Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 223, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 September 1912 — A BOUQUET OF REVOLUTIONS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

A BOUQUET OF REVOLUTIONS

REAL STORIES FROMLIFE of a masterTadvekturer

CAPTAIN GEORGE B. BOYNTON BY RIDCWAY CO.

COS*Yf?tcrtr BY w£>cw*r cor

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ITHOUT knowing where or how the cruise would end, but confident it would lead to trouble—though I did not imagine how much of It there really would be or how unpleasant it would prove—l bought the Alice Ada, a brigantine of 300 tons, and got a general cargo for Rosario, Brazil, on the River Parava. From Rosario I went 100 miles

up the rsver to St. Stephens and took on a cargo of wheat for Rio Janeiro. While the cargo was being unloaded my expectant eye distinguished signs of a nice little revolution which was just being shaped up, so I sold my ship and took quarters at the Hotel Freitas to watch developments. When the last emperor of Brazil, Dom Pedro 11., was dragged out of bed at night and deported without the firing of a shot, in the “peaceful revolution” of November 15, 1889, Deodora da Fonseca was made president. Before hiß weakness had become apparent he was made constitutional president, —and—Floriano—Peixotto was—elected vice-president. Deodoro’s policy was weak and vacillating, and his popularity waned rapidly. A revolution had been quietly formed by Floriano, the vice-president. He soon had the army at his back and gained the support of Admiral Mello, ranking officer of the Brazilian navy, and Admiral Soldanha da Gama, commandant of the naval academy. They brought matters to a head on the morning of November 23, 1891. Mello took up a position at the foot of the main street of Rio in the cruiser Riachuelo, the finest ship in the navy, trained his guns on the palace Itumary, and sent word to Deodoro that he would open fire on him in two hours if he did not abdicate in favor of Floriano. Deodoro abdicated in two minutes, dropping dead soon afterward from heart disease, and Floriano was proclaimed president. Before he had time to get his new chair well warmed he had a row with Mello, who considered that he was rightfully entitled to be the power behind the throne. ■" Mello worked chiefly among naval officers, aristocrats, adherents of San Pedro . and the Catholic clergy, and in the end they all became his allies. As Mello’s plot shaped up I began to suspect that his real purpose was to restore Dom Pedro to the throne and make himself the power behind it. It was amusing to watch the development of Mello’s revolution. One would have thought two friendly leaders were planning rival surprise parties, in which there was to be nothing more serious than the throwing of confetti. It was along in July of August, 1893, that Mello sent for me and expressed a wish that I go down to Santa Catariqa island, off the southern coast of Brazil, and blow up the Republics, the one Brazilian warship whose officers had so far remained loyal to Floriano. While we were still negotiating I received a call from one of Floriano’s aids, who asked me to accompany him to the palace. He took me in the rear entrance and up a back stairway to Floriano’s private sala, where, after presenting me, he left me, alone with the president. "I understand,” said Floriano, “that you were in Venezuela with President Guzman and have had military training and experience. “That is correct, sir.” “1 am told, too, that you have made a study of high explosives, and have invented a remarkable torpedo.’-’ “That is also true.” “Would you be willing to undertake a mission that would involve considerable danger, but for which you would be well paid?” “I am open to anything except vulgar assasination. That is my business.” “What do you charge for your services?” “That depends entirely on the nature of the work.” “Consider yourself, then, in the service of Brazil.” * . A few days later the revolution was declared, under conditions such aB one would look for on the light-opera stage, but never in real life, not even In South America. On the evening of September 6, Floriano went to the opera, accompanied by Mello, Soldanha and several other officers of the army and navy, and they all sat together In the presidential box. Mello and Soldanha excused themselves after the second act.. They left their cloaks in the box and said they would be back in a few minutes. Knowing full well the reason of their departure, Floriano bowed them out with an ironical excess of politeness. At daybreak Mello seized ail of the government shipping in the bay and announced a blockade of Rio harbor. He then sent word to Floriano that if he did not abdicate, without naming his successor, by four o’clock that afternoon, he would bombard the city. Flpriano’s reply was an emphatic refusal to abdicate, and precised at four o’clock Mello answered it with one shell from a three-inch gun, which exploded near the American consulate and. killed a foreigner. During the next week Mello fired 40 or 60 shots into the city every day, but they did little damage. Very soon after t)ie firing of the first Bhot, Italian, English, German, Austrian and Portuguese warships appeared at Rib, ostensibly to protect the rights of their citizens. About a week after the firing of the first shot I was on my way to the water-front to witness the regular afternoon duel between the Aquidaban and Fort Santa Cruz, when I was overtaken by a government carriage and Colo-

nel Pimental, whom I knew well, asked me to get in with him, as he had orders for me from Floriano. He drove along the shore of the bay to a new galvanized building at a point some distance beyond the island of the naval school and near the railway machine shops. On the way he explained that this buiding had been erected for my use and in it I was to construct, as rapidly as possible, a large torpedo with which to destroy the Aquidaban. The torpedo I built for this business was the largest I had ever made. While Mello had seized all of the government vessels in the harbor, there were a few tugs left, which, to prevent his interference, were flying the British flag, on the pretense that they were owned by Englishmen. I was to be given one of these tugs, and my plan was to steal around into Nichtheroy bay at night and anchor close under the hill at the end of the peninsula, where I would be hidden from the rebel fleet. In the morning I would load the torpedo and wait the daily exchange of cannon courtesies between the Aquidaban and the fort. An officer at Santa Cruz was to signal me when Mello left his anchorage and then, totfing the submerged torpedo by wire rope too small to be detected, I would steam out across the course Of The “Aquidaban, which would pick up the towing line on her bow, drag the torpedo alongside and be destroyed by the contact. My tug, in charge of a French engineer and foul- Brazilians'; was sent down to me on the afternoon of September 26, and as soon as it was dark, with the torpedo covered with canvas on deck and twelve 50-pound boxes of dynamite in the pilot house, we steamed around to Nictheroy bay. To have loaded the torpedo before we started would have been extremely dangerous, for any accidental pressure on one of its arms would have blown all of us to pieces. We anchored well out of sight of the rebel fleet, and as soon as it was daylight I unscrewed the manhole of the torpedo, and proceeded to pack it full of dynamite. 1 was just puting in the last box of the explosive when there was a shrill whistle, and a launch from the Slriuß swung alongside. The lieutenant in charge Jumped aboard of us and Came aft before I could brush the dynamite from my arms. “Who commands this craft?” he demanded. “I do,” I replied. “What are you doing with that flag up there?” pointing to the British ensign. “That flag was there when I came aboard and took command,” I said, which was true. “I am flying it for protection from a pirate fleet, just as others are displaying it on Rio bay and in the city. Your commanding officer has sanctioned that custom by his silence. I am an officer of the established Brazilian government obeying the orders of my superiors in Brazilian waters, and I claim the right to take advantage of that custom, if I care to do so, just as others have done and are doing.” “I think the other cases are different from yours,” replied the lieutenant. “What la that?” pointing to the dynamite. •'’Examine it for yourself.” . “It looks like dynamite.” “Probably.” “Well, sir, I am ordered by Captain Lang to take you on board her majesjty’s ship Sirius ” It -was no use to make a fight, so f I accompanied him, with excessive and sarcastic politeness. He took all my crew with him, leaving a on the tug. Captain Lang was on deck waiting for me and was quite agitated when I was brought before him, but he was much more heated before we parted company, and it was a warm day to begin with. “Captain Boynton, what does this mean?” he roared. “What doeß what mean?” I innocently answered. “Your lying over there in a vessel loaded with munitions of war and- flying the British flag!” “It means simply that I am an officer in the Brazilian army, on duty under the guns of a rebel fleet, and that I am flying the British flag for whatever virtue it might have in protecting me from that pirate, Admiral Mello. That flag has been used as a protection by many others and you have silently acquiesced in such use of it.” “But I tell you that it is piracy to ly the British flag over the ship of another nation and carying of war!’ ’ “It might be Just ab well, Captain Lang, for you to remember that you are not now* on the high. seas. An act of the British parliament is of no effect within another country, and If you will consult your chart you will find that we are in the enclosed waters of Brazil. Under such conditions no mandate of yours which affects -my rights can be enforced unless you have the nerve to take the chances that go with your act.” • “You may soon find to the contrary?’’shouted the captain, who was 1* ing his temper get the best of him. “I have a mind to send you to Admiral Mello as a prisoner! You know what he would do to you!” * “Oh, Captain Lang!” I said jeeringly, “You know you wouldn’t'do that!” “And pray why net, sir?” “Because you dare not do it, and that’s why!“„ I told him, as I pointed to the U. 8. S. Charleston, which, with her decks cleared for action, was anchored onfy a few hundred yards off to port. “I dare you to do it! I defy you to do it! Send me aboard the Aqnldaban if you dare!” 1 was making a strong bluff, and I got away with it. The outraged Britisher swelled with anger and turned almost purple, but he did not xeply to my taunt Instead, he summoned the

master at arms and placed me in his charge, ordered his launch and dashed off to the Charleston. He returned in half an hour and without another word to me ordered a lieutenant to take me aboard the Charleston. I will not deny that I was a bit easier in my mind when I saw my own flag flying over me, yet had I known the treatment I was to receive under it I would have felt quite differently. It was easy to see, from the reception Captain Picking gave me, that he had been influenced by the attitude of Captain Lang. I told him that I was an American citizen, temporarily in the employment of the Brazilian government; that I had violated no law of the United States or of Brazil, and I demanded that I be set ashore. He coldly informed me that I would be confined to the ship, at least until he had consulted with the American minister and communicated with Washington, and soon after I arrived on the Charleston I was confined to my room, as a dangerous character who threatened the peace of nations. With this decidedly unpleasant recollection, however, it is a pleasure to know that the other American naval officers, who arrived later, took exactly my view of the whole situation and became champions of my cause. They told Picking that Mello was a pirate and should be treated as stich, and that I was being deprived of my liberty without the slightest warrant of law, but they were powerless to accomplish my release. • Looking forward a little, the matter in which that old fighter, Rear Admiral Benham, put an end to the “revolution” in the follow- ' ing January, soon after his arrival at Rio, should be well remembered, for it was a noble deed and an example of the good Judgment generally displayed by American naval offlc'ers when they are not hampered by foolish orders from Washington. In the vain hope of arousing enthusiasm for his lost cause, Mello had ' gone down the coast, where he figuratively and literally took to the woods when he saw the folly of his mission, leaving Da Gama in command of the blockading fleet. The captains of several American merchant ships, who had been prevented for weeks from landing their cargoes for Rio, appealed to Admiral Benhaqi, who took prompt action. To show his contempt for the rebels, whom he properly regarded as pirates. Admiral Benham assigned the smallest ship pf his Bquadron, the little Detroit, commanded by that great little man, Commander (now Rear Admiral, retired) W. H. Brownson to escort the merchantmen up to the dock. The “revolution” ended right there, but unfortunately I was not present to witness its collapse. It was in vexed Venezuela that I was destined to end my days of deviltry, but not until after a protracted warfare, none the less bitter because it was conducted at long range, with Castro the Contemptible, who came into power two years after I had finally settled down at Santa Catalina as manager for the Orinoco company. Ciprlano Castro had been in congress as diputado, as member of the house, from one of the Andean districts while I was in Caracas with President Crespo, and, though he was regarded as a good fighter and a disturbing element, be was never considered as a presidential possibility. After getting the development work well started 1 returned to Caracas and early in 1879 resumed my old confidential position with President Crespo. His term expired the following February and I found that he had already* decided on General Ignacio Andrade as his successor. He had planned to continue as dictator of the country, a la Guzman, and spend much of bis idle time and money abroad, and he wanted a man who could be relied on to keep his organization intact and turn the office back to him. at the end of his term, for the Venezuelan constitution prohibits a president from succeeding himself. y . " The peons idolized Crespo, and he had such a strong grip on the country "that he was aide to carry out his plan, but with disastrous results. For a popular election it was the weirdest thing that could he imagined. It was immediately followed by mutterings of discontent from the better class of citisens and on the night of Andrade’s- inauguration General

Hernandez, the famed “El Mocho,” who was minister of public improvements in Crespo’s cabinet, but an opponent of the new president, took to the hills at the head of 3,000 troops. Crespo really was responsible for the curse of Castro, for had he selected a strong man as his successor the mountain brigand never could have commanded a force sufficiently powerful to overthrow him. Within a month Andrade went through the form of appointing Crespo commander in chief of the army, in order that he might clinch his dictatorship. For a while Crespo contented himself with enjoying his new title and directing operations from the capital, but the Hernandez revolution finally assumed such proportions that he took the field in person to stamp it out. The two armies met in the mountains near Victoria, June 12, J. 898. Hernandez was led into a trap, given a drubbing and captured. After the battle Crespo walked across the field and was leaning over a wounded man when he was shot from behind and Instantly killed. Some few months after Crespo’s death, Gas-' tro, who had made himself governdr of the state of Los Andes, visited Caracas and called on Andrade to demand an important position in the new administration, as the price of peace. Andrade, to bis credit be it said, flouted him. Castro left the Yellow house in a rage, sought the councils of Andrade’s enemies, and, after many conferences, a general insurrection was arranged for early the following summer. The presidency was to go to the leader who developed the greatest strength during the campaign.

Castro learned that bp was alone In the revolution, his promised partners having failed to take the field on account of bickerings and jealousies among themselves. This discovery and the addition of Ferrer's forces gave him his first really serious notion that he might become president and he marched forward in a frenzy of bombaßtic Joy. By this time the people of Venezuela, believing that no one could be worse than Andrade, and finding out, as had Castro himselff what a powerful person he really was, accepted him as their master. ' Almost the first thing be did was to annul our concession, along with a dozen others, on the ground that its terms bad ndt been complied with, as the beginning of his war on all foreigners. I denied this right to cancel our grant, especially as it contained a clause which stipulated that any disagreement between the government and the concessionaire should be referred to the Alta Corte Federale, or Supreme Court for adjustment. The troops were continually spying on us and annoying us with fictitious charges, but it was a year or more before the government, angered by its failure to get rid of me, resorted to extreme measures. A new governor was sent down with strict orders to remove me, by force if necessary. He advanced toward the house with about 75 soldiers. I ordered my men into the rifle pits and met the general at the gate. ’ The general could see my rifle pits, but he did not know how many men they held nor how well they could shoot. After a short consultation with his staff, he gave the order to advance, while be bravely directed operations from the fear. As hia men crossed the line and eight of them fell. They continued to advance, and we fired again, dropping nine more of them, while several others were hit. That was too much for them, and they broke and ran, leaving seven dead and ten badly wonnded. In two or three days they came back, with their force slightly Increased, and the general again called on me to surrender under penalty of being arrested aa a disturbing factor. 1 gave him the same reply as before, and, after thinking it over for a while, he marched his troops away again. That little encounter produced pronounced 1 respect for the Americans among Castro’s soldiers. and they did not give us much trouble __ ‘ This enforced Idleness eventually became intolerable, and early in 1908, the company in the meantime having sent one of it« officers to Caracas to protect its interests, I returned to New York, after having held the fort for ten jefira. I came back much poorer in pocket, l ut with a fund of/ Information regarding Venezuela and its people.