The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1889-10-10
A City by the Sea.
IN AND AROUND GUAYMAS. \ GRUESOME
GODS ACRE. TIE RASCALLY poINGS OF
COUNT RATSET, AND HOW HE MET HIS
QUIETUS. CONSUL WILLARD.
orreSponInnra of tho Joi.nal

QUIETUS. CONSUL WILLARD.
[Corres spondence of the journal.
| GUAYMAS, SONORA. 1883: To me, one of the
most fascinating spots in this section though
| by no means the most beautiful-is the desert
ed Campo Santo, or cemetery, which lies al
| most in the center of the city of Guaymas. The
mule cars clatter past it every few minutes, to
and fro, for just beyond is the handsome new
depot of the Sonora railroad; and almost with
in a stones throw is the Bay, covered with
busy shipping. Apparently no attempts at dec
Grafton have been m ade at any time upon this
strange Gods acre" Though close upon the
| highway, it has never been enclosed by wall or
railing, and not trace of tree or shrub or
| growing thing is ViSible-nothng but an arid
waste of sand and stones, like all the unculti-
waited land hereabouts, within which blade of
| grass never grew, nor weed found root, only a
few poisonous thistes and thornv cactus
| spires.
| Rambling about this desolate placc-mean-
while keeping sharp lookout for snakes and
| other dangerous reptileS-one maryels that the
| MeXicans, who are SO full of sentiment and
| poetry in other respects, should 50 utterly neg
| lect their dead. 70 be sure, there is a newer
and better cemetery back among the hills; but
| this one is not of ancient date, and many of
Guaymas' present prosperous citizens have rel
| atives living here.
| Making our way with difficulty through sand
and loose stones, among thorny bushes that
| scratched our hands and rent our garments
as if they, more pitiful than the living. We're
| striving to protect the degraded dead from the
| eyes of Strangers-we saw MANY broken vaults
within which human bones and fragments of
| cothns We're plainly visible. Some of the
| molderng caskets still showed wreaths of fad
! ed flowers on top, proving that the clay Within
now forgotten and deserted, was blessed with
| human love and tenderness not 50 very long
ago. The vaults We're all built up of adobe,
| iether square, like dry goods boxes, or with
| rounded roofs which cave them the look of
| Dutch bake-oyens.
Many of the FilibusterS, (from various parts
of the world, but mostly from England and the
| United Statcsl who from time 10 time have
visited this region with murderous intent ana
| been punished with death as they deserved
| are buried i'm this mlucSome place Amonr
| them il that noted Frenchman Count Rausef
| His is a queer monument, near the middle of
the yard, being merely a huge pile of rough
| stones cemented together in the form of a
| blunt pyramid, or that of a rather fat and low
| Cleopatra's needle On one side of it is a cary
| ed bronze plate. bearing his name and age and
| cOat-Of-arlns. sent over by hi, brother who
was an admiral in the French army.
| | think il was in the wear 1S}t or there
| aboutS that Count RAuset was captIlred and
| Shot by tbe citizens of Guayma. Furtv or
more Of his men who fell in the la,t ,i4.ueratn
| encounter were buripd in , ,ern trench a Jit
| tIe further down tbr brarh, but \ few years
| 400 the bones were transferred to tha smart
new cemetery back among the coryDy.
| The fun particulars of The CoInt'> ryuioi,s
,,,,,,- i;,l-,.o 5000. s.I