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Zurich Herald, 1926-01-14, Page 4'Tl�e Betrayal o. Theophile M. Solomon, general man- ager of the Central American Con-- ,mereial Co., together with another American, is owner of the great Cam- pusano • estate in . Nicaragua. Fight- ing his way up from the position of a smallrubber trader in the forest, he has became the owner of the only ice plant in • the Republic of Nicaragua and ovens the electric light and power plant in Managua, The Campusano estate comprises 57,000 acres of land, 2,500 head of cattle, 225,000 rubber trees, thirty-five miles of barbed wire fences, numerous sawn -ills, docks and industrial plants, constituting a tre- mendous export trade. This story is a true account of an adventure had Mr. Solomon met had attempted to thread a dangerous with in 187 while a trader in one of pass by night. Pitching over into the the great N �araguan rubber forests. inky darkness, he had tumbled down The facts are detailed as he remem- bers a precipice and fractured the bone of them ai'rEl as friends supplied his knee. them. Most of Ids life has been spent Memories of what the half-breed in Nicaragua, but he recently came to had actually sulfoxed in dragging him - the United States; for a few weeks' self over the cruel ground almost to Solomon dropped with a dead thud, rest after a nervous breakdown. He the door of the little bamboo hut were and Guerro, in fever haste, turned to will travel for a time, but will make mingled with fever fancies and im- the pile of shillings. As though in a his headquarters in New Orleans, aginative horrors of his tortured nightmare the American saw him, and where are situated the main offices of brain. How far he had wriggled, said later that he was unable to stir. the company of which he is general serpent -like, Solomoncould not learn, . Woounded and blecling, but conscious, manager. but for days it looked as though the he lay there, and all the efforts of his Once a negress, smoking before a •Dr. William F. Thornton is a spe- feeble spark of life which was left for iron will to drive his body into Motion mean hut near the river edge, called cialist in idseases carried be mosqu i the American to nurture would of its were futile. Unable to stir., he wattch- to him. Martin swerved toward the Modern(iood. BY THEOPHILE M. SOT.OiVMON, erican ,p' --aced the other in, his ham- mock and, tearing his own white shirt into strips, bathed and bound the in jured knee, Days and nights the stranger tossed and raved in fever and in pain, and often Solomon bound him tight in the swaying hammock to prevent him falling or doing himself further harm.' Sleep followed delirium and delirium followed sleep, but during the wild wanderings of a mind that was well nigh destroyed, Solomon gathered the details of the other's story, The man he had saved was a half- breed Spaniard named Fermin Guer- ro. Traveling in the mountains be had been lost and, short of provisions, - toes anbl ee9earch own weakness flicker out. ed the halfbreed gather up poeketsful shore, shouting news of his errand to work in that line. The fee a 1 lona- During three long, weary weeks of the silver coin and start to lift the the woman. tions which Mr. Solomon tendere ' him Solomon slept but little, snatching his bags from the trunk. i "Wait!" she cried, and ran to the was arrested in Cuicuina, where he rest whenever and wherever he might. ! Then at last a torment of pain shot hut, returning with a towel and a had hacked off a rubber worker's hand women the twa men guarded the life of their friend, and the needs• of every minute of day and night were prompt- ly tended, Solomon grew stronger, but his fight had been terrific and the surgeons held out little hope. At times he seemed to recuperate, then in a bot spell his strength would wane and death crept in close again. The 'eternity of torture seemed to. have sapped the man's .vitality, and. ' after weeks of rest and care it looked as though there was no hope, But ruling the broken body was a will of iron that was aiding the sue- geon and was filially to win, One day whhe Dr. Thornton was sitting on the edge of the cot in the hospital his eyes dimmed and with a broken voice he said: "Sol, old boy, I ought -to tell you the truth. You've fought like seven devils, but you haven't a chance. If ever a man deserved it, you do, but I can't pull you through." Solomon's voice wee not strong and the wound in his neck marred his speech, but with an effort he replied: "That so, Doc? Well, you watch. I'll bet you a hundred that I get out of this bed, and I'll bet you another hundred that I bury you/' Heavy of heart, Thornton humored his friend, but later he paid the first bet. While Solomon was in the hospital a reward of $5,000 was offered for the capture of Fermin Guerro, who had tried to murder him. That was in 1887, but "for twenty years Guerro was not heard of nor seen. Then he have enabled nim to carry on env work. Mostly he slept on the floor, with an down his side and seemed to loosen pound bag of salt. In the lonely heart of the great rub- ear and an eye alert for trouble. Many i his deadsome muscles. He struggled , Wading into the river, while Mar - bet forest of Nicaragua, Theophile M. times during the long nights he ad- : partly to his feet, but Guerro heard tin steadied the canoe, she bathed the Solomon sat in front of his low roofed ministered to the sufferer's wants and , the noise and turned wildly. Snatch wounds in his neck •and back. Then bamboo but and puffed blue nicotine in the daytime his greatest effortsing Solomon's own rifle, he aimed it together they stuck the sterns of five { rings skyward. The smoke from _ the were used in nursing back the spent at his breast. Frenziedly the Amer- clay pipes between the teeth of the g strep th. lean clutched the barrel, supporting'',dying man. breakfast fire rose in a steal int g I smudgy column against the clear azure . For some reason the messenger ; his head with one hand, for the cut! It was heroic treatment, but it was of the March sky, and the crisp, appe-: from Bluefields was detained and,cords let it hang helplessly toward life or death, and there in the river, tizing odor of well fried bacon still Solomon's own stock of provisions be - one shoulder. Guerro pulled at the - while the little craft bobbed and bow- lsstartlingly.d the thed t mon- everything g ' ; Po in a quarrel. When Solomon heard that the half-breed was in jail in Wani, he went there to press the old charge against him, but revenge was denied him. Guerro escaped while he was being transferred from Wani. How he elud- ed his guards is not known. Heavily Satin once more asserts its charm manacled, he was taken in a river boat .and lends its lustre to the graceful with his jailers and chained to the lines of this afternoon frock, whose an to ebb The best of trigger, -with the muzzle of the gun a in ie waves, man an woman thwarts, but during the night he some- ( slim bodice more than meets its match ngered in the air. j g 1 -in a full ripping tunic. Fastening at vv vthin was even to the sick man int -blank at Solomon's chest. Sick- • +�sY�:�f1,Pl� A SMART EXAMPLE OF THE FLARE. poured the salt onto the raw wounds, how gained his freedom and swam All about were trees, gree , 1 the A conscious disinfecting them The gnashing haws away. the front beneath a tie, and molded to ster, age-old trees that rese like h figure, the d" t' o u' •h' g feature ant whose health slowly returned under eningly e meixcan was o Mr. Solomon, who is now general the guxe, a is m•� is inb ea xe • the constant unremitting care until of waiting for the roar of the report of the American ground the ppestems manager of the Central American of this charming model is the circular set -on flounce .dropping to form a V at the centre front. . The sleeves are mon long and tight, flaring softly over the g p filled t had bdid ; In the struggle which followed Solo- While a relentless sun almost baked the Plantain River,down which lay and eyes that m angg` erro but the halfbreed has disappear- 'hand. The front and back of this the outskirts of civilization and the filmy took on a lustre and a sparkle mon fought blindly, with all the pas- them and the great spindle trees on ed as total! as though he were dead. frock are plain and in one piece, the way to home, America, where there that gratified the trader. 1 sion and desperation of amen -animal either side of the river swayed coni- y g flock beingfinished separately and was chance to spend the money which' From hardwood, which he cut him -1 at bay and goaded into frenzy by fortably of their own weight and a Down in Rama, in a neat little house P y self, Solomon hewed a pair of crutch-, pain: As though it were a wicked breath -like breeze, the two negroes in a clean section of the city, lives the Joined to the dress after it is made had bt een a ear thete d of the month' es, with which his patient learned to dream he remembers it. About ,the tortured the white man,oblivious of regress who probably saved Mr. Solo -up. The diagram shows just how the and Solomon had been figuring on his , hobble about with ease and rapidity.' room the death grapplers stagg• ,!std, his groans, in order to save his life. hou wasunit giftil hfrom him e reached gaud was ma. The pieces go together, and No. 1251 is in accounts, Trade had been lively and And still the messenger from Brown biting, kicking, lunging, wren g Then they bounddthe wohnds v I the house *a ed by money To men Mars sizes 34 36 38 40 and 42 inches bust. there was very much crude rubber and did not appear. A month passed and Each ivas fighting furiously to g heavy bags of English shillings which the cripple was able to walk without rifle. Solomon's head wobbled were to be sent by a trusted mes- the sticks, limping badly on one foot. ; dragged over his shoulder in a At last Solomon decided to make the crous grim manner. The great trip himself. There was much to do' gash in his neck bathed the othe in preparation, and after breakfast the crimson flow that was fast one morning he started to count the ping the American's life, but the money, pack it.into a trunk and close equal battle continued. his accounts.. Suddenly there was a hot, stin In the hammock, which Solomon had blow in Solomon's back and he abandoned for his own use, the half- gored away from his opponent, crus temple pillars out of the rich tropical , ! soil, and through the dim aisles, where, at last, helped by the American, he which_did not come. The trigger was into powder, but his teeth, strained by they were not too close together, Solo- could walk about and sit erect with-, locked and the rifle would not fire. the agonized working of his mouth, aid 1im se the silver dazzle of out a prop for his back. Sunken cheeks Neither man had known it. iwere saved. Commercial Co., with headquarters in New Orleans, has made a standing offer of $1,000 for the . arrest of Gu- senger. Contemplating the wealth that was growing, the American sat and half dozed, dreaming of his partner in Bluefields, Henry Brown, a . native of Texas. • In the midst of his brooding he be- came conscious of a sound not of the forest. Long seclusion lead accustom- breed lay swinging lazily, seemingly ling to the. ground. The fight was. over. • Rama was mart' mules distant. forget. Often at night he wakes to ed him to the wild sounds and he could asleep. The clink of the English shil- Guerro had managed to reach his %hat night he paddled, and all the niet sleepthrough the cries of all the lings did not seem to disturb him, and knife and bad plunged it into the day and far into the next_ night, be- feel tFie torturing rays of a torrid sun the trader continued to—count the other, consummating his dastardly act fore the twinkling lights of the town, beating down on a mangled dream 'beasts that chattered or howled at thetimid beacons of relief, °shone round body, an anguished cry for water hov- frin e of the little clearin But this heavy stacks, tumble them into bags of treachery. was something different and Solomon and pack them in the strong trunk. How long it was before the trader a bend in the river. ering 'his lips and the sense g was alert on the instant, scenting , There was nearly $2,000 and most of regained a hazy consciousness he did; Too weak to lift the American from towerin suffocatin forests reagin it was in shillings. not know. Dragging himself, stagger -the canoe, Martin stumbled through danger with the instinct of the animal. j An irregular crackling of brush as I Life alone and iii the forest makes ing, running wildly for a few steps the deserted streets and roused a sur- Somebod d• i h could -accomplished • towel and, spreading a thin sheet over d his body, renewed the race to Rama, tin were given a house in Torre Alto, d $100 and 300 pounds of tobacco, and Lucy McCoy, a creole who helped to e in a- s, o - Size 36 bust requires 5% yards 36 - inch, or 3% yards 54 -inch material. Price 20 cents. Many styles of smart apparel niay nurse Solomon in Bluefields, received be. found in our new Fashion Book., house and money. ' Our designers originate their patterns This is the story of Theophile M. in the heart of the style centres, and Solomon, one of the wealthiest men of their creations are those of tested Nicaraga&& ,and though his,•aictive life Popularity, brought within the means has been crowned with success the of the average woman.. Price of the nightmare of torture which he endur- book 10' cents the copy.• 11 ed in the early days is not a thing to HOW TO ORDER PATTE}INS.. damply above hire. Simple Mage to Keep Ice. Write your name and address plain. ly, giving number and size of such patterns as..you want. Enclose 20e is stamps or coin (coin preferred; wrap it carefully) for each number, and address your order to Pattern Dept.,. Wilson Publishing Co., 73 West Ade- laide St., Toronto. Patterns sent by ng, slowly, close to :men suspicious of all things. Like ani- and falling headlong, he managed to geon. All that be return mail. the y gg mals, they see an enemy in all nature reach the water 250 yards away. Three was done, but there �i ere not the thground, was followed by a lows � moaning. The man of solitude knew, until friendship is proven, and once or times in the distance he lost his senses means in Rama to save the man's life, We never miss the ice until the win - it; knew it for the distress noise of , twice Solomon looked narrowly at the At the river he dropped to drink and it .was decided to rush him to ter is gone. When summer comes, for one of his own kind. Plunging into the forest, he followed the sound for a few paces. It was dark in the wood, the slanting sunlight scarcely pene-, trating the dense foliage, and not until he almost stumbled upon it did Solomon discern the groveling, emaci-; ated form of a man worming his way slowly, painfully, along the ground. At the same instant the stranger , saw his rescuer, and with a cry that "began in a shout of joy, but ended in a wail of torture, the ragged man reared upright, like a mountain tiger wounded to death, then toppled side- way and lay very still, In his lithe, strong arms Solomon carried the wast -1 ed form to the hat and stretched it on the floor. He was no physician, but the ways of the forest had taught him a rude singer; and in a matter of seconds he had learned that the stranger's knee- cap was broken. Stimulants helped the feeble heart -action, and after consciousness was restored the Ain- noutuowaer hf1 f tBluefields, It was a long trip by economical reasons, as well as with us Let Old Newspapers be sleeping Spaniard. His breathing -was greedily, but not a r Your Servants, deep and even, punctuated with snores, could he swallow to slake the hell -like :water, 'but the land journey, over for gastronomic, it is often badly , and the American felt a flush of shame thirst, From the great open wound wretched roads, meant certain death, needed. And ice can easily be kept My experience of the last few weeks for his suspicions. in the tortured man's throat the water and although Solomon's chances were over. Eastern Canada is generally has taught me a few lessons. Having But Guerro, too, had been watching. From narrow eye -slits he had seen the lightning glances Solomon had cast at him, and he judged that his suspicions • were lulled. Stealthily, with the noiselessness of the puma, he slipped from the swaying hariimock. In bare feet he crept across the floor, his hands gripping the handle of a mach- ete, which he had somehow concealed. There was nota sound above the clinking of the shillings, yet for some reason Solomon turned quickly, sav- agely, as though he knew already of. the other's treachery. There was a flash of flesh -hungry steel, the Amner- i ican sprang sideways from his sitting posture, wrenching for his pistol, but ' the heavy knife bit deep into his shoul- , der and, grinding against bone, sever- ed the tendons of the neck, • - } Like a steer under the pole -axe, elirLstios its mi.t'1ta. trickled in a reddish, ugly stream, tan- ! not one in a thousand, it was decidedblessed with abundance of lakes and had an attack of fi u the good man of 1 talizing his parched palate, until a to try the forlorn hope. � streams, so that neglect in this par the house did the housework nobl v, curtain of unconsciousness again 1 In a chugging launch the surgeon , ticular is distinctly unwise. As Pam- while son looked after the chores. stopped his sufferings. 1 from Rama watched his patient incase phlet No. 2, issued by the Dominion But after getting up "about the What followed is like a hot rid myth,sandy and loaded him with contriv-I Dairy and Cold Storage Branch, house," and working myself back into to Solomon. Through the endless ances to delay the fast approaching; points out, any unoccupied corner of a the harness gradually, I find old news- weeks of pain and suffering he had no' death, and when they arrived at Blue-' shed will serve for the preservation of papers to be a great help. I ice. A rough boa sense of time, only pain. There was ,fields Solomon was still alive. rd enclosure ten feet Cover the tablecloth with fresh quality to his- feelings, that was a11.1 Upon a stretcher, they bore him off 1 square and eight feet high will hold newspapers each morning. It saves Time, space, intensity, all were oblit- .. toward the hospital through sun -baked; enough ice to provide fifty pounds per washing table linen." erated. He simply knew he suffered.' streets', in which a healthy man could • • day for 130 days, allowing for a rea- "Dad" didn't know how to keep the Months afterward, when he was scarce endure, and yet the tenacious sonab:e amount of wastage. A point kitchen range bright and shining. I worth noting is that the smaller the took old newspapers and went over it. strong enough to listen, friends told' spark of life glimmered. quantity stored the greater in pro- You would be surprised how well it looked, especially the nickle. Also, the teakettle can be "dressed up" a • bit in g the sane way. were assembled and the ceremony was to keep the ice from inciting. If the Try. sitting down with your lamp of some mysterious, tenacious some- about to begin when Dr. Thornton soil underneath is impervious clay, a chimneys and cleaning them with some thing before claiming the body that saw through the open door the litt:e few inches of gravel under the saw-: old newspapers. It will rest you won - seemed already his. group of men carrying the stretcher dust will help. For putting in the ice' derfully. e One night, just at the brief, fleeting, and between them the pallid, wasted take the boards away from one side When son works on the car he tropical dusk time, when the shadows ,face of his old friend Solomon. ? and rep:ace when the ice is in position, washes his greasy yhands with keno - of the great forest were settling and . It would take much to call a man Leave a space of one foot between the sene in the woodhouse and dries thein wrapping the gruesome scene in snore from his own wedding, but Thornton ice and the boards and.fill-in with on newspapei'sT then washes at the intense sombreness, a Jamaican negro remembered his oath, and with a few sawdust. Also cover the top in the sink. This saves many soiled towels. paddled leisurely down the gently rip- hurried words to the bride and the .sane way and to the same thickness.;, ---Mrs. A. B. ' piing Plantain. He knew the clearing ...minister he ran front the church. The drier the sawdust the better the where Solomon dwelt and meant to stay the night there. Pushing softly in toward the shore he came suddenly upon the eight and he was seized with terroistor. Drted in the flickering shadows, the wreck of what had been a man held terrors for the black which were not to be faced. Fear made him bend the supple paddle in his efforts to get into midstream, leaving the trader to Just what Dr. Thornto•in• did is subject Weil -known fruit growers, Also in 1 die. But further from the scene the for a technical treatise. He perform- ( attendance at the meetings, innumer-•; ed the great operation of his life, and i able fathers and sons were together has since lectured on it in'Paris. But to get the latest on the business iii j he saved Solomon and sent him from' which both are interested. l him the story of all that had hap- In a little church in Bluefields Dr. pened. I William F. Thornton -of St. Louis was portion is the waste. e For seven days be lay at the river's being married to the daughter of an It is well to cover the bottom of the edge, while Death crouched at his 1 English consular official, The guests enclosure with sawdust, which tends Bead; waiting only fox the dissolution Kneeling beside the stretcher he did ice will keep. Cut the ice in blocks what he could do to insure the man's of uniform size and pack as closely living until he reached the hospital, as possible. then he ran ahead to�prepare for him. —e,— Hours he worked oven. Selman, cut -1! + • In Father's Footsteps. ting, and tying,' and.plying needles i and instruments in what seemed friend At the recent horticultural meeting,. tic haste. A slight slip of a knife there was evidence that all boys do would mean death, but so would the not leave the farm. In the students' delay of a fraction of a second, and speaking contest, for instance, all the' away and the graceful canoe shat out it was a desperate chance, at best. l contestants except two, were sons of Jamaican's courage returned, and Dick Martin, mumbling broken prayers and trembling so that he could scarcely paddle, returned and lifted Solomon into his boat. The presence of life, however feeble, Soothed hie fear, and he started down the river of Rama, eight days journeyaway. IVIedicine he had 0, and the tepee on a soft comfortable cot, Dr. ency of sons to follow their fathers' AMerican could not eat noriddrink, but Thornton returned to the little church footsteps in agricultural pursuits The the negro paddled viciously, never sparing himself, and covered mile after mile hi his race against the ebb, ing of the trader's life. the operating table to the ward with1 We do not believe that this father I multiplied chances for recovery. and son relationship is any more eve- ; Late that night when the American, dent in fruit growing than in other bandaged and reeking of disinfectants, branches of agriculture. But we do WAS unconsciously battling for exis- believe that there is a growing tend - and was married. 1 future of ferreting looks good, and Thereafter ho shared the watch at these young men tealize that t1', yp- Solomon's bedside with Brown, the portunities on the home place are on rubber trader's partner. Tenderly as a par With those anywhere else; • Iliac! Bean Laying For it. "Well, Joiin's gotten a job as a brick naisoneat lest?" "Tess, he's been lsyleg for it for a long time." I seeded a bushel o f winter wheat to the acre one spring about the middle of April, as a nurse crop for alfalfa. The wheat began to turn brown the latterpartof June and was practical- ly all dead by August le None ever • beaded out, It served xt double pur- pose, first keeping the weeds down und'•laff,•r as a rnulcb for the alfalfa. —4. 'l4'.