had a tip on the story but could o run i out and his interview with his city edit next morning was interesting inter-esting i Old man Flamingo who was a big coffee broker was greatly tickled with the story and the upshot of the matter Svas that he offered me a position ins in-s office a 0 good taaay and commission com-mission with chances of partnership in l a tfew years I accepted fo I sow no i show at reporting though I knew no more about the coffee trade than I dad aiiout Choctaw r But you know a newspaper man is never afraid to tae anything and a a few weeks I was a regular tradesman trades-man and I looked forward to the time when the firm would be Flamingo IBoggs and I should drive my carnage Vell In six months what does old a imingo do but turn up his toes without and leave and dry Warning ad lee me high ad dr Everyone thought he was rich but jvhen his affairs wc looked Into its it-s found that he was not only bankrupt bank-rupt but had cheated a lot o his customers cus-tomers and raised the devil generally The QSobe made a feature of i and Tommy Walling roasred tine C out of ime In his account of the affair making Sit appear that I Hosea Bcggs was a stool pigeon for ail of old Flamingos crookedness I was a mean thing in iTommy but he wanted t get even with me for that scoop which landed me in the trade I was a lie made out d whole cot as the examination showed for I had discreetly burned 1 the books and papers which concerned iiny doings in any questionable transactions trans-actions I have e good a right as any man to maintain my reputation I ha got far enough ino the trade t like it fairly well and decided t Bet up a a broker on my own account iini i a small v 3 trying to retain some Of old Flamingos trade I rented an office in an eligible location put up partitions and had painted on the doors Mr Spencer l Oldham Mr Gomez and Stetnogropher to indicate that it was a flourishing firm tough the wtioJw establishment consisted con-sisted of myself and a office boy When I think of that office boy I have tt restrain my feedings for he was but well come to that later I cant bluff worked very well I cUd soy my wored vey wel a UMie business a a customhouse bro ker and occasionally made fair deals and fruits but the big in coftee sugar fruit bt houses had a cinch csi the trade and IJ a slim picking At night I used to walk along Park Row and looked iup at the newspaper offices and wish I was back again but there was a prejudice prej-udice against me on acount of that story of Flamingos affairs though ftor o anything and I tttiey couldnt prove ytJng and still hoped to get established going from bad to worse Matters were gLng frm ba wore land I should probably have closed upi up-i it had not been for the appearance iof Harnando Bosenko on the scene Bosenko was a merchant of Cordova the principal seaport o San Castragua te business with Flamingo jHe had done busdnC Flaming r Stad I had got a little trade 0U of him He was a typical SpanishAmerican snvarthy wellgroomed and easy g Jng He came into my office one afternoon card and asked noon and handed hs crd ak el for a private interview I sent the bfllce boy on an errand and took him him that Mr in < my office assuring Spencer Mr Oldhain and Mr Gomez Go-mez Specr were out He was a devil of a fellow fel-low that Bosenko He had that seductive se-ductive way with hi mthat captures men and captivates the women We talked for some time and I saw he was pumping me for a purpose which pres ently appeared He explained that business busi-ness et was appeae flack in Cordova and he had cote to the United States to make arrangements rangements for starting a revolution in San Castaragua A revolution said I in astonishment astonish-ment mentCertainly he said we havent had 0 one for nearly eighteen months and I am going to break the trust glng What trust 1 asked The revolution trust said he which has crmtrollxl every one of them for fifteen ye rs and has made fail the money I am going in for a new deal and want you to help me de my dear sir I said I dont understand you A revolution is a serous rious matter and I dont want to get my head shot off and I dont understand stand what you mean by the trust Well said he I suppose you are not t blame for ignorancf about South American affairs but you know revolutions are always that these reoluttS ar aa cooked up affairs dont you No I dont sad I Of course they come pretty often but 1 thought they were all genuine enough and pretty serious to at times He laughed a little and said I must explain the situation to you In Son Castaragua we cannot get along without with-out revolutions I is essential to our prosperity a peace is to yours Take instance He has KSenera Cuzeo for tce He hn been president eighteen times in h last eleven years while Gen feral Moreno has been president twelve times The see is this Every few months General Moreno lands sud idenly at Cordova raises the standard of revolt anil marches toward Bolito the capital President Cuzco with his army starts out to meet him i Hold on said I you are going too fast How does Moreno start his revolution I takes men and money and munitions of war You speak of it as a very simple transaction hats the point replied Bosenko i You see when MorenO arrives he tgoes I to the syndicate and purchases his arms and munitions What syndicate I asked You are very mysterious He looked rather disgusted but began be-gan to explain Didnt I tell you there was a revolution trust I is composed of most of the big merchants and politicians at Cordova Revolutionists Revolu-tionists darent deal with anyone else pf they could but they cant for the rust has all the cannon guns and powder and they sell impartially to leach party leac f But hold on said L Where does tbe money come rom 4 4Oh the EngIsh bankers furnish tn They buy up the bonds Df the 3 h revolutionists at GO cents on the dollar dol-lar But suppose the revolution fails Oh i seldom does but in any event the country always assumes the debt of both sides so there is no risk The banks keep blank bonds which they fill in with the new names at each revolution revolu-tion and the revolution leaders can always al-ways get the money in twentyfour hours Most of it goes to the syndicate for war material which is of poor quality and is sold at enormous prices I consists largely of condemned muskets mus-kets from your civil war and old cannon can-non left behind after the Mexican war Some of them look as if they had been used by Cortez They sell though for the same prices a the newest rifles and latest field guns The insurgent president presi-dent isnt particular He doesnt want to kill anyone if he can help i and besides the government will pay the bill so there is no loss Usually he makes the syndicate give him a commission com-mission so the bigger the price the better he is satisfied But where does the army come fromOh Oh its easy enough to raise 1000 men In fact too easy Work isnt plenty anyway and there are plenty of men looking around for a soft snap Do you call fighting a soft snap I asked getting more confused ail the timeWell tmeWel I should say so Good food new uniform and a rank for life After Af-ter the revolution all the officers are commissioned major generals and wear gold lace by the pound Now let me resume my story Moreno we will say lands on the 15th and issues a proclamation procla-mation that he has come to redeem the country from the oppression of a dictator This proclamation is so long that it usually takes several days to get it printed for nothing goes in a hurry with us Moreno mails a copy on the 10th to President Cuzco and establishes his headquarters in the best hotel in Cordova The agent of the English banker comes and makes arrangements for 3000000 in bonds paying 1000000 cash for them Then the agent of the syndicate arrives and sells the guns powder uniforms etc at fearful prices and they are turned over to the commissary general Then come the applicants for admission to the army and this is the most troublesome trouble-Some part of the whole affair as there are more pegs than holes Usually it is arranged by the officers agreeing to furnish the men without cost though they are earned on the pay roll and the amount divided among the leaders favorites fa-vorites When everything is ready and it takes a good deal of time in spate of these facilities the army takes the train about the 30th for the battle ground near the capital But you dont mean to say said I that the president allows fall this togo to-go on without interference Certainly He couldnt do anything if he would but he doesnt want to When the troops arrive at the battleground battle-ground Cuzco marches out and grund occupies occu-pies his camp and the cartel is arranged ar-ranged The what said I The cartel thats a stipulation as to the way the battle shall Be conducted conduct-ed I usually states that the battle shall not begin before 8 a m at which time flags are established in front of each army beyond which they agree not to go under any circumstances If anyone is killed or badly injured durIng dur-ing an engagement a truce of half an hour is allowed The programme is usually as follows 700 a moffee oranges and cigarettes cigar-ettes etes S00 a mDress parade and fiery speeches by the leaders 900 a m Opening of the engagement engage-ment 1030 a Engagement ends 11 30 a mLunch communication under flag of truce during recess allowed al-lowed to permit either belligerent to borrow provisions or ammunition 200 p Engagement renewed Charge by insurgents 300 p mCounter charge by national nation-al forces day 400 p Engagement ends for the 700 p mDinner evening dress This continues as many days as circumstances cir-cumstances and provisions allow Usually Usu-ally on the fifth day the insurgents put the government forces to flight by prearrangement and enter the capital in triumph The soldiers rob the stores and do a moderate amount of looting which the government pays for and all are happy Cuzco takes a special train to Cordova boards his steam yacht and sails away I it is summer he goes to Carlsbad where he has a fine via I it is winter he retires to his magnificent plantation in Cuba Six months later he returns to San Cas taragua the revolution starts up again and in the end Moreno leaves with the money he has squeezed out of the country Thats a pretty good game said I but I should think it would fail sometimes some-times Oh its understood that once in three times the insurgents are routed thats to fool the natives Then the president issues a proclamation and levies new taxes and gets richer than ever The trouble now is that Moreno is old and has the gout He must be worth 10000000 and lives in Paris He says he wont revolute any more and for eighteen months we havent had a charge Its getting monotonous monoton-ous and injures trade The syndicate hasnt made a sale and the English bankers are restive You see after each revolution the syndicate buys back the arms at about 10 per cent of what they originally sold them forgiving for-giving all the officials a fair rakeoff but there has been some trouble lately late-ly There are now 294 major generals and it is impossible to support them all without a revolution once in awhile a-while The syndicate has been in negotiation ne-gotiation with several prominent men to start up the game but the trouble is with the English banking syndicate The debt is now about 500000000 and though ihz country is rich it is hard to raise the interest unless the taxes are increased The bankers only want to pay 40 per cent this time as an enormous amount must be raised to satisfy the men who have been waiting wait-ing so long At the last revolution one of Cuzcos cannon burst and killed eight men This made his army think there was a rear attack and they rushed rush-ed forward right into Morenos army in spite of all the officers could do Moreno tried to stop his men from firing fir-ing but too late and before he could run up a white flag and surrender to the retreating army of Cuzco nineteen men were killed and others injured This cast a gloom over the entire community munity and made the natives suspicious sus-picious But the government gave liberal pensions and the affair blew over overBut But it seems to me said I that SSOO000000 is a fearful debt for such a country as San Castaragua I must have taken a great many revolutions to pile all that up I should think the bankers would get cautious about advancing ad-vancing more money They are But revolutions didnt do it all Reorganization is responsible for much of it Whats reorganization Why its refunding just like you do here with railroad companies The A and R R R company goes into the hands of a receiver A committee of bankers form a syndicate and the bond holders form several committees to reorganize the finances I the original debt was 100000000 the stockholders stock-holders are assessed 25000000 and the u total capitalization raised to 150000 000 The security holders get squeezed but the syndicate and the committe get a big rake off and the company is reorganized until it goes into a receivers re-ceivers hands again as it usually does in ten years when the process is repeated re-peated In San Castaragua this has been done several times with the government gov-ernment bonds and the English bondholders bond-holders kick but they cant do anything any-thing as the Cordova English bankers bank-ers stand in with the government Sometimes these bankers get a snap Three years ago Cuzco landed to make a revolution He issued 5000000 in bonds paid the syndicate as usual for the arms and ammunition but was taken with the gout just as he was ready to move on the capital So he nailed away in his yacht and postponed post-poned operations for six months The bankers were wild at first as the bonds had not been approved by the government But the syndicate fixed the matter up by giving up 10 per cent of the money The Moreno government never discovered that the new issue wasnt regular and the interest was arranged But the game is pretty near ended I wont be possible to make more than one issue of bonds now for the country cant stand it I think that inside of a year England will come over and take the whole country for the debt Thats the way they dO No nonsense Pay up that interest or we will take your whole shooting match and nobody does Interfere with England Now he continued after lighting a fresh cigarette my plan is this I am going to get up a revolution on my own account I am on the outs with the syndicate who wont sell mea me-a thing But I have made arrangements arrange-ments with the English bankers for one last issue of 25000000 of bonds at 20 cents on the dollar Thats an awful squeeze but they wont hear to another an-other terms But they insist that T import some modern rifles and cannon and get up a genuine revolution and take possession of the government and keep it Then we will reorganize the debt and make a nice thing out of it even if England does seize the country coun-try for she wont allow the bonds to be repudiated Now here is where you come in I was wondering where I came in said 1 Well the thing must be kept secret but I want you to act as purchasing agent You are to buy arms and ammunition am-munition and enlist about 100 sturdy fellows who understand military matters mat-ters bring them to Cordova and when the revolution is over you will be a major general and secretary of the least treasury Its worth a million at I When I made my head swim and I told Bosenko that I must have time to think i over Well after a few days consultation I agreed to go into the scheme though I didnt like i He talked of a revolution as cooly as i it were a Sunday school picnic but I couldnt help thinking of Lopez and Walker However I was getting desperate des-perate and resolved to try it The details de-tails were soon arranged and I was to act on cable advices and letters in cipher ci-pher This cipher was a very simple affair consisting only of the transposition sition of about half the letters of the alphabet The a meant z o meant w etc with changes under certain conditions I told him i was too easily deciphered and we would be discovered l but he laughed ant said that no one in San Castaragua would take that much trouble to pre tlat muc vent an earthquake One of the principal errands was to arrange with the San Castaraguan minister at Washington for the recognition recog-nition of the new government by the United States This took some trouble but he said i was all arranged and the minister at Washington was to send me word and I was to cable him I England makes any trouble he said we rely on the Monroe doctrine doc-trine Whats that I asked Dont you know what the Monroe doctrine is said he in surprise I No I dont said I rather nettled I I am not well posted in religious matters mat-ters but I suppose they cut a great I deal of Ice with you He looked at me as if he thought I was guying him and said I Dont you know that President Monroe Mon-roe was the man who led your armies and in the revolution against England was president of the United States along a-long as he lived afterward No I dont said I testily Youre off George Washington was the first First in first in president war frst peace first in the hearts of his countrymen Hold on maybe youre right but anyway there was a man named Monroe Mon-roe In this country got up a doctrine that rules all South America I dont exactly know what it is and the only man who really did understand i is dead but the idea is that when any South American country got into trouble trou-ble with any European country the United States will do all the fighting for us Its a grand idea too and makes uS feel more comfortable when we do things contrary to the European fashion Theyre all afraid of you Well I am glad of that said I though this is the first time I ever heard of it But wont the United States interfere in your revolution Oh no i never interferes in our domestic affairs Thats contrary to the doctrine We can do what we like Its only when England interferes inter-feres that you folks make a howl Why you dont even take care of your own I people down there I one of your countrymen gets into trouble it often takes years to fix it up through diplomacy diplo-macy Once Cuzco arrested one of your people and it took seven years of diplomatic dip-lomatic correspondence to settle it Then it was found he had been dead four years Another time Moreno locked lock-ed one of your people up and it took six years to arrange for his release but when they came to look for him it was found that he was one of Mo I renos majorgenerals and had been secretary of state three times during which he carried on the correspondence about his own release without even knowing it They are rather careless of details down there Yes I see said I entirely too careless I guess I wont go into the scheme for seven years imprisonment wouldnt suit my constitution Pshaw said he theres no danger I you do get arrested all you have to do is to say you are an Englishman and theyll let you go quick enough Oh they will ill they said I Well why is that Have the English got a Monroe doctrine to No but they have war ships which is much better I an Englishman gets arrested anywhere all he does is to send word to the captain of any war vessel that is in port The captain I sends word to the authorities demanding demand-ing the release of the captive and a 5 large indemnity I they do not give Jin i th > ° to1 r i > i and there you are In fact this plan has le ti abuses Indeed said I how I Wei you se an English vessel comes into a South American port All its officers are out of money and there Is no chance for a good time One of them goes ashore kicks up a row and perhaps Insults someone or knocks him down lie is arrested The captain demands de-mands his release The authorities I consider The second day an Indemnity Indemni-ty is also demanded The third day i it i increased and four hours notice I given of a bombardment Then the prisoner is released and goes aboard with a bag of gold an the officers t i make merry I has often happened in San Castaragui but usually the city officials get z pfcantage of the rakeoff Indeed it has got to be a flourishing industry in Cordova since revolutions suspended There is a regular reg-ular scale of prices the syndicate getting get-ting 40 per cent the government 20 and the English captive 40 Last year we paid over 3000000 in indemnities and President Cuzco made an awful row about i and has threatened to stop the whole game So long a Bosenko was around the plan looked very good but when he was gone I couldnt help thinking of what would happen in case of failure Every time I read of one of the insurgents in-surgents in Cuba being garroted I ha a pain in my neck and I had resolved to give It up entirely when Bosenko played his last card On the day he saied he came to me with a list o r flee cannon and cartridges he wanted and a lot of provisions I was to ship the provisions through a local firm of brokers who were to pay the bills The arms and ammunition were to be shipped to Cordova direct and be paid by draft on arrival and all I had to do was to select them Just as I was I about to throw it all over Bosanko I gave me a check for 5000 That settled set-tled it I hadnt owned so much in i my life and I couldnt resist I cashed the check and was a fullfledged revolutionist I revo-lutionist I For a time I lived on velvet Champagne Cham-pagne big dinners a dress suit and I theater parties were my sole occupation occupa-tion I treated all the old newspaper boys whenever I met tliem and they were all wild to get into trade I would I even have bought champagne for Tommy Tom-my Walling but he had gone to South America as correspondent of the Globe I The boys used to put in paragraphs about Hosea Boggs the rising merchant mer-chant which tickled my vanity and I bought them more champagne In the meantime I went to work on the I supplies It was easy enough to buy hard tack cheese and flour for this excited no suspicion but buying arms was different I consulted the selling agents of all the different firms but i was a delicate matter Several expeditions expe-ditions to Cuba had been stopped by the authorities and I was cautious The prices demanded were exorbitant but the agents explained to me that considering the risks and commissions they could do no better The word commissions gave me a hint and I asked what commission I would be allowed al-lowed I The usual rate they said but perhaps per-haps we had better be specific Whats your Idea I hadnt an Idea in the world but thought 5 per cent liberal In order to get i I considered I must ask more and then come down s I said How does 20 per cent strike you They looked at me curiously for a moment and said Will that be entirely satisfactory I now saw that I had asked too little but it was too late and I closed at that figure although I heard one of them whisper to another dead easy All this took time bill it was arranged ar-ranged that the arms should be shipped ship-ped whenever I gave the word which was not to be until the provisions were in Cordova and the men arranged ar-ranged for I now made up my mind to ship the goods and arms take my commissions and back out of the whole affair but of course I kept my own counsel about this I gpt letters and cablegrams from Bcsenlib frequently but he was very careless about the cipher and I was in constant fear of being detected The thorn in m flesh at this time was the office boy He was a deep one He knew something was going on but couldnt getat I so he bled me He demanded double wages in a way that I made me shiver wags gave it to him He was careless about getting to the office but when I remonstrated Tie assured as-sured me he had to stay home with I his bedridden mother He used my typewriter as if i were his own and I drove me to the verge of distraction but every time I startedvto have it out 1 with him there starteqo of honest industry I in-dustry on his face that made me quail Finally I could stand it no longer and one Saturday morning I told him I we must part that night and he demanded de-manded a months wages in advance which I dared not refuse That afternoon after-noon the provisions were shipped and the agents and I had a lunch at Sa varins during which four cold quarts were offered as libations to the god of revolution I got back t9 the office at 7 oclock and wrote out a cablegram to Bosenko announcing the shipment I I was nearly dark the electric lights were in trouble and the wine mnrlp mn trirMv I wrote out the message wn follows Bosqnko Cordova Shipped by steamer Barcelona Bacelona 5000 flour 1000 cheeses 100 mess pork 75 cases biscuit 1000000 hard tack Biggerstafi will drawn on sight Everything going w ll HOSEA BOGGS This did not need a cipher a provisions pro-visions were not contraband nor likely to arouse suspicion I rang for a messenger mes-senger but on reading the message it looked so illegible EO I concluded to copy i on the typewriter I went to the desk and copied it hurriedly and handed it to the boy without reading I He soon came back and said I must sign my name and address on the back nd then told me the amount it cost which seemed large but I was flushed with wine and careless paid him and I rushed for a train to the country where for two days I made merry wIth frIends so glad was I to get one part v > f the business off my hands I was coming back to town Tuesday with a dark brown taste in my mouth and a bad headache when I bought the Globe and looked carelessly at it In a minute my head was on fire There in glaring headlines was the following doubleleaded dispatch ANOTHER REVOLUTION |