Daily Davenport Democrat. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1864-1874, 1867-08-19

A correspondent of the Washington
ChronIcLe, writing from the shores of the
Amazon, gives n trief history Of IA gang Of
E i hardened bounty jumpers from Nep
york city Who had learned that the Govorn-
tnet,t Of Brektl Ind offered n b. unity ct $500
IN GOLD f"r every foreign recruit who could
D. cb.aincd to 20 into the ranks Ia the war
against the Paraeuayans, and who ernigrat-
81 TO that country 10 practice their Old
naie. The writer says o. them
lhey were a ~icartully hard lot, compose
ttainlv al Ia, picapo, ket,, shoulder hitrrs,
dropners, aud wharf rats" OF the slums,
sho we-c getting too hard fr even the en-
snra ace OF u New ork policeman aud
tl.cy succeeded in getting the bounty almost
tn a nan, bat the t.oyerutnent had "a bitter
'lfgain of them. Ca tie passage out they
4,pt 80 the municipal reputation ioi black
s0srat,m without the slightest discount
ii.ere was a ro% constantly going on among
IA, m, aud II, WAS only 10y The mos, decided
Natchtulness, and by placing u few Of the
leaders ia irons suminsr,ly that they were
kept from rising Oh the officers aud crew of
the steamer. At st. Thomas, where the
Brsz nan mail steamships stop for twelve
hours, they got ashore and wen, in To "tskc
the town but came rather near getting taxi
en- Themselves. There are some five huns
drcl coal,hcasers ~ that port, the major
part Of whom are HtgrcSscS Of brawny pro-
portions they are "A good -uatured race
ignorant, full OF song and fun. as peacenlle
as can be desired, but thry did not relish
the brutal prauks which Nose thought
himsel. bound TO cut up, AID were not Slow
t. resent personal indIgnIties by peiting
their insulters with lutnps Of coal, and Tie
second officer OF the South American tod
me that but for the interference Of the 30
| ce. these b'hol : would have Jared hard
~ Para they behaved So outrag,ousiy that
the communicate has since forbidden al
lanulhg oil steeraee passengers, save those
having tickets TO thus place, by which, ss Is
too often the ease. the mn cent are made to
suler lor the guilty. in the steerage OF the
South American were several respectable
families Who were SUIT ring from the hard
fare and unsnira le food allowed on the
ship thes were ANXIOUS 70 pay almost any
price for irui, or fresh food OF any sort. bal,
there was no getting ashore, and market,
boats were not allowed TO come along side,
80 they were compelled to endure 1t for
ncsrl, two weeks longer. When the
roughs arrived at their destination they at
once instituted the usual course Of proceed
ings by robbing grocers, bakers, liquor
dealers and cafes, but they were brought up
with . round turn by armed police. and, IS
they refused TO succumb to the author ties,
q few Of the more boisterous were srnuar
lily shot, while the remainder Oaud them,
selves safely cared for ~ the military
Many OF these fellows we're old hands at
bounty jumping, but the eystem Of s~urveil.
lance in Hfa-il Is not favorable to that sort
OF thing, and these chaps soon found that
once IN the srmy ot :he Empire, they were
likely enoL8a 20 iiye--or rather die there.
SO, as there seemed nothing better to be
done under the circumstances. they we're
sworn in, and each one got hia $500 in gold,
which he pockcted in the full determination
to desert 1t the first opportunity. There
was no possibility Of utilization between the
eood>natured Biazilians and these ruiiians,
and, after driving the commandment TO the
very verge OF desperation by thor disorder.
ly conduct, they were organized into a bat
talon by themselves and placed in charge
OF a port, where il was confidently thossht
that their viciousness would lead thsr. 90
hold out to the last in case Of An attack
Their subsequent military carses as what
might have been expected of such rsscals
The port was invested by the Paraguay ans.
snd, with the imperisl gold stiiI jingling in
Their pockets. they turned the guns on the
hrnzlians and went over to the enemy in a
body. where they were well received. while
the Btazilians VITO went over "a deserters
were Killed by special order of Lopez.