The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-10-25
Whole Family Goes
~ To War. X

A Mauser rifle was slung over mis-
shoulder, an AndinO machete with gayly
cOlOTed scabbard hung on one side and n
brass hilted regulation sword on the
other. while the belt around his waist
contained a heavy Smith & WessOn re-
yolver and enough cartridges for a Max
j mguu.
The army followed In single file. gener-
ais and colonies marching along on the
TANKS in generous profusion There was
"A field officer to every half-dOZen men,
but you could hardly tell the field Of
ficers from the rank and file. IT would
be impossible to find Il worse collection
Of scareCrOws anywhere. The men looked
as IT they had been dragged through
cactus hedge feet first. and then rolled
IN mangrove swamp. The officers
were dressed in odds and ends of uni
form from nearly every army In the
world. The rank and file made no pre-
tense at uniform, but wore anything they
happened to have picked up.
The Indians. who made up the bulk Of
the army, wore their fayOrite alpargat-
tas. but a few negroes and mulattOes
went bare-footed, They all marched
along strudtly az a swinging QuiCkstep-
D almost a trOt-although they had cavered
over thirty miles that day and gone
through a fOrJnights hard campaigning.
Each man carried a Mauser, a belt full
Of cartridges, a machete or sword and
perhaps a blanket, a mess kettle and a
tin pan. The Venezuelan soldier has TO
be his own commissariat service or go
without.
Quick Promotion For the Fighter.
The fortune of war often brings men 20
the front with surprising rapidity in
these turbulent republics. The family
which goes TO war ragged and shOeless
may, in a few short weeks or months, be-
come one of the greatest in the land.
Promotion is rapid for the good tighter.
A man may be q ragged Indian peasant
one year and a distinguished general
When President Castro fought his way
to supreme power in Venezuela many
men of no account went up on the crest
Of the wave with him. One of them,
General Louis Otalora. used to be the
village barber at Castro's home I'm the
Andes He still shaves the president as
an addition to his military duties.
These family troops are sometimes
/ guilty Of terrible atrocities and the boys
and the women are often worse than the
I men. 1t is not unusual for a lad of IA or
/ l6 TO be made an officer If he has dis
! tnguished himself in battle. or happens
/ TO be related to the president. one OF
ezuela is under II, and colonies and cap
! tains may be found even younger.
Boy Bandits Destroy.
Naturally these youngsters unre-
strained by discipline and with prac-
/ ucally absolute power 70 90 as they IKE
| when campaigning. sometimes run amuck.
/ In the streets Of Barcelona, one of the
! principal towns of Venezuela, the other
, day one of Castro s young Indian oIflcers
was asked for small coin by little
boy who begged in the streets. He drew
his revolver and shot the boy dead on
I the spot.
Next day two boy officers were walking
/ along the street when one of them taunt-
ed the other with being 81 bad shot. The
latter lifted his carbine and fired at the
head of q child who was looking out of a
tOp-stOry window, killing IL on the spot
| Some foreigners accused these officers to
General Velutini, Castro's right-hand
man. but they were never punished.
When they do such things in the streets
: of a crowded city 1T IS not difficult 10
I imagine their behavior when they are out
( campaigning.
In Hayu several years ago the late Gem
eTal Manigat. who was then little more
/ than Q boy. went through the streets of
= Jacmel with fifty ragged. bare-fOotcd ne
gro soldiers at his back. AS he put it.
! he was "suppressing a slight local dis
! order In plain English, he was muir
dering half the people in sight. He said
TO his soldiers. Shoot this mani and
Shoot that womaut" until nearly 100
} people were left dead on the sidewalks.
/ The conduct Of the women warriors is
often too horrible to write about. They
/ are far moro savage than the men. es-
I pecially if their husbands or lovers have
fallen in battle