Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1877-02-16

| A TOWN IN COLUMBIA SACKED BY ARMED MEN
HUNDREDS OF UNoFFENDING PERSONS sLAUGH
TERED SHAMELESS ouTRAGEs PENETRATED
For more than year news has from tint
to time reached this country of the progress
of civil war in the United States of Colum
bia in South America 1t is not probabl,
that the struggle there between the hbera
| and conservative parties involved much NOR,
than rivalry for the possession of the ad
ministration and the offices, while the wal
has consisted chiefly of petty skirmishes
pillaging and brutality. The biennial elec
tions of last year for the presidency of the
union gave rise to revolution in three
states. This was partially suppressed, but
IN April last another outbreak occurred in
two other states, and there it may be said tC
have eliminated in one of the most terrible
massacres that ever took place in that part
of the continent.
On December 2i the city of Cali, contain
ing population of about 20, 900 inhabitants,
was sacked in manner that recalls the his
tory of similar events of the Turkish con-
quests in Christian countries.
A correspondent of the Panama Star OF
Jan. - writes from Palmira, Jan. 3rd, as fol-
lows 'On the 18th of December it was re-
ported that the Conservatives intended to
rise in the cities of Cali, Palmira and ether
places. On the goth they attacked the City
of Cali, owe: covered the small guard at the
citadel, freed the political prisoners and
succeeded in organizing a force of about 800
men badly armed. and began to prepare for
resistance. But before many days passed,
the Liberals surrounded Cali with force OF
about 1000 TO 5000, and on the oath attack
ed the Conservatives who tried to defend
themselves for a short time, and, of course,
succumbed. The Liberals felt exasperated,
believing the Conservatives had abused the
confidence that was placed in them. There
fore, the leader of the Liberal forces at Cali,
gave orders that no prisoners should be taken
alive, and the town to be delivered over to
the troops. The consequence of it was that
every Conservative that was caught, with or
without arms, was cut down. The houses
were sacked, all furniture destroyed and all
other kinds of outrages committed. All the
store-rooms and warehouses of merchandise
disappeared. For the present l shall cite
only one instance. The furies of Pena got
hold of DR.. Vicente Borrero, one of the first
Presidents of the Conventions of Columbia
for independence. aged 80 years, and blind,
firearms at him.
Another correspondent of the same paper,
writing from Cali, Jan. 10, says: Gen. Pena
rode in after his men Like them he was the
worse for drink and now he deliberately or
dered the town to be sacked, giving his BAN
ditti five hours hcence to slay, to rob- and to
outrage the defenseless inhabitants at dis
cretion. 1t is needless to say his orders were
but too enthusiastically obeyed. BY this
time crowds of furies in the shape of women
OF the lowest class, in many cases with their
hopeful otisprings at their heels. swarmed in
the streets, pounding on the excited mob to
break down all the doors that were not i'm
mediately thrown open. Long before the
plaza was taken, the work of plunder had
already begun in the side streets, and some
of the stores in the plaza itself were broken
into and striped of its contents, before the
firing had commenced. In Commercial
street, out of 20 that existed before the at
tack, only four remain, and in other parts OF
the town two or three, by pure accident. es-
capped the general fate. A few merchants,
favored by the exceptional position of their
premises and by the assistance of friends
among the invaders, succeeded in saving
their goods, at the expense of all the liquors
they had IN their possession, but in the ma
the loss of many valuable lives. By midday
most OF the stores were cleared of their con-
tents. Men, women and children were seen
staggering in every direction under the bur-
den of their spoil and were in turn maltreat-
ed, knocked down, and sometimes even kill
ed, and deprived in turn by their fellow
thieves of the proceeds of their robberies.
Fortunately, perhaps, for the town. it hap
pened that the plundered stores contained
large quantities ofhquors. Barrels and cases
OF wines and spirits were turned into the
streets, and n saturnalia of drunkenness be-
gan that will never be forgotten by those
who had the misfortune to witness the de-
plorable scenes it originated The destruc-
ton continued in all its fury Everything
that could not be removed or was not thought
worth removing was destoyed, chopped, and
hacked to pieces or burned. After the first
rush on the stores had procured them an
abundance of drink, bands of frenzied men
patrolled the town, reeling shouting, hiring.
and hacking at every living creature they
met on their way but still unsatiated with
the slaughter in the streets, they poured into
the houses of Liberals and Conservatives
alike, mostly though of the latter, and con-
tinued the work Of robbery murder and de-
struction. All the Conservatives they met
were ruthlessly killed. and many Liberals
who tried to arrest the barbarians in their
progress, or to shield friends or relatives, and
persons suspected of sympathizing with the
Conservatives, or of having no decided opin-
ion in politics, shared the same fate. Meth
er age nor Sex nor intirmity constituted the
least safeguard. Most of the Conservatives,
thinking perhaps too rashly and selfishly-
that the persons of men alone were i'll dan
ger, had abandoned their homes, leaving
in them only the women of their households
Others, when the risk grew imminent, had
endavored to hide themselves indoors, and
were dragged out to be slain under the very
eyes of the terrified women. On the other
hand, the unfortunate wives and daughters
of the Conservatives were pitilessly hunted
from house TO house, meeting with the most
shameless outrages at the hands of their
fendish pursuers. But all the horrors are as
nothing compared with the still more fright
ful excesses perpetrated in the suburbs and
on the estates, in the surrounding country
There murder, lust robbery and incendia-
rism have continued unchecked for days to-
gether. All the small housekeepers have
been deprived of house and home, all the es-
tates ravaged, their cattle driven away or
shot, the hedges torn down. the canefields
burned, and even the machinery destroyed,
so as TO render it useless to its owners.