Rapscallion

Proud, swashbuckling Brigadier General Jose Alvarez--since 1924 Chief of Staff to President Plutarco Elias Calles--is suspected of being a monstrous smuggler, a multifaced Judas, a thoroughgoing rapscallion.

Not until last week, however, would even potent Mexicans have dared to cry "Rapscallion!" at steelyeyed, quick-triggered General Jose. Then, suddenly, President Plutarco Elias Calles, bull-necked and bushy-browed, took pen into heavy fist and dashed an angry signature onto a proclamation: "To my greatest surprise, and assuredly that of the entire country, it has been discovered that one of the highest officials of the Administration and a prominent member of the army, General Jose Alvarez, the Chief of my Headquarters Staff, who had enjoyed my friendship and confidence, has proved traitor to the most elementary principles of honor and morality by not only directing and manipulating a large amount of contraband merchandise but also by using my name in telegraphic orders to protect such merchandise and to assure himself of immunity.

"My constant endeavor since taking office has been to establish order and morality in my Administration. I believe that I have complied with that purpose by having suppressed with an iron hand such crimes as that now in question immediately upon discovering them. I will continue that line of conduct until I leave office.

"Consequently, as soon as I obtained conclusive proofs of the crime in question, I ordered the immediate dismissal of Alvarez and consigned him to the competent authorities."

Soon Rapscallion Alvarez was specifically charged with furthering the smugglery of $250,000 worth of silk into Mexico. In rebuttal he declared under oath to a high police official: "I deny any knowledge of this affair. I have been made the dupe of others."

Presently detectives swooped, arrested the Signorina Maria Conesa, Spanish danseuse, toast of Mexican boulevardeurs, able duper of many a dupe.