Editing Sam Zemurray (section)

=== Honduran coup ===
[[File:Manuel Bonilla.jpg|thumb|Zemurray's coup installed [[Manuel Bonilla]] as president of Honduras]]
Zemurray had increased the efficiency of his business through bribery and special deals with the Honduran government. But in 1910, the government of Honduras was working to reschedule their [[Government debt|sovereign debt]] owed to the [[United Kingdom]]. [[United States Secretary of State]] [[Philander C. Knox]] facilitated the negotiations, which would place agents of [[bankers]] [[J.P. Morgan & Co.|J.P. Morgan and Company]] in the country's customs offices to collect the taxes needed to repay the debt. Zemurray feared that the enforcement of these taxes would ruin his business, and he lobbied Knox to make the deal more favorable to him.<ref name=":0" />

Knox made no concessions for Zemurray, and told him not to meddle in Honduran affairs. In spite of this instruction, Zemurray devised a plan to overthrow Honduran president [[Miguel R. Dávila|Miguel Dávila]] in order to prevent the deal. He recruited mercenary [[Lee Christmas]], who in turn recruited a force of about 100 other mercenaries in New Orleans, including famed Jewish soldier [[Sam Dreben]]. They sailed to Honduras in a former [[United States Navy]] vessel, the [[USS Hornet (1898)|USS Hornet]], where they began a war to install exiled Honduran former president [[Manuel Bonilla]], who had been living in New Orleans. Gaining rebel soldiers from the local population, the coup was successful, and Bonilla was inaugurated on February 1, 1912. He then rewarded Zemurray with very favorable tax and land concessions for Cuyamel Fruit Company.<ref name=":0" />