Conspirators

A general strike gripped Havana for 24 hours last week. Only a few trolleys, manned by inexperienced strikebreakers, careened dangerously along the streets. The public would not use them. Taxis reduced their fares to 10-c- and later to 5-c- for a two-mile ride, in support of the strikers. No Spanish language papers appeared. Factories closed. There were many in Havana last week who insisted that open revolution would now be under way and President Machado possibly be in exile were it not for the alertness of Patrolman Melvin of Atlantic City, N. J., and the sensitive nose of a New York City pedestrian.

Fortnight ago the pedestrian with the sensitive nose passed a rooming house on East 45th Street at the moment when Truckman Edward Wetzenberger was hoisting a large trunk from the sidewalk. The garageman smelled ether. He quickly telephoned the police station, "A man's carrying a trunk with a body in it out of a house here!" Detectives Elmer Mason and Rudolph McLaughlin climbed into their speedy little black Ford, rushed to the address in time to follow Mr. Wetzenberger's truck to a warehouse on East 41st Street. A Cuban broker by the name of Jorge de Zaldo was just about to receive the trunk when Elmer & Rudolph swooped, arrested broker and truckman, opened the trunk.

It contained no cadaver. Inside were a dozen cans of ether and the following articles: two revolvers, 40 rounds of ammunition, twelve pairs of riding boots, a box of nickel-plated spurs, twelve officers' uniforms complete with hats, a gross of clinical thermometers, box after box of silver-plated insignia for officers' shoulder straps. A letter in the pockets of de Zaldo led to the arrest of Emilio N. Robaina, correspondent of Excelsior El Pais (Excelsior The Homeland), a gentleman with beetling brows and heavy black mustache. Department of Justice agents telephoned Washington, telephoned Havana where Senors de Zaldo and Robaina seemed to be well known to the secret police. De Zaldo was charged with illegal possession of pistols, released on $500 bail. Robaina was released after spending a night in jail.

The scene shifted to Atlantic City, N. J.

At 5 a. m. Patrolman Melvin saw a yacht's searchlight flashing off the Steel Pier. Thinking it was a rumrunner, he made no effort to interfere. After a decent interval he approached the pier, was told by the night watchman that no rum had landed but that five Cubans in the last stages of seasickness had staggered ashore. Patrolman Melvin went into action, trailed the party to the Hotel Wiltshire. There he found Rosendo Collazo, onetime Cuban Senator and colonel; Aurelio Collazo, his son, a lawyer; Aurelio Alvarez, discontented sugar planter; Rafael Idurralde, another lawyer; Captain Luis H. Rodiguez, onetime political prisoner in Havana; and William H. Carey, retired seaman of New York City.

The Cubans were still too sick to speak, but Boatman Carey was more communicative. He had taken his five passengers far out to sea in a speed boat, searching for a mysterious ship that was to carry them on to Havana. They never found it. After hours upon hours of tumbling about in a heavy fog, the retching Cubans cried that if they must die, they wanted to die on land. Two days later the schooner Harold put in loaded to the gunwales with more seasick conspirators, 52 of them this time, 39 Cubans, the rest Negro, Chinese, Mexican. Only one was a U. S. citizen. They were hiding under nets and in the lifeboats but to all questions they insisted that they had just been out for a fishing trip. Several could not speak English, but nervously parroted ''fishing trip, fishing trip."

The scene shifted again, to Havana.

Horn-spectacled Gerardo Machado took the "fishing trip" stories so seriously that martial law was declared in the provinces of Havana and Pinar del Rio. At Luyano, Havana suburb, there took place the Battle of the Stocking Factory.

Police approached the building and attempted to search it on a report that quantities of arms and munitions were hidden there. Its embattled proprietor refused and opened fire. A machine gun squad came out from town on the run. At the end of an hour firing ceased. Police rushed the doors and found inside only the bodies of two dead men, the caretaker and the proprietor. In the cellar was an arsenal of rifles, revolvers, hand grenades, shotguns.

Off the coast the yacht Coral hovered, disembarked 17 prominent revolutionists, and put hurriedly out to sea again. A Cuban police boat spotted her, set out in pursuit. Among the 17 were Fausto and Guatimon Menocal, brothers of one-time President Mario Garcia Menocal, and his son Mayito. They were arrested, clapped into Cabanas Fortress. Their friends had little hope of ever seeing them again. These arrests were the clues that wily President Machado was looking for. They showed him who was back of the attempted revolution. Orders flashed out: "Get the Coral. General Mario Menocal is on board!"

Cuba's entire navy put to sea. Army planes roared off from Havana Field to join the chase, but the Coral was too sly for them, slipped away in the haze.

The Cuban Congress hurriedly authorized President Machado to put the entire island under martial law.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.