New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-03-27
ION RAMON'S VENGEANCE.
THE TRAGIC STORY TOLD IN THE GUIANA
JUATO CATACOMBS.


latter better for he was also coward nut ~ ,b 10
not polite to write it. Men only use II when inc
blood is hot with anger. Women, never, un'h
they have become acquainted with the polce'
4 story of husband wife, and lover. VI
the lover, yes. or the husband and wife, no )
for rather it is of two things that were once nus
band and wife, but which now stand IN silence
and gloom in the corridor OF the dead Dehealh
the public "panteon@ at Guanajuato IN MeAco;
Above this corridor is u hollow square, IormGo
by a wall twenty feet or more in thickness. III
this wall are six tiers of Teccsses-recesscs that
are the exact counerparts in shape OF the pigeon
holes in your desk They, are larger, though
each small slab Of marble or brass which gives
q name a few figures, perhaps title or TWO
the latter seem strangely empty anu WORTH VS.
and then petition that for the love OF Jesus you
pray one Ave Maria that the soul OF the dead
within may rest easy. 1t Is only the rich, though
that All these pigeon-holes. A man must be very
of the quiet tenants will fill them for five or ten
years only. After that time their bodies VIII
be taken out and the pigeon-hole Will pe ready
for some occupant and so 1t VIII go On
through the centuries After ALL though. 1t is better
than restoring under ground, for IN the Panleoh
q few brcks-only an ordinary WaIl-nVlue you
from the world you have left, full OF the tWittcr
of birds and the bright, warm sunshine Wheh
O body is placed in one of these gaoetes,-aS the
Mexicans call these pigeon notes.-the CORN con-
tanning il is surrounded closely with ch2rc9ai
and lime to preserve the dead from decay. Under
the influence Of these two agencies, the oOuy soon
becomes merely, mummy, pieserVang ar a .nnS
hard that when you tap on the hollow oreasI
with your fingers it sounds like the beating oil
distant drums. When the body is taken iron,
lis pigcon-hoe, the funeral clothes are stripped
from it TO be burned, and, naked as the DAY III
was born, it is placed IN the corridors Deneati
Sometimes, though, the shoes or DoO's are a.
them the dried feet may break or crumDie. w men
the poor who are unable TO rent gabete dle, 'hey
buy the privilege of being buried wl'a mn ,me
Enclosure made by the walls containing the pig
eon-holeS for one or two, or more years. AS
soon as the ground is required, after that tmc
has expired, their remains are taken up. burleo
in the ground without the protection OF the
charcoal and hme only the bones are taken, and
these, too, are taken 10 the corridor below, ana
thrown into two great piles. When man mas
been long dead and nothing Is LETT OF MIN Dut tle
bones he is very insignificant. No matter what ne
may have been in life, il does not take a very
large handkerchief to contain all that r. 1nen
in. contain the finest battalion that ever paraded
Yet in this corridor the pile OF bones Is Immense
You can count skulls until you have run into
the thousands and then You grow wearXand cease
When you ask the guide-who IN his eagerness 20
find new curiosities to please you, walks over the
pile needless how the bones crunch and break I'M
der his heels-ho many of the dead are there, he
merely shakes his head and answers:
God knows, senior, they are many.
The bones Of the poor are az either end OF The
corridor In the space between, leaning against
the WALL facing the light that finds its way through
the narrow windows above, are the bodies that
have been taken from the gabetes; Infants, so
small that even the rigdity OF death cannot give
sufficient strength to their tiny forms to sustain
them, are the only exceptions. They lie one above
tinsel and faded flowers with which the Mexicans
decorate the remains of those who die so young as
to DO without sin. If you wish it; your guide will
pick up one or two Of the little figures ana hand
them to you for inspection.
In The dim light you can hardly at once realize
the grewsomeness Of the scene, and You pass along
the ranks of the naked dead, seeing only the most
prominent figures. At first, you observe only .
few. which attract your attention by some marked
head. and face aud breast, and arms covered with
red hair 1t seems giant among pigmies.
who is IL ?''
AN Enplishnon. senior, who came here to mine
for silver answers the guide.
And the other :" you ask, pointing TO figure
that tands erect, with ragged hole in its face
and high over the knees of whose bare legs come
the tops of cavalry boots
A soldier in the cavalry, senorl he killed
by the French when Macmillan our emperor y
Gradually the samencss that seems to. pervadc
everything wears away, and you pass along you
begin TO pick out the old and the young, the
matron and the maid, the man and the boy. Some
of the faces fascinate you So earnest do they
seem that, for an instant, you think they may
speak, and one becomes loath 10 pass on for feaI
wonder if the tongues, that look so dry and
parched between the long, yellow teeth from
which the gums hsve shrunk, could speak, what
All of the bodies or nearly all, have their hands
crossed their breasts There is one though,
chat has not. The body is that OF woman, from
N'A|'
and SOFT and glossy Now they are harsh and
tnged with red-burned and bleachcd by the
charcoal and lime that went with them into the
gabete. Even now. though if you "A man,
when you see their length and richness. You feel
tempted TO press them between your fingers, so
much of their beauty still remains. In life, the
too old 70 love, to kiss, and play
with. for they have not grown since death. as tht
moist graves of our Northern climes-as if to pill
low with softness the still unbending of the head
The burning sun, and lime, and charcoal kill every
thing in these panteOnes even the germs Of corrup
ton.
This womans hair is not the only thing thai
attracts your attention. 1t is merely the first
After you have looked at it, and thought of III
past beauty when il clustered around snow-whit'
neck and shoulders. the woman's figure draws you
attention. Death has not withered il as it ha
done with all the other bodies 1t is like Statue
Of bronze in its life-likeness. The breasts full
and firm as artists paint them. The graceful
waist, unduatng in perfect curves TO feet so small
that you can almost hold them in one hand is al
perfect in its apparent supplencss as when the life
blood coursed through the veins. Like all Thu
rest this body, too, is naked except the feet anC
they, with their high, archcd insteps, are still in
cased In slippers. which have fallen the shred
Of what once were silken stockings. The slipper
were once white and tied with crimson ribbon
but now the satin like the hair, is faded. and tn
bow Of the ribbon that tied them is the only thin
COO uettish that remains.
The form is perfect In marble it might hav
been a Grecian Venus-if il We're not for the face
Not that the face In life lacked beantN Tor III mus
at one time have been very beautiful; but that wa
a long time ago. when the dark eyes still had ligh
and the lips were red and laughing. But now i
Is terrible TO look upon, for in every feature Their
is terror and the even of teeth. that mus
have been once white and pearly, opened wild
apart, as if frozen so i'll dying gasp for breath
Then, as your eye falls on the neck. you see tina
This was SO for there deep into the flesh still run
the mark of rope pulled tight and strong
How tight IL must have been when the roundet
arms that still outstretched could not loosen it
all he hands and that the
of the dead, these are the only ones that do no
lie crossed on the breast. They still stretche
forth as when the strangling coils Of the rop
caused the brain TO grow black and turgid.
This woman Is the wife.
Beside her, tall and erect. stands the form 0
, man. Death must have come 10 him yer,
easily. for in his face there is fear. rather
look OF rest as IL 1t we'll that life had passed
The form is wasted from disease. and the hand