The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1891-03-31
CAPTURE OF IQUIQUE.

"
A TERRIBLE CONFEDERATION AND
BLOODY STRUGGLE FOLLOWS.
Over ss,ooo,ooo Worth of Property De-
siroysd--The City Heavily Bombarded
and Abandoned--RevoIut Threatens
Serious International Conflicts.
PANAMA, March .25-The English
ironclad Warspite arrived at Callao,
March 1st, from Chillian ports. From
! those on board some details have been
obtained of the events which followed
the capture Of Iquiquo by the rebels
and the first fire which caused the de-
struction of property valued at $2,OOO,-
600. 1t appears that when the rebels
captured the port the government
troops took mp positions at some dis
tance from 1t and held themselves in
readiness to attack tho city. The re-
bells returned to the vessels, leaving
only some fifty men in charge. The
troops soon heard Of this and marched
on the place some 200 strong, under
| Colonel Soto. They reached the yicin-
ity at about 6 o'clock in the morning
and fell in with guard Of sailors.
Firing commenced and the fusilade on
shore led the ships to promptly open
fire. The Blanca, Encalada, Esmeralda
and Huascar used their heavy guns,
| lenses busily employed. A tremend-
ous obstruction followed aud at 10 a. m.
hrebroke out in a nitrate warehouse, @,
which was extinguished by the fire
brigade. At $50 p. N. another fire
| broke out and this time the efforts of
the .firemen proved useless, and the
| flames spread until the whole central
part of IGuique, where the best stores
and buildings were situated, was in
ruins. UP to the 10th, when the War
spite left IquiQue the ruins were yet
burning.
The fight which resulted in the fire
| was a bloody tragedy, and it would
| have been moro prolonged had it not
1 been for an arrangement having been
reached by the chiefs of the two parties
and under which the opposition leaders
engaged to pay Colonel Soto $4,000 to
distribute among his men who were
then to join the rebels. Under this
arrangement the government troops
abandoned their arms and soon dis"
persed. Subsequently Colonel Soto was
arrested and sent on board the Amazo-
mas, accused Of having distributed only
tanned the remaining $4,000.
Those On board the Warspite had also
been informed that Colonel Robels had
1000 of Balmaceda's troops on the PAM
pas, and that 1t was possible they would
again attack Iquique, in which port and
| Its vicinity the revolutionists stated
they had 5000 mon. They were, how
ever, short of ammunition, but were ex-
decting some by steamer by way of
Magellan Strait.
Iquique is completely abandoned and
all the inhabitants have taken refuge
on an island where they had previously
been stationed. Pisagua has been
abandoned by the populace. The In
tendent of Iquique sought refuge on
the Warspite, and subsequently left in
| the cable steamer Silvertown for Val
naraiso. The report is confirmed of a
yht at San Francisco iE which Gcner-
al Vldagran was killed, and the rebels
were defeated.
In the fight at Iquique on the 10Th,
| about 200 persons were killed. Some of
the number lost their lives through
their own imprudence. The Office of
which supported the government, was
sacked and burned. The Warsp.::e
gave passage to Callao to 115 persons
of different nationalities. The French
steamship Vile de Belfast, which ar
rived at Iquiqus, reports that 800 killed
and wounded were the outcome OF the
fight on the Tarapaca pampas.
The Lima Drairo said on February
25th: "The present revolution in Chilli
threatens to result in serious interna-
tional conflicts. Peruvian territory has
already been violated by the Chilian
government troops, and now we learn
that government troops with provis-
ions and ammunition have occupied po-
sitions inside the Argentine limits and
on the road to Mondora. A report
reached Panama March 7th, that when
the forces of Valparaiso fired on the
Blancoencalada. killing several of her
crew, the commanding officer solicited
permission from the shore authorities
to bury them and that the answer he
received was: "That he might bury
them in the sea-" The commander of
the Blancoencalada thereupon referred
to the captain of her Majesty's ship
Champion, and the latter significantly
replied: Request me to bury them and
shall do So" The request was accord
ingly formally made. Whereupon the
British commander had the Chilian
dead on the steamer taken ashore Tin
der the protection of the British flag
and buried with due military honors in
graves he had ordered prepared for
them.