The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-08-07 00:00:00

THE CAPTIME or ARICA.

--
The Anglo-Brazilian Times of the 9th of July pub-
lishes the subjoined official report of General Baque-
dano and other interesting details relative to the
Chilian capture of Arica :
" 4-RicA, June 7.
On the 3rd inst. I marched upon this port, in eider to
destroy the enemy's last stronghold in this depa,vtinent.
After studying the enemy's positions and placing our forces
in the most convenient manner, I sent, on the morning of
the sth that., a flag of truce to the commander, calling upon
him to surrender, showing him that resistance was useless.
Colonel Bolognesi having refused to surrender, I opened
fire with our field artillery. Yesterday the squadron bom-
barded the forts during three hours. Flaring taken final
measures I resolved to attack the place to-day at dawn.
At daybreak we opened fire, and after an hour of desperate
fighting the city was ours. The enemy blew up, With mines
previously prepared, some of the forts. Only some giins at
the Morro are in a state for service. The Hanco Capes
opened her valves and sunk, her captain and crew delivering
themselves up as prisoners on board the Itata. All the
honour of the fight belongs to the srd and 4th Regiments,
which fought with extraordinary bravery, and to the Lautaro
battalion, which however, did not meet with much twist-
ance. The attack was directed by Colonel Pedro Lagos. The
enemy's loss is great ; ours is rather more than 300 men
hors de combat, the killed not amounting to 190. The vic-
tory has been complete, and for it I congratulate the country
and the Government.— MAuEL BAQUEDANO."

Particulars of the storming of Arica forwarded by
the War Correspondent of the Mercurio confirm the
account given in the official telegrams, and add the
following :
"At six in the morning the 3rd; and 4th Regiments 01
vanced under a heavy tire from cannon and rifles. The rd
Raiment went up to the heights to the citadel. and sur-
rounded and carried it at the point of the bayonet. There
was a horrible slaughter there. After the fight 450 Peruvian
corpses were found scattered about. Our troops were in
the fort when a mine of dynamite was fired, killing 10 of our
men and 30 of the enemy. The 4th Regiment attacked the
fort to the left, carrying it by assault. The enemy, after a
short resistance, fled to the next fort towards the Morro.
There they were followed by our soldiers, and so some 15
trenches were taken one after the other. When the last was
taken, which was some 200 yards from the Morro,theChilians
advanced at a run to carry that formidable battery. The
Lautaros attacked the northern fort, San Jose, at 6 a.m.
The Peruvians at 'ouzo made off, and from a neighbouring
fort fired a mine, which destroyed the cannon of the fort,
but did no harm to our troops. Meanwhile the Manco
Capac left her anchorage under the Morro and fired
upon our troops, but without effect. Having taken the first
fort, the Lautaros advanced upon the second, where the
same thing happened as in the first. There was a great ex-
plosion, whicl7 destroyed two guns of heavy calibre and
blew up a powder magazine, but not one of our soldiers was
killed. The Peruvians 'then fled towards the town, closely
followed by our troops, who with fixed bayonets, covered
the streets with corpses. There were 1,9 heavy guns, at
Arica. Of these, five were burst with dynamite ; the
others are ig good condition. There was plenty of food
and forage. A large number of electric batteries were
found connected with the magazines and trenches. Only
three mines were fired, owing to the suddenness of our
attack and the panic of the enemy. The garrison numbered
1,700 men. The enemy's loss is 700 killed, 100 wounded, and
mo prisoners. We had 130 men killed and 200 wounded. A
torpedo:launch which left the Manco Capac when she was
sinking es4f,ape4 towards the north. She was pursued by the
Cochrane as fay as the mouth of the river Juan Diaz, and
afterwards the Loa to tip the chase. The launch, closely
followed by the Loa, was rail ashore on Cole's Point,
apparently because a steamer, the '9r9, was seen to the
north. As soon as she grounded her crew blew her up with
dynamite. They then went inland, but were taken'pvi,soners
by A detachment of the Caupolicans, near Salinas."

A despatch from Panama, published at New York,
announces that, according to advices from Callao to
the 6th ult., the Chilian vessel destroyed by a torpedo
in the Harbour of Calloa, was the transport Loa, The
Peruvian torpedo vessel which attacked her, was dis-
guised as a fruit boat. One hundred and fifty persons
were killed on board the Loa, and forty saved.