Sacramento daily record-union., 1890-09-13
OBSEQUIES OF 4 BISHOP.
OUR CORRESPONDENT FURNISHES A
GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION.
limo Senior Doctor Don Juan de Dios
Bosque, Ovispo de La Paz, Alias John
Wood-south American Scenes.
Especial Correspondence OF the REcoRD-UN1oS.I
XXVII.

a uueH his ldlISu upOn luS titY III 'hS
Bishop is dead This Is a more startling
announcement than the stranger at first
appreciates, for Bishop Juan de Dios
Bosque was the foremost man in Bolivia,
functionary of more Importance than the
President of the Republic and with far
greater power. Neither revolutions nor
changing governments could affect his
state and position; he directed rulers and
shaped public events and his word was a
law from which there was no appeal. His
influence was more potent because not OBJ
servable on the surface, but it penetrated
to every home in all the walks of life,
swaying the strongest through their super
stitions and maintaining its frmest hold
through the women and the children.
He was only sixty-one years old when he
succumbed to what surgeons name yisical
calculus, a terrible disease for whose treat
ment he went TO Europe eight years ago
and returned apparently cured. He was
appointed to the diocese by the Pope in
1875, and from that time TO the present
has enjoyed an income much greater than
that Of the President, ranging between
100000 and 100000 per annum. He was
extremely charitable and not only founded
but supported the great orphan asylum of
La Paz out of his private means besides
dispensing large sums of money in daily
charities.
OF course dark tales are told concerning
his private life and alleged methods of
adding to his income, circulated, now that
he is dead, by those who few days ago
dared not speak his name except in the
most respectful manner Slander. like
death, loves a shining mark; and doubt
less most of these falsehoods are attribut-
able to the petty Jealousy that always fol-
lows those who are elevated in purpose or
position above the common herd. The
best that can be said of him, or Of any hu-
man being in the final summing-up of the
earthly record, is that he was not wanting
in charity, the greatest of Christian yir-
tues.
Some time ago Bishop Bosque got him
self so deeply "under cloud" at Rome
that the Pope suspended him for a year
covery that he had. bestowed two or three
hvings apiece on certain poor eurates. Of
course the gossipers insisted that the latter
divided the spoils with their patron but
as the cures received the merest pittance
from the Government. the salary of each
being about 800 per annum, there could
not have been much to divide. The sus-
pension of the too sympathetic Bishop
was precipitated by his marrying Cabinet
Minister TO a widow, three of whose chill
dren by former husband having been
godfathered by the Minister aforesaid.
No remotest tie of blood existed between
them, but the Church expressly forbids
such marriages, on the ground that a spir-
itual relationship, sacred though unex-
planned, exists between compddres, as pa
rents and god-parents are called. During
the period of suspension his salary from
the Government-S6,0 600 a year-was
stopped but the grateful Minister pre-
sented him with 81, 500 and his parishion-
ers made up a purse of $50, 900 more, so
that he managed to worry along.
Now that he is dead, the aspect of the
whole city is suddenly changed. Martial
music no longer fills the air, flags are at
half mast and tied with crepe, black ban
ners are dropping from the windows Of all
the houses Immediately surrounding the
episcopal palace, while the latter, the huge
prison-like structure occupied during Mel
gareio's time as a barrack, is literally COW
cred with symbols of woe. In the second
story apartment which that illustrious
General used for dining-room, the bishop
breathed his last, and from that very
window through which the former marched
his men to a fall Of fifteen feet and broken
bones merely to show off their obedience
to a friend, sable pail is hanging.
According to church custom in Bolivia
the Bishop must lie in state four days, and
meanwhile people of every class are in
deepest mourning. All day long, from 10
A. N. until midnight, throng Of people is
seen vending its way in one direction, to
paw the last token Of respect 10 the holy
father. There are monks gray-eowled
bareheaded and barefooted; priests in black
robes and shovel hats; friars all in white
from head to foot: professions of boys who
are being educated for the priesthood sis
tiers of charity and nuns of all orders;
various societies going in body; delega-
tions of citizens troops of employees from
every branch of the government; Indians,
Choios, and ladies of high degree.
By the way, the women of South Amer
lea can mourn more, in outward appear
auce. than any other class of people on
earth. All wear straight, scant gowns of
black wool, entirely untrimmed and slight
lv trailing and mantds, or shawls, of the
same material, draped in straight lines
over the shoulders and body, and covering
the face so that only the eyes are visible.
A company of these funeral figures, gliding
slowly through the streets, with bowed
heads, calls to mind some of Dore's illus
tration in Dante's Inferno"
Since everybody is not only invited, but
expected, to call upon the illustrious dead,
let Us Join the multitude and proceed to
the house of mourning. The Indians and
half-breeds go in their everyday, bright
hued toggery, having no other, but custom
DEGREES that other people must dress en-
tirely in black, the gentlemen in tall hats
with band of crepe around them, and the
ladies with no hats at all, but the uniyer-
sal manta worn over the head.
The "palace," though very extensive
looks shabby enough outside, the lower
floor on the front side occupied by several
poor shops, and its once white walls now
yellow-gray with dirt and time. Passing
down a side street; we find pair of double
doors, like those of a barn, standing wide
open, and enter a big, bare patio, paved
with small. round stones, the same in which
Melgareio drilled his troops. Doors are
thickly set on all sides of the inclosure ;
but there is no mistaking the right one.
Through a hall-like salon we go, where
soldiers stand on guard and rows of black
gowned priests are perched all around the
edges like so many oyer-grown birds OF
prey; and come, at last, to the inner room,
in which the prelate is holding his last
reception.
1t is a lare, square Sala, the walls COW
cred with yreaths of white and purple
flowers, each chaplet tied with long black
ribbons, to which the card of the donor is
attached Monks, priests and friars stand
all around, each holding a lighted candle