St. Paul daily globe., 1890-09-18
HOW BARRUNDIA DIED
Story of the Killing OF the
General on Board the
Acapulco.
The Order for His Surrender
Comes From Minister
Miner.
When Notified Barpundia Be-
gins Firing on the Qua
temalan Officers.
He Is Killed and Dragged by
the Heels Down the Gang
Plank.

flank.
New YORK, Sept. ia. P. Multi
gau, who was purSer of the steamer
Acapulco, upon which Gen. Barrundia
was butchered by soldiers of the Qua
temalan government, in the harbor OF
San Jose de Guatemala. reached this
city Monday. He tells this story of the
shooting, of which he was an eye wit
ness. The general had fifteen trunks,
two boxes and a yallse. PoSita, his sec
retary. carried a satchel containing
$4,000. Capt. Pitt had the luggage
searched and found six revOlvers and
hundreds of cartridges. Two more
pistols were taken from Barrundla's
pockets. A crowd assembled to see
him off. Several Guatemalans, whom
Barrundia recognized as enemies, were
on the Acapulco. One OF these,
Manuel Torrino. hired a negro
boatman to send telegram to
the authorities at Champerico, so that
Barrundia might be arrested when the
vessel landed there. BarrundIa SO DIS
trusted his enemies on board that. after
tired to his stateroom 2 on the
upper deck-and mad his meals served
there by his secretary. On August %
the Acapulco sailed, and the next morn
ing reachPdChamperico,a ,anchOrlng amlle
and a half off shore. The anchor had
not settled before four boats loaded
with black armed soldiers left the quay
and pulled to the vessel: Com
mander Teleferrio was in the first boat.
He asked Capt. Pitt to lower the gang
plank. The
Request Was Refused.
The captain said he would permit the
commandant to come on board alone.
but would not allow soldier to put foot
on the ship. On deck Teleferrio told
Capt. Pitt that he had an order from his
suneriors for the arrest of Barrundia,
and demanded that the general be
turned over to him at once. Capt. Pitt
refused to give Barrundia up, and or
dered the commandant off the ship. The
surf was running high, and the black
soldiers were nearly all sick. From
Champerico Capt. Pitt sent telegram
on Aug 26 to Lansing B. Miner, United
States minister at Guatemala, asking
him to send the American man-Ofwar
Ranger from San Jose to prevent Bar
rundia's enemies from taking him off
the vessel. The Acapulco left
Champerico at noon Aug. 81, and
reached San Jose de Guatemala seven
hours later. Every one Oh Capt. Pitts
ship was delighted to find the Ameri-
can war vessels Thetis and Ranger
lying there. The Acapulco anchored
half mile from the Ranger. That
night Capt. Reiter, of the Ranger, and
several other naval officers visited the
Acapulco. Capt. Pitt explained the
situation and said he hoped they would
his vessel. Capt. Reiter replied: IL
am sorry we cannot do anything for
you without an order from the.port
captain" meaning the secretary of the
navy. Pitt asked for file of marines
to protect his passengers from violence.
This request was also refused. Pitt re-
ceived no reply to his
Telegram to Miner.
who was at Guatemala, seventy-fve
miles away. At 1:3O o'clock the Aca-
pulco was boarded by Gen. Torrielle
and five policemen, who had come from
Guatemala to arrest Barrundia. Ten
black soldiers came with the policemen,
but remained in their boat. Torrielle
showed Pitt a letter from Miner, say
ing it was the captains duty to surren-
der BalrIndia, who would not be
harmed except for his political offenseS.
Pitt said to the passengers: 81 have to
surrender Barrundia. Take the ladies
to the lower cabin.' There were three
ladies on board. Barrundia's stateroom
which were six other rooms.
Amidships a mast passed through
the center of the aisle. Pitt
knocked on the door, and it was in
stantly opened and Barrundia stood by
them. He was six feet three inches
tall, forty-ive years old, had black hair
and long, dropping moustache. He
spoke French and Spanish. and Pitt
understood English only. The latter
read the letter and Gen. Torrielle in
terpreted. Barrundia understood all
before the second line was repeated by
the. captain, and exclaimed "BuenO,
bueno" Good, good. Jumping back
into the stateroom, he pulled two re-
volvers from under his bunk, and fired
point blank at the men before him.
They fled aft through the aisle, came
near sticking at the mast amidShipS,
turned to the right, jumped into state
room. and closed the door. Barrundia
vas at their heels,
Firing as He Ran.
Missing the men, he ran around on
the outside and fired bullet or two into
every stateroom, hoping to hit some one
by chance. Pushing forward, ne came
unwittingly within half dozen feet of
the five special officers, who had not
gone into rhe cabin with Torrielle, and
were hiding behind hatch near the
pilot house. All five blazed away at
Barrundia, who fell dead at the first
volley. The officers stood over the
body and emptied their revolvers into
it. The firing was done so close that
Barrundia's face was burned black
with powder. Nine bullets entered his
GERS began a search for his friends, Po-
sta and LaroQue. Brown, the first
mate, had locked them in a state
room, and stood guard at the
door with a repeating rife.
The murderers were cowed. The
dead body was wrapped in hammock,
dragged by the heels along the deck and
down the gang plank into the boat that
carried it ashore. American naval
officers on land heard of the killing OF
Barrundia and went OH board the Aca.
pulcO to get the particulars. They made
no comments. That afternoon Com
mandant Torrielle notified Pitt that he
must not sail. Two hours later six men
came aboard with orders to take Bar.
rundia's baggage ashore. They were
given an invoice of the baggage anC
spent all night copying the hundreds OF
letters and papers found in the deaC
mans trunks. These copies were taker
ashore to implicate others in the Bar
rundia plots. The Acapulco sailed OF
Aug. %, and Posita and Laroque got of
at La Libertad, San Salvador, on the
following day.