El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-10-24
The SQnf0 M0TiQ DeTe|iCt.
BY CHARLES B. LEWIS.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
OF NIL the devilish. cold blooded
things done by men you will have read
of few to equal what took place aboard
Of the Spanish merchantmen, the San
"a Maria, In the year 1852. 1t was
Published i'm the papers at the time.
but only partial account. and as we
had war and excitement at home the
incident was soon forgotten.
One of the oldest business houses in
Mexico up to the date above named
was that of the Spanish house of Ga
1era & Co. founded 70 years previous
". The business of this house was
banking, mining, merchandising and
cattle raising. 1t had a dozen branches
I'm Mexico, and 1t had dealings with
half i dozen countries. In a financial
sense il was stronger than the govern
Dent, and its yearly profits footed up
IN enorYuous sum. A son of the found
e. had succeeded to the management,
aad when old age came he turned the
Rctire work over to a cousin named
Alvarez The new manager was a
young man of %, born In Spain of n
fine family. and had been educated for
the priesthood. He was a man with
out q vice. Such was his probity that
he was called Holy Alvarez" even in
his youth. At an enormous salary and
With autocratic powers young Alvarez
took over the management of affairs
In Mexico, and almost as soon as he
stepped foot on North American soil a
change took place in his character.
He began TO drink, gamble and play
fast and loose. At about that time
noted French adventures appeared at
TIE Mexican capital. and Alvarez
speedily became her <avorite.
OF course there was gossip about
the new manager. and there were
those who predicted that his extrav-
agnnces would ultimately bring ruin
to the old house. but there were no
af6cial complaints He knew little or
nothing of business, but he did know
how TO spend money royalty, and in
. year he had people guessing how
much longer it would take him to
Bankrupt the house 1t was after the
balance sheets had proved to him that
he was spending more than the profits
Of the house and was a debtor to an
enormous amount that he set about
preparing a grand coup. The Spanish
nerchantman was loaded with a con-
.szgnment q gold, silver, copper. furs
and dyestuffs for Spain and the cargo
insured to the last cent. Alvarez took
into his confidence a young man named
Prado. and when the Santa Maria sail
ed his confederate went with her as
supercargo- The ship was manned
- a crew of ii men. all Spaniards.
Thirty days after her sailing to the
so9thward the American bark Home
1ard left the port of Valparaiso home
ward bound. We had been out three
4sys when we ran into a dead calm,
With the weather so terribly hot that
The deck planks smoked in the sun. As
re lay heaving on the ground swell a
small boat drifted into view. 1t SEEM
cd 10 be empty. and it had been in
sight for two hours and was not over
hah n mile away when the captain de-
csded TO pick ii up \ boat was sent
81. and when she returned with the
stranger we had a sad spectacle under
cur eyes. There was a dead man iy-
ing mt full length under the thwarts.
He had not persisted for lack of food
or water, as the boat was well sup
plied- IL was sickness of some sort
L14L n4u his emu, ana not
1na had baked and shriveled his body
until the sight was not one to look at
twice AS there was no evidence that
/ second person had occupied the boat.
ne inclined to the belief that n mutt
Dous crew had sent their captain
Adrift- There were some who thought
he might have been blown Off the
eoaSf. and yet in that case it did not
Seem as If the craft would have been
stocked with food and water as she
WAx
We gave the corpse burial and hoist
Cd tse boat aboard and two days later
the puzzle was solved. We had caught
. breeze and made n run of a hundred
miles when we sighted n derelict. She
was n square rugged ship with all sail
5roadside to wind and sea 1t was
plain that she had sprung n leak. but
she was by no means waterlogged.
We ran down and hailed her. and. get
ting no answer, the mate was sent to
board her. 1 was one of the crew of
his boat, and the sight we saw as we
climbed over the rail was one never to
BE forgotten. Five men lay dead on
the decks, and the corpses were in a
fHr worse state than the one in the
boat You could tell at a glance that
TIE head men were Spaniards, and yet
aAefr hands and faces were as black as
YSar shoe, and the bodies had shrunk