Today in Manhunting History -- June 29, 1927: "If words were bullets . . ."

U.S. Marine Captain Gilbert Hatfield waited two days until June 27 to renew his correspondence with Sandino. “Dear General,” Hatfield wrote:

Since there seems to be no opportunity to meet you on the field of battle, it has occurred to me that . . . you might be willing to come in and talk with me, Your safety both coming and leaving us is guaranteed, and you may bring a reasonable number of men as a bodyguard, say 25, to insure your safety while on the road. . . . Hoping that you are a patriot and not a robber, and that you will talk to me soon, I am,

G.D. HATFIELD, Capt., USMC.

Sandino replied on the 29th, again escalating the war of words. He said he would not come in for a conference and fall like a dove deceived by “a few grains of rice at the door of a trap.” Instead, he invited the Marines to come and get him. “I will allow you to come for the conference that you want, and I will also allow you to come with a guard of 500 men.” But when “you come to my mountains,” Sandino warned, “make your wills beforehand.” Until then, the Nicaraguan concluded, “I remain your most obedient servant, who ardently desires to put you in a handsome tomb with beautiful bouquets of flowers.”

“If words were bullets and phrases were soldiers,” Hatfield replied, “you would be a field marshal instead of a mule thief.” He suggested Sandino wire him again “when you have something more than the ravings of a conceited maniac.”