Oxford eagle., 1901-07-04
BIUFFED AND ESCAPED.
Ex~fsfsx Experiesee OF Admiral De
u<nfs. one rfae Here OF
Brazil

u see By the papers, said a New
TimeS-Denocrzt. that CuStidio de
Mello. who Is described as = banker
was arrested IN Rio the other day
for conspiracy against the Brazilian
-0=grzzezt- No doubt the average
reader passed the little cable dis
patch by without recalling the fact
that De Meli0 was the hero about
ten years ago Of one of the most
desperate and dramatic exploits Of
recent times Il Is an interesting
story. In Isas Admiral de Nello was
in command Of the Brazilian navy.
which was undoubtedly the queerSst
eongiomeratiou IN the world Il con-
sisted ot half a dozen old <eows and
one tiP-toP. banx-uP. 6rSt-ciaSs bat
tleshiP-the Aauidaban-the equal
At the time Of anything aaoat- Il
was the admfraI-s flagship and one
fine day he a<tounded everybody By
sailing into Rio harbor and calmly
sending word 70 President Peixotto
that he wanted his resignation
When Peixotto recovered from his
astoniShmens he told him to 20 TO
blaze<. and De MeIlO thersuPoa de-
eiared the city under blockade Rio
lies. as you know. on the inner side
of a larg- bav. with a very narrow
entrance There were no guns at
the town heavy enough to do the
big battIe<hiP any damage. but n
the harbor mouth there were two
forts that could easily blow her our
of the water - De MeIlo bad really
sailed into 4 rat trap stalking every
thing on the chance OF blufh1- Peix
otto out He could not shell EIo on
account of foreign interests. and for
and rouud the bay. trying repeatedly
20 make a landing and n dash into
the city He waS enormously out
numbered by the shore gzrrisonS and
always beaten back With loss. and
eventually his situation became about
aS desperate as can b- readily i'm
1<IneG- Food and water had both
run short. i was impossible 20 get
more supplies. al hands including
De NeIIO himself. werr reduced 70
waIkia- skeletons. and meanwhile
the batteries AZ the h1rb0r mouth
had been powerfully reinforced In
this plight Peix0tto supposed he
would b. only too glad to surrender.
and sent a demand To that eject
You are bottled up he said in sub
stance -yoG can't get ont. and yOu
can't make a landing It's 4 ease
Of surrender Or Srarve- De Nello
sent back word that they would
.tarve- In the next couple Of weeks
men did die on the Aqgidaban of
actual starvation Then De MelIo de-
ctded to end II all IN a grand coup
de theater. and one night he started
At full speed for the harbor mouth
Concealment was out of the question
and the battIeship made its dash with
lights blazing. EagS ayin- zzd band
playing I met the admiral after
ward IN Caracas, and he told ne they
had no expectation whatever OF get
ting through but their sheer zudaci-
~ 50 diseoncerted the gunners a. the
forts that they failed 10 land 4 sin
gle effective shot A she passed
the narrows the Aquidaba7 let loose
4 double broaGS5dfe and steamed tn
umphl1tly cut 70 s-a- De NeIio was
n exile for years bat he Wzs finally
parsioned and returned 70 R5o- Tbs
> the Ran Who has Just b-~a AZ
rested for a new conSpirzev- and
think you'll agree with me that h.
is an individual Who l. aP- 70 make
things pretty hot vhen he gets start
81 II I we're president of Brazil
I'd put him IN the bastile aad throw
away the KEY