The daily Minnesota pioneer. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1854-1855, 1854-06-22
Acapulco.


# seems to be a doubtful matter whether
His Serene Highness the Prime Dictator, An
tonic Lopez de Santa Anna, has whipped Al
varez or Alvarez him. AS for US, we
"-Care not a toss-up,
Whether Mossop kicks Barry or Barry kicks Mossop'
For it cannot make a figs difference whether
Alvarez or Santa Anna rules. But so. much
has been said of Acapulco, and its fort, OF
blockades, storming, etc, that we are moved to
narrate an adventure of our own, in attempt
ing to enter this stronghold of Acapulco.
The city is a very old one, and has been, in
years long past, noted as the rendezvous Of pi-
rates, its land locked harbor with two entran-
ces, being peculiarly fitted for the pursuits of
freebooters. The fort was built some two
hundred years since, on the most scientific plan
known, but dilapidaton and the lapse Of years
without repairs upon it, have rendered 1t but
a poor defence against determined men. Du-
ring the Mexican war one of our naval vessels
threatened the town; and the garrison, dis
mounting the armament Of the fort, carried the
guns up the steep mountain in the rear, and
there secreted them, so that when We visited
it, two years ago, it was without any cannon.
Having natural taste for "war's grim ar
ray"-in time Of peace-and bearing the eXal-
ted commission OF government agent, as we
did, we thought nothing could be easier than
to obtain admission to the fort, and to inspect
tho interior thereof. Accordingly wendell
our way, one intensely hot ning, towards
the citadel, where We understood the General
commanding the Department to be, at the
moment. Presenting ourselves on the draw
bridge, and marching forward with all the
pride of an American citizen, and branch OF
the government to boot we were suddenly
startled by the apparition of a bareiooted,
black sentinel, clothed in an uniform of sim
guiarly free and easy cut, which fitted him
much as the attire of the organ monkeys does
them, covering nearly half the person, and lea
wing the remainder to trust to color, for pro-
lection and cOncealment. This fellow burst
out at the gate of the fort, and with his mus
ket letelled, took two or three leaps in a di-
rection which, had the line of his projection
been continued would have landed the point of
his bayonet somewhere in the region of our
official waistband. 1t did not take long for us
to ascertain that his "bayonet was peaked
or to make some retrOgradc steps, undigniicd
but warranted by the state of facts. When
we had reached our end of the draw bridge
the sentinel retreated to his end, and we polite
ly smiled at each other as if nothing had hap
pcncd. There was Mexican in plain clothes
just inside the gate, who was experimenting
the whipping of some pinto vagabonds, proba
bly, violators of the Maine law, and to him We
beckoned in our extremity. lie had seen the
trfing difference, between the sentry and our
sell, and came out, stopping, by the way, tc
give the fellow terrible scoding, as it SEEM
ed to U.s. in Spanish. He bowed civily, and
we commenced little speech, which we had
had time to arrange in French. He replied
in Spanish; we rejoned in French he sur join
ed in Spanish, and we produced our commits
sion, bearing the broad seal of the Post Office
Department, which we handed to him, as evi
dcnce of our entire responsibility. This he
regarded contcmplatvely, for a few seconds
and then handed back TO US, with a little more
Spanish to which we replied in French. II
was evident we were not getting on very rap
idly, and, becoming fatigued with standing in
the heat, ventured to coll his attention to
the great seal, which i, depicted pust-rI.
der, at full speed. His countenance fell, and
with gesture that we shall never forget, he
motioned us off the bridge, and turning, enter
ed the fort. We have no doubt. now, that the
polite Spanish mistook us for the advertiser O
circus or president of jockey club We
were discomftted and reduced to shame, anf
slowly retraced our steps to the beach, entered
our boat, and left those inhospitable shores