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DEPARTMENT OF NORTHERN BLUEFIELDS
GUARDIA NACIONAL DE NICARAGUA
PUERTO CABEZAS NICARAGUA
24 April 1931
SUMMARY OF INFORMATION OBTAINED FROM
SECRET AGENTS
At about 0600 April 11, 1931, a group of
about 60 bandits appeared in Cuyutigne.
They had spent the night at Locus River,
four hours from Cuyutigne. These bandits
were not well armed nor did they have
much ammunition. Among their arms were
two rusty Thompson sub-machine guns.
Immediately upon their arrival in
Cuyutigne the bandits asked the number
of Guardia in Puerto Cabezas and if
there were any Americans in the
vicinity. They were told that there were
very few Guardia in Puerto Cabezas and
that there was a timber cruising squad
about four miles due south of Cuyutigne.
A group of about twenty bandits was
dispatched to the timber cruisers camp,
where they killed John D. Phelps and
John L. Pennington, both Americans, and
captured as prisoner R. P. Davis, who
was killed sometime later. At about 0900
a patrol of 40 men was sent ahead to
Logtown and about twenty men sent back
to Locus river to summon the balance of
the bandits, about 100, who had been
left at Locus River. In Captain Pefley’s
contact in Logtown on April 11 about 40
bandits took part and remained in
possession of the town after the Guardia
withdrew with Captain Pefley’s body.
Upon the arrival of the main body in
Cuyutigne, General Pedron Blandon sent
Captain Timoteo Altimirano [Timoteo
Altamirano] with 50 men over the trail
to Auyupini. Altimirano was followed in
about an hour by Coronel Padilla. The
plans were for Altimirano and Padilla to
join forces with Blandon at the “Y”, 34
kilometers from Puerto Cabezas on the
railroad line. Blandon expected to meet
no resistance on the railroad and had
expected to come by train to Puerto
Cabezas. Had the bandits met with no
resistance, their plan was to march on
Puerto Cabezas from Kilometer 26,
entering by way of Tuapi and Kamla.
In Captain Pefley’s contact two bandits
were wounded and died later at Locus
River. The buildings at Logtown were
burned during the afternoon of April 11.
Lieutenant Darrah’s patrol, which spent
the night of 11 April at Cuyutigne was
cut off from Puerto Cabezas by the main
body of the bandits under Blandon, about
100 men. Blandon’s troops were so
disposed that all trails to Puerto
Cabezas were barred. Word was passed
among the bandits that a drive would be
made on Darrah on the morning of April
12.
On 12 April the commissaries at Moss,
Vaccaro and Louisianna Farms were looted
and burned. Some of the bandits had been
stationed along Darrah’s expected route
out of Logtown, but they deserted their
posts in view of the rich loot to be
obtained by robbing the commissaries. At
0900, at Moss Farm, April 12, in
Lieutenant Darrah’s [p. 3] first
contact, two bandits were killed and two
wounded. Airplanes, Lieutenants Young
and Jack, flew overhead just after this
contact and bombed the bandits position.
In Lieutenant Darrah’s second contact of
the day, at 0200 at Louisiana Farm,
there were no bandits casualties.
Blandon was in command of the army in
both contacts.
Timoteo Altimirano and his detail of 80
men did not continue to Auyupini, as he
had been directed, but turned back into
the Tigue District and looted. Padilla
continued through Auyupini to Sissin,
where they robbed the indians and
impressed them into service.
On the morning of April 13, the
disposition of the bandit forces was as
follows: Padilla and 20 men at Auyupini;
Timeteo Altimirano and 30 men in the
Tigne District, approaching Wawa
Central; and Blandon with the balance of
about 100 men in the vicinity of
Logtown. In Captain Wood’s contact there
were about 60 bandits, the other 40 men
of Blandon’s group being in Moss and
Vascaro Farms. Blandon knew of Captain
Wood’s approach, and had disposed his
troops so as to best defend the town.
However, Blandon did not expect that
Wood was so close, and the various posts
placed around the town were at leisure
and gambling, when the first shot was
fired. The bandits were waiting for
Captain Wood, but did not realize he was
so close. When the first shot was fired,
the bandits on the surrounding hills
commenced firing and those in Logtown
dived under buildings and commenced
firing. No less than eighteen bandits
were killed in this contact and enough
others wounded so that the total loss of
life of the bandits in the contacts of
April 11, 12, and 13, was no less than
thirty, including Blandon. Other jefes
in Wood’s contact were Coronel Juan
Altimirano, a Captain Saturnino (surname
unknown) and one man dressed in black
clothing and carrying an umbrella, but
no gun. This man was thought by the
indians to be a priest as the bandits
respected him and consulted him in every
move. After the contact in Logtown the
bandits split into small groups and
reformed at Leons River. There were
about 75 men in this group, which was
now without a leader and disorganized.
On the afternoon of April 13, Coronel
Padilla arrived from Sissin at Kamla,
nine (9) kilometers from Puerto Cabezas
over the railroad, about three miles
from the aviation fields. Padilla left
his main body in the bush at Kamla, and
he himself with four men came as far as
kilometer seven (7) on the railroad
line. With field glasses Padilla
examined Puerto Cabezas, decided that
Blandon had not arrived in port, and
returned, after dark, to kilometer
nineteen (19) with his entire group to
await Blandon’s arrival by train.
Padilla laid an ambush along the
railroad track at kilometer 19, and at
0300 April 14, they were notified of
Blandon’s death. Padilla then set fire
to the railroad bridge at Kilometer 21.
Padilla returned with his patrol to
Sissin and sent four men over the trail
to Siksikmas to find out if the main
body were coming along the railroad on
April 14, eighteen bandits with fourteen
loaded mules cleared Cuyutigne in the
direction of the Coco River. Captain
Saturnino [p. 4] took command of the
main body of bandits and ordered all
groups to Laimus, on the Coco River, for
reorganization. The last group,
Padilla’s Sissin Patrol, left Locus
River on 17 April.
Before departure of the bandits, all the
indians in the vicinity of Auyupini were
summoned and told to get all the
supplies they could, as the bandits
would return sometime later, whether it
be three weeks or three months.
The bandits had seven boats built at
Bocay by the indians, who supply labor
of all kinds. These boats can carry
thirty men each in addition to the crew.
With their present supply of boats, the
bandits will not be handicapped by high
water in the rainy season. Their
transportation problems are solved by
these boats.
On April 18, Adolfo Cockburn, of Saclin,
Diputado Suplento from Cabo Gracias,
received a letter from A. C. Sandino
ordering Cockburn to get word to Abraham
Rivera, jefe of the group operating on
the Coco River below Saclin, to proceed
to Cabo Gracias and capture the town
without delay. Cockburn is the Jefe
quartermaster on the river and has
organized the indians in labor groups to
work for the bandits. Cockburn advised
the surviving bandits leaders to return
to the Kisalaya-Laimus area for
reorganization and to await further
orders from higher authority.
The plans of the bandits are believed to
still be that they will remain on the
Coco River in the Laimus-Kisalaya area,
awaiting orders, ammunition and
reinforcements from a superior
commander, possibly Sandino. Word has
been dispatched to Sandino’s
headquarters reporting Blandon’s death
and requesting his orders. It is nor
believed the bandits intend to return
above Waspne.
/s/ J P SCHWERIN
RG127/200
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