CHAPTER THIRTEEN
THE COUP D'ÉTAT
THE INSIDE STORY OF PANAMA
The Man Behind the Revolution—Room 1162, Waldorf Astoria—The Liberty Hall of Panama—Bunau-Varilla Goes Scouting in Washington—The Three Horns of the Panama Dilemma—Reading the Future Actions of the Government—Playing with Destiny—A Kingdom for a Warship—Victory on the Isthmus—"Time is of the Essence"—Intrigue and Procrastination Squelched by Theodore Roosevelt. The Dramatic Finish in John Hay's Residence.
On September 23, 1902, in room 1162 of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, the cradle of revolution, two men were in eager conference. One was Doctor Manuel Amador, conspirator plenipotentiary from Panama, prototype of those zealous but impotent soldiers of fortune that have engineered uproar in Central America as a chronic pas-
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