Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1890-09-18


Interesting Account OF the killing OF Gs.
er.l Barrundi. Board OF an Americaa
Ship. as sfs<en By Passenger Who VIA
messed the AFFAIR. So -
NEW YORK. Sept 13-The Pacific
mail steamship Colon, which reached
this port yesterday. brought from tho
isthmus some of the passengers who
were on board the steamship Acapulco
at the time of the killing of General
Barrundia by Guatemalan officers while
the Acapulco lay in the harbor OF San
Jose. An eye witness OF the tragedy
gives the following account of the sf-
fair: The steamship Acapulco left
San Francisco August Is On her Ar
rival At Acapulco. Mexico. General Bar
rundia, ex-Minister of War of Guatemala.
came on board from the Starbuck, sister
ship He was known to be hostile to
the present Government of Guatemala.
and It was understood that he was on
his way to San Salvador. He was at
tended by two men as body guard
When the ship arrived at Champerico.
Guatemala, the authorities, who had
been warned that Barrundia was on
board, at once sent of two boat loads Of
soldiers and demanded that the General
be surrendered to them Captain Pitts
peremptorily refused to accede to this
demand An attempt was made to CO.
cree him by withholding clearance pa
pers But after detention OF twenty
four hours, Captain Pitts persisting in
his refusal to deliver General Barrundia
without an order from the Government
the vessel was permitted to resume her
course
This was August %, and on the eve
of the same day the steamer arrived at
San Jose. No sooner had the Acapulco
anchored than two boat loads of soldiers
were sent off from shore to keep close
watch that no one without proper ere
denia1s should leave the vessel for the
shore Within pistol shot of where the
Acapulco lay there were two United
States gunboats- Captain Pitts had
telegraphed to their commanding officer
from Champerico requesting assistance.
but his dispatch was not delivered
Now he made a personal appeal to them
for help The response was that the
men-of-war could do nothing without an
order from the port captain
Next day the ship was again invaded
by the commandants of a special force
of men, accompanied by another boat
load of soldiers. This time the Guate-
malan officers came furnished with an
order of arrest from the American
Minister, Miner. After being intro
duced to Captain Pitts, the commandant
produced his papers and made a formal
demand for the delivery of General
Barrundia Then the commandant di-
rected that all the cabin passengers be
ordered below. When this order had
been executed. the entire force Of
Guatemalan officers proceeded to Gen.
eral Barrundia's room, Captain Pitts
going with them
'AS soon as the room was reached
Captain Pitts, after deprecating the ne
cessity of surrendering his passenger to
the authorities began to read the order
for the Generals arrest General Bar
rundia had quietly met them at the
door. but at once divining that all was
over, he reached into the room for his
revolvers, and making the remark: Very
good, fired. The ball just missed Cap
tain Pitts, who. together with the COM
mandant ran to his room, locked the
door and hid under the bed, leaving the
man-hunting to the special officers Bar
rundia was short-sighted man and. be-
ing very nervous, was unable to do any
damage. though he chased them in and
out of the saloon, firing wildly. Atlast
points, riddied with shot, upon the hur-
ricane Cdeck. The brave commandant
thereupon came from his hiding place.
walked up to the dead man and fired
in to his skull.
''The dead body was rolled up in a
piece of canvas and aid being sum-
moned from the other boat as the Gem
eral was a very heavy man, the burden
was bundled down the gangway into
one of the boats and conveyed ashore
to be sent to Guatemala where it was
inferred the next day. The other boat
conveying the gallant perpetrato of
the deed, their revolvers openly dis
played in their hands, made a detour
round by the United States war ships
on their way to the shore. As they left
the ship some smilingly waved their
hands
''Still the incident was not over. The
Guatemalans had to wipe their feet a
little more on the suffering ship and
she was not allowed to proceed until the
baggage belonging to Barrundia had
been searched, presumably for evidence
discriminating others This was sub
mitted to-the gunboats still silent and
sleepy not hundred yards away. The
Americans on board were full of in1ig-
t0NoMortuE EtpEMEN