Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-08-07
THE CAREER OF aUAIEMALxs DC
TAyoa,


Concerning President Barrios, of Guate-
mala, who is now in Washington, the cor /
respondent of the Boston Herald tells |
sad story. 1t appears that he rose from |
the lowest ranks of society, and is very far |
from being the educated and refined gen.
tleman described by some Of the reporters. |
de has never been out of Central America |
before, having a great dread of the sea,
but he has been led to believe that he
could induce the United States to aid him |
in arranging his difficulties with Mexico
and further his great ambition of becom-
ing the ruler of all the Central American
States, and these are the objects Of his
present visit. His government has been
from the beginning dictatorship. with
scarcely the forms of law, and, as United
States Minister Logan reported to the De-
partment of State once, his opponents
are held down with an iron hand, made up,
so to speak, of muskets and brass bands"
To understand the character of his govern
ment, 1t may be well to give few
items from among multitude of
notorious facts which are familiar to
everyone who has ever visited Guatemala.
Take, for instance, the assassination of
President Pajes in 1877. In one of the
frequent revolts of the mountain Indians
General Barrios arrested about 100 of them
aud ordered them all to be shot. The VII.
lage priest, Mortified at the order, went in
person to the house where Barrios was,
gained admittance to the room, and begged
for the lives OF his parishiorers. The Gen.
eral heaped en- him volley of oaths, and
ordered him from his presence. The priest
persisted in his petition, whereupon Bar.
rios assaulted him with whip, which he
always kept at hand for corporal punish
ment of offenders, striking him over the
face and head. The priest, with natural
instinct OF self.defense, seized the arms OF
Barrios, when the latter cried out, and his
officials and servants rushed in, tore the
priest away, threw him on the floor, end
commenced kicking him. In this helpless
condition Barrios drew his pistol and
fred shot into his body. His example
was followed by the others, and the priest,
riddled with bullets, was kicked out of the
house and buried.
Barrios is constantly on the alert against
the conspiracies which he finds are being
formed against his tyraunical government.
The country is filled with secret police and
spies, and, when he has information of
real CT supposed conspiracy, he has the
suspected arrested AID brought to his
private residence without any forms of law.
He puts them through a personal examina.
ton himself, during which the prisoner un-
dergoes all kinds of indignities, and he Or
ders them to be shot, whipped, tortured,
imprisoned, or released at his sole will.
One Of the most atrocious of these events
occurred in November, 1877, when he ar.
rested eighteen or twenty persons, some of
them among the most respectable citizens,
and charge them with conspiracy. They
were brought to his residence and exam
ined by him. They would make no comics.
sion, and he ordered them to be whipped
and undergo the most horrible torture, but
without securing revelation. Thoroughly
enraged, he condemned them all to be ex.
ecuted. The next day they were taken out
to the grand square of the city and shot to
death, some OF them 30 weak from their
whipping that they had to be carried in lit
tiers, and one had lost his reason. It is
| said that Barrios ordered and witnessed the
execution from window, and shouted out
to them insults and curses that Mortified
even the soldiers and executioners. During
his dictatorship the Spanish punishment OF
whipping and torture has been revived,
and all over the country this method of
puAisuiilCus 10 CONSTANTLY fesOFteu TO. lie
does not hesitate to inf1ict it upon the most
respectable citizens and further to humil.
late his political prisoners he condemns
them to work on the streets chained to the
most abandoned common criminals. His
treatment and punishment of ladies are the
most Incredible of his acts, but their truth
is verified by numbers of instances where
names and dates can be given.
The New Orleans papers report that, as
ne passed through that city last week,
General Barrios seemed to be exceedingly
afraid OF assassination, and kept in his bed.
room trus.y servants, and was also guarded
by a special detail of the police. When he
first became dictator he was comparatively
a poor man, but he has become in ten
years very rich, and, besides his estate in
Guatemala, it is understood that he has
several millions of dollars deposited in Eu.
rope. He can well afford to travel on
special cars, take large and splendid man
sion on Fifth avenue, New York. for his
family, and live in grand style. When he
comes to Washington, by such display he
may think to dazzle the eyes of the Ameri-
can people. but he cannot wipe out the
stains of blood in his history.