The Birkenhead News and Wirral General Advertiser. — 1880-08-21 (Birkenhead, Merseyside, England)

THE " GLORIES " OF WILE.  Chili and Peru are now at war. The struggle is being conducted in a truly horrible manner. Infernal machines are among the diabolical weapons which are being employed on both sides. The . following describes how a Chilien vessel has been destroyed through one of them :—" A Peruvian officer took an ordinary fruit boat, put a torpedo in the bottom, and over this placed a false bottom resting on springs so arranged as to be kept down by the weight of the cargo above. then loaded the boat with a very choice assortment of camotos, yucas, chirimoyos, grandillas, turkeys, fowls, green vegetables, &e., and, towing it towards the blockading squadron before daylight, let it go adrift. All day long the boat floated about, but the Chiliana could not see it; and about five o'clock in the evening the Peruvians, fearing it might fall into the hands of a neutral vessel—for a numlf* of these were allowed under certain conditions to remain in the bay—sent out a boat to ,bring it back. The Loa was doing duty; and, seeing the boat from shore making towards the neutral vessels, at once started in pursuit. Seeing this, the boat from shore beat a hasty retreat. The Loa then fell in with the fruit boat  prepared by the Peruvians, and, having lowered two boats to secure it, the supposed prize was brought alongside, and the discharge at once commenced. As the weight of the cargo diminished, the machinery in connection with the torpedo was set in motion, and in a moment 800 pounds of dynamite were exploded. The effect, as described by those who were watching the operation with breathless interest from the shore, was awful in the extreme. The Loa was almost lifted out of the water, and appeared to be enveloped in one mass of flame, which resolved itself into dense clouds of black smoke. When this cleared away she seemed not to have suffered, but suddenly she was observed to sink at the stern, while her bows went high into the air and the vessel disappeared. While all this was going on, the Chihli men-of-war blockading the port—the Blanco, Eucaladi, and the Huascar, the latter being the vessel captured from the Peruvians about the commencement of the war—were too far off to render any assistance, but from the fleet of neutral vessels boats were quickly lowered, and proceeded to the scene of the terrible disaster. Boats from the Thetis and Penguin succeeded in saving thirty men out of those who were found struggling in the water; another man was saved by the Alaska's boat, three or four men by the boat of the Decres, and six.by that of the Garibaldi, making about forty in all, of whom it was expected, at the time of writing the despatch, that many would die from the shock and the injuries they had received." In addition to this, the Chilian troops have been guilty of a series of shocking excesses. The towns of Tacna and Arica, captured by them, have been ruthlessly sacked. In Tacna only one street has been allowed to escape, and hundreds of wounded and prisoners have been slaughtered in cold blood, while women and girls of the teuderest age have been violated, and, in many instances, killed. I Since the occupation of the city six, eight, and ten murders have taken place daily, while the bodies of the dead have been allowed to remain unburied until their removal has betome an absolute necessity. Alice, has suffered even more severely than Tacna, all its houses having been totally or partially destroyed. Out of its 1,800 defenders, only six hundred are reported 'as having survived; and those of the 1,200 who did not fall in the tight have been massacred in cold blood. There is no prospect of the war—which appears a war of devils rather than men—being terminated, the brutal and infuriated combatants rejecting all offers of mediation.