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¢ and later to 5¢ 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.