Assassins! Sharks!

The Sabbath calm of Cuban politics was suddenly broken last week by a series of loud and alarming reports.

Col. Alfonso Fors, head of the.judicial police, announced that a plot had been discovered to assassinate General Gerardo Machado y Morales, President of the Cuban Republic since 1925, and to plunge the country in civil warfare with the idea of bringing about U. S. intervention. A certain Dr. Alejandro Vergara Leonard was named head of the conspiracy, and he and nine followers were arrested and flung into the grey, 18th century Castillo del Principe.

"I can now say," cried Chief Sleuth Fors, "that an open state of rebellion and utter disregard for legally constituted authority exists throughout the nation." He immediately obtained 73 more warrants for prominent Cubans, and darkly hinted that the Cuban army was honeycombed with sedition.

Meanwhile one of the 73 plotters was discovered in New York in the person of suave Octavio Seigle, founder of the Cuban Nationalist Party, now prudently selfexiled. Mario Seigle, a brother of Octavio, is general manager of the Chase National Bank in Havana. Francis, another brother, is president of the Banco del Comercio.

"It is an open secret," said Octavio Seigle, fingering a neat butterfly tie, "that opponents of the government who disappear from Havana are taken to the Cabana fortress next to Morro Castle, and fed to the man-eating sharks of the harbor.

"This was amply verified in the case of Labor Leader Claudio Bruzon, a political prisoner, whose arm was found inside a shark caught in the waters of Havana Harbor, and fully identified by his wife and friends. The only measure adopted by President Machado's government was to forbid, as shown in the front page of the newspaper El Pais for March 15, 1928, the further fishing of man-eating sharks in the Bay of Havana."

U. S. newspapers cabled to President Machado a resume of Octavio Seigle's charges, which included assassinations with sawed-off shotguns and racketeering in lotteries conducted by the President himself. An answer was received from Ricardo Herrera, the President's secretary: "Honorable President Machado grants no importance to these matters which tend to create unjustified alarm while absolute peace and faith in its government and President exist in all the nation. . . As to the absolute untruthfulness of this information, the President would prefer that you apply for an opinion to the American embassy, or to any other member of the American colony, such as bankers, merchants, presidents of corporations, etc."