Through Five Republics on Horseback, Being an Account of Many Wanderings in South America — John Shaqi
Through Five Republics on Horseback, Being an Account of Many Wanderings in South AmericaRay, George Whitfield
Religion
Through Five Republics on Horseback, Being an Account of Many Wanderings in South America
Ray, George Whitfield
Ray, George Whitfield, 1868- -- Travel -- South America; South America -- Description and travel
Since the glorious days of the British invasion--glorious from an
Argentine point of view--Buenos Ayres had never seen its streets turned
into barricades and its housetops into fortresses. In times of
electoral excitement we had seen electors attack each other in bands
many years, but never was organized warfare carried on as during this
revolution. The Plaza Parque was occupied by four or five thousand
Revolutionary troops; all access to the Plaza was defended by armed
groups on the house-tops and barricades in the streets, Krupp guns and
that most infernal of modern inventions, the mitrailleuse, swept all
the streets, north, south, east and west. The deadly grape swept the
streets down to the very river, and not twenty thousand men could have
taken the Revolutionary position by storm, except by gutting the houses
and piercing the blocks, as Colonel Garmendia proposed, to avoid the
awful loss of life suffered in the taking of the Plaza Libertad on
Saturday morning.
At the close of the revolution the great city found itself suffering
from a quasi-famine. High prices were asked for everything. In some
districts provisions could not be obtained even at famine prices. The
writer for the first time in his life had to go here and there to beg a
loaf of bread for his family's needs.
A reporter of the _Argentine News_, July 31st of that same year, wrote:
"There is a revolution going on in Rosario. It began on Saturday, when
the Revolutionists surprised the Government party, and by one on Sunday
most of the Government buildings were in their hands. It is now eight
in the morning and the firing is terrible. Volunteers are coming into
the town from all parts, so the rebels are bound to win the stronghold
shortly. News has just come that the Government troops have
surrendered. Four p.m.--I have been out to see the dead and wounded
gathered up by the ambulance wagons. I should think the dead are less
than a hundred, and the wounded about four times that number. The
surprise was so sudden that the victory has been easy and with little
loss of life. The Revolutionists are behaving well and not destroying
property as they might have done. The whole town is rejoicing; flags of
all nations are flying everywhere. The saddest thing about the affair
is that some fifty murderers have escaped from the prison. I saw many
of them running away when I got upon the spot. The order has been given
to recapture them. I trust they may be caught, for we have too many of
that class at liberty already. * * * * It is estimated that over
100,000 rounds of ammunition were fired in the two days. * * * The
insurgents fed on horse-meat and beef, the former being obtained by
killing the horses belonging to the police, the latter from the various
dairies, from which the cows were seized."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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