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The Provisional President went into action not by appointing a Cabinet, which he delayed, but by receiving Mediator Sumner Welles at 11:30 a. m. and twice thereafter during the day. Disorder still reigned in Havana with soldiers and armed members of the A B C (secret-anti-Machado organization) hunting members of the Porra from house to house, killing them brutally when found. In some instances "mercy" was shown, as to Porrista Carlos Souto: he begged and was permitted to shoot himself. Four police officers were seized, lodged in the Central Police Station. ABC members gave them each a pistol containing one bullet each, told them they might shoot themselves by 3 p. m. or be turned out. For an hour expectant crowds packed the sidewalks. As they waited listening for the four shots their bloodlust cooled. At 3 p. m. the four policemen, who still had not shot themselves, were driven off in a patrol wagon to Cabana Fortress. Meanwhile mobsters were on their wav out to the Machado estate where they butchered prize cattle, held a barbecue. Havana continued in turmoil.
By nightfall the new Government, consisting as yet only of Dr. de Cespedes, wanted some prop more stable than Cuban soldiers, many of whom were frankly on the loose. Ambassador Welles, constantly in telephonic touch with President Roosevelt, abruptly announced that three U. S. destroyers were steaming full speed for Cuba. With relief Provisional President de Cespedes cried, "The order of President Roosevelt sending three American naval ships to Cuba for the protection of American lives and property was issued with my full knowledge and approval. It carries no implication of intervention."
Two-edged Amendment In Washington harassed State Department officials sighed with relief at this statement which, they hoped, would check any Latin-American tendency to charge the U. S. with again intervening in Cuba under the Platt Amendment. In 1901 the U. S. Senate tacked onto the U. S. Army Appropriation Bill an amendment, later incorporated into the Cuban Constitution, providing that "the Government of Cuba consents that the United States may exercise the right to intervene for the preservation of Cuban independence" or for "the maintenance of a Government adequate for the protection of life, property and individual liberty" in Cuba. Written originally as fire insurance, this amendment became two-edged. In the hands of a tyrant it could be brandished as a weapon and up to last week attempts to overthrow corrupt Cuban Presidents had uniformly failed.
Most Cubans were abed when at 1:35 a. m. the U. S. destroyers Claxton and Taylor nosed discreetly into Havana harbor. They had dashed over from Key West. From Balboa the destroyers Sturtevant and Overton steamed full speed for Cuba and the U. S. Navy Department announced that eight more destroyers and two cruisers were ready to follow. Of these the largest was the brand new cruiser Indianapolis mounting 8-in. guns, on which President Roosevelt cruised last month.
New Sugar Deal? Discussing Cuba with White House correspondents, President Roosevelt minimized the Cuban general strike and the Army coup d'état. He emphasized the Congressional procedure by which Dr. de Cespedes became Provisional President, and that "the change was in entire accord with the Constitution and laws."