Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-11-17
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A SOLDIER OF FORTUNE.
General SandovaI Has Had a Romantic
Career.

The recent death of General Fran
cisco Ruiz de Sandoval in the city Of
Guatemala brings into the limeligAt
another one Of those characters en-
bodied in the soldier of fortune. of
which fiction has no equal. General
Sandoval was known from New York
, almost to Patagonia, and, although he
pretended to make his home in New
York, whenever there was a revolu-
ton on hand in any one of the Sou h
or Central American countries, he
could be safely counted upon as being
| there.
Like the tabled war horse. he scent
ed the battle from far, and was al
ways ready to jump into the fray. He
had served in the revolutionary wars
in every one of them that had any
revolutions, and he had been impris-
oned, exiled, or sentenced to death by
the de facto governments of each Of
them in turn, but he always seemed
to escape only to return to the field OF
danger again and again.
| he was d ldHlllldI llS vi Z dl SilhS" vi
the streets of Washington; he was
we'll known to members Of the Latin
American diplomatic corps, and al
though he might be plotting against
the government of any one of tn cir
countries, there was not diplomat
who would refuse to shake hands
with the general, Don Francisco Ruiz
de Sandoval.
An inquiring friend might ask,
Where is the general now?"
And If he were not either in New
York or Washington, the reply would
be, This mornings dispatches an
nounce a revolution in Ecuador; he
must be there"
Every ore loved Sandoval; even
those whose stern duty 1t was to fight
against him loved him, and todty
they speak Of his high character and
integrity as a gentleman. Even that
stern and iron-handed ruler, Presi-
dent Diaz Of Mexico, spared his life
after he had been sentenced to death
ty the military court of the land for
trying to overturn the government,
now so strongly intrenched.
General Sandoval, as seen in his
later days, was a picturesque type Of
the Latin-American, gentlemanly IN
his bearing, fearless, energetic, yet al
ways or nearly always broke. That is
usually the true mark of the real so!-
der of fortune. He plays the game
for the excitement there Is in 1t, and
rot for the money, as is generally
supposed.
General Sandoval's military career
commenced when he was a student at
the National Institute in his native
town of Oaxaca. The future president
Of Mexico, Porfirio Diaz had alreaTy
taken up arms against the reaction
SITS, who held the government at the
apital, and he was out in the mou1-
tains fighting for all he was worth for
Juarez and his principles.
The students at the Oaxaca 1nst!-
tute were not considered as factor in
either a political or military sense; in
fact, they being mere boys scarce'y In
their teens, they had either been lot
sight of by the various cons"ripting
officers who were continually invad-
ing the zone for recruits, or consider
ed unfit for service, until one day
military chief of some one of the nu-
merous revolutionary factions turned
up and seized the entire institute.
The students were marched out,
given guns and made to understand
that they had to fight irrespective OF
whatever political views they may
have had. Almost Immediately they
were run up against the government
troops and dispersed, after which the
troops took possession Of Oaxaca, and
the students who had thus involun-
tarily taken q. part in the revolution
were proclaimed outlaws
To be proclaimed an outlaw In
those stormy times when all Mexico
was mixed up in revolutions and in
ternecine strife meant to be shot on
sight. Although the students were
the sons of the best families Of OaXa-
ca they were not given even the priv
llege Of making an explanation, but
were forced to wander over the hills
and through the mountains of their
native state, without shelter, pursued
by troops and obliged to get their liv-
ing in true brigand style off the coun-
| try as best they could.
Thus early Francisco Ruiz de Sand
oval found himself a student-brigand
proclaimed outlaw through no fault
of his. 1t was one Of the natural vi
oissitudes of war as he learned to
look upon war, and although mere
boy at the time he displayed his apti-
tude for the situation and the military
genius which was to develop later by
organizing a few of his boy-soldier
-omrades into a band for the purpose
of preservation, and at their head
he led them and lived off the country
m true guerrilla style.
For upward of year these boy out
| avs were kept in the bush before the
government saw fit to issue decree
of amnesty ty which they were per-
mitted to surrender and join their
families.
Sandoval came into prominence In
Mexico one year after the election of
Porfirio Diaz as president for the first
time by being captured at the head Of
revolutionary band to overthrow
Diaz.
The extremely unhealthy days for
revolutionists in Mexico were dawn
ing Sandoval was sentenced to be
shot, and it was expected that he
would be shot without mercy.
Whether it was because he was a
fellow townsman of Porfirio D:az or
whether Diaz cherished a kindly feel
ing for him on account of his many
lovable qua ties, his fearlessness, and
the circumstances which had made Of
him a professional soldier when stu
dent at the OaXaca Institute, Only
Diaz himself can tell, but the fact re-
mains that just as Sandoval was about