Stockton Herald, South Durham and Cleveland Advertiser. — 1870-05-20 (Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, England)

TALE FROM CHILI.  A horrible story of brigandage reaches us from Chili. Don Gomez y Lagoberon, a famous bandit captain who. from his fastnesses in the Sierra Profunda, has long defied the Chilian authorities, was recently pursued, with the brigands under his command, by a body of troops, which succeeded in cutting him off from his followers, and driving him to take refuge in a cavern situated near the summit of one of the lofty mountains constituting the above-named range. In this cavern he had concealed a female captive, whose husband he had robbed and slain, and whom he had compelled to live with him some time as his mistress. The soldiers made several attempts to reach the entrance to this cavern, to which there was only one means of access— • mere mountain goat track ; hot Lagoberon, a man of gigantic stature and Herculean strength, rolled heavy rucks down upon them, and succeeded in beating them off, after several men had been severely injured. The officer in command, unwilling to sacrifice his troops uselessly, resolved to starve the bandit out, and "sate down" before the place. After two days' blockade, however, the soldiers grew weary of so tedious and humiliating an expedient, so they improvised an escalade of the robber-chieftain's stronghold, and succeeded in capturing him. To their horror, they found that Lagoberon had cut if one of his unfortunate companion's breasta, and eaten it. The poor woman was d scovered in a dyin.: sate, having sustained a fearful loss of blood ; and idle expired shortly after her rescue from the clutches of her barbarous paramour. The butcher was conve)ed to Talc, where he was promptly tried and condeumed to death by the garotte. In South America, execution follows sentenoe with startling rapidity; and Ginn. a was straightway conducted to the scaffold, guarded I y a strong escort of mounted gendarmes. While h.: executioner was engaged in adjusting his toileite de mart, the convict drew a whistle from his pocket, and blew it sharply; whereupon about sixty of his men, who had introduced themselves amongst the crowd surrounding the scaffold, rushed upon the gendarmes, and massacred them before they could ffer any resistance. They freed Lagoheron, and wimple ed their enterprise in a manner not devoid of a certain ghastly humour, ty garotting the executioner; after which they escaped, almost unscathed, to the mountaius. There they are probably still at liberty, practising their pro'e,sion to the terror of the whole country round. It should be observed that to facilitate their flight they `• aenexed the horses of the fallen gendarmes; and that a good many of them seized women from the throng gathered upon the place of execution, miming them away, flung across their saddle-bows. The s,,eial condition of Chili, as revealed by this narrative, is one of almost hopeless degradation, only to be rivalled by that of Mexico, Greece, and certain districts of Central Africa, where murder, lust, and rapine are the rules of life. Civilisation penetrates but slowly into these savage countries, of whose existence we are scarcely ever reminded save by some appalling and revo'ting incident, like the Marathon massacre, or the caneibalism of Don Gomez y Legoberon.—Daily Telegraph.  Mr Newdegate's motion for the appointment of a select emuinithse to enquire into monastic and conventual establiAnueuts has brought up 868 petitions to Parliament, bearing 582,366 signatures, against the nomination of the committee; and 9n9 petitions, bearing 551,927 names in its favour. For repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts, 345 petitions, signed by 230,436 persons, havo been presented. For giving votes to women petitions, bearing 120,760 signatures, have been presented.  HOLLOW•fiI