New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-01-10
MATERIAL IN THE COLOMBIAN ARMY.
LARGELY INDIAN BOYS RECRUITED IN H HIGHLY
STRENUOUS MANNER-SOME INCIDENTS

There are no warriors IN the Colombian Army
says Thomas s. Alexander, IN 'The Worlds Work"
srnore terrible than the machetatos. nachete-
men, OF the Cauca. in spite OF the fact that the
troops raised and trained In the following way;
An Indian boy OF twelve fourteen years Is out In
the field cutting sugarcane. All Of q sudden he
sees three or four soldiers. He becomes scared and
runs away. They shoot al him II he stops with
out being shot he is n luck. Then they catch
him, tie q rope round his neck, bind him with an
other long rope to several other luckless lads
caught n the way and march the batch TO
the barracks at the nearest town.
THE boy. half negro and half Indian has prob
ably never been in a town before and never handled
a gun. He sleeps that night at the barracks
Next morning, at o'clock. he IS awakened by a
heavy kick and given rife which he can hardly
carry, not TO say. shoot It IS usually taller th'7
himself for he is generally a weak, undersizs
narrow chested brat He is thrust into the 'awk
ward squad and marches TO the square for his
FIRST drill The sergeant, a burly negro, enforces
his commands by many stripes OF q rawhide six
feet long until the boy is beaten into absolute
stupidity At i o'clock he goes TO his breakfast
If he can get any. Usually he cannot, unless he
steals In the afternoon officer comes along.
teaches him how TO load and unload his rife. and
Incidentally thrashes him again with the rawhide.
THAT night the boy. who does not even know
how TO handle his rife, is pat on the streets OF
the town at 9 O'Clock 10 do sentry duty. There Is
O boy al every street corner with orders TO IRE
on anybody who does not answer his challenge IN
DroDer form. He Is supposed 10 nan Z pasSei-
by three times before he shoots, but as q matter
OF fact he is so afraid OF his rife that his fingers
tremble on the trigger and it goes on before he
Challenges. Time and again bullets have whisued
past me at night IN the streets Of Cali before 1
even saw the poor. little, forlorn sentry at the
corner He usually fires at everything he sees
,noving-dogs mules. cattle and cats, as well as
men.
Although the Colombians are extremely brave.
their generals care nothing for the lives OF their
.Ha f0110 -ira.s Dcid Will
battle Of Palo Negro when General Cribe-Uribe.
the Liberal leader, was beaten back In his efforts
30 reach Bogota, seven thousand men were lett
DEAD upon the field and many terrible atrocities
were enacted. One Of the worst was related 10
me by a government officer, General Triana, after
he returned from the fight. 1T was a glorious
victory and a horrible affair, and We whipped
the Liberals properly he told me. But one thing
happened which has disguised me with the whole
war I never 10 any fighting again. There
was strong force OF Liberals anbushed in thick
brushyoed CD the side OF a hill. One Of our gen
erals IVES ordered to clear them out but he could
not locate their exact position. and he knew that
20 advance biindly upon them would mean the
loss of a great many OF his men. What do you
fhInk he did? Among his troops there were about
forty little boys from ten TO fourteen years old.
lie picked them out and told them TO march
across The exposed ground toward the enemy They
had never faced death before. and were proud TO
march ahead Of the rest. Before they had gone
FAR thousands Of rieYnen opened fire on them, and
having unmasked their position. our general easily
drove them away. a pit was dug after the battle
end the corpses CT the forty ooyS were al thrown
unto IL together.
Il have witnessed barbar!tes which cannot be
described here-women and children tortured to
death in a manner that made the stories OF Ar
,nenian and Macedonian massacres seem mild Il
"a a common thing for boy OF twelve or fourteen
20 be thrashed to death with cowhide whips for
-deserting' from the Grmy-that is TO running
back home after he had been forcibly enlisted IL
As generally common Cor mere child to be hung
I'D by the thumbs until he dies because he VIII
motor cannot-say where his father is hidden
Women have been crucihed because they have
refused to betray their husbands and others have
been treated infinitely worse ! can give chapter
and verse for dozens OF atrocities which prove con-
ciusively that Colombia has title 10 be dealt
with by the United States any other power as
q civilized nation. Here IS one typical story:
"A dentist named Theophile Borraro came 10 me
one day and asked IL wanted TO buy some gold.
said yes. and he unwrapped bundle and showed
me about a pound Of gold teeth filings, some or
which had fragments OF teeth stiA sticking 10
them. Where did you get themT asked IN
Mortified amazement. 7 got some OF them In the
fight at San jose he replied. and the rest were
got by a government colonel in the last engage
mint at Buenaventura.' But how did you set
them outT We just knocked them out with bay
onets and the butt ends OF rides The soldiers did
that all the bodies. and bought the gold for a
mere trthe.'
General Perez was n command OF the govern
nent troops at Cah One DAY news arrived that
the Liberals had captured q neighboring town.
Perez was ordered 10 start with his army at
O'Clock next morning to attack them He went
TO the barracks made patriotic speech to the
soldiers and told them 10 parade at the appointed
hour. Then he sauntered into the Hotel America.
Calls best restaurant. and ordered coffee for $50
fn the morning.
9Th troops were lined up at that hour outside
the hotel. and the general strutted 20 and fro,
waiting for his coffee and telling yeTybody what
terrible things he going TO do 10 the enemy
But a complication arose. Perez had not been q
general long. but he mad acquired luxurious tastes
He wanted milk in his coffee. whereas nine Colom-
bans out OF ten content with black coffee
There milk. The are kept three or
four hours journey out Of town. and, OF course
milk cannot be kept night IN that tropical
climate: The hotel folk figured that the milk
could not srrive before II o'clock.
Tho general fumed and fretted. Some of his