Rensselaer Republican, Volume 15, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 September 1882 — BRAVE MEN BUTCHERED. [ARTICLE]

BRAVE MEN BUTCHERED.

Frightful Atrocities Perpetrated in the Peruvian War. A Chilian Garrison Massacred After Making a Heroic Defense.

According to a Chilian correspondent of the Panama Star and Herald, native guerrillas burned and pillaged the city of Tarma and other places, committed frightful atrocities, and, among others, murdered a number of foreignera The correspondent says: When the inhabitants of Tarma learned that the Chilian forces were about to leave, a large majority of the Peruvian families appealed to be allowed to accompany them in order to escape the depredations of their lawless countrymen. Only some foreign families, believing the guerrillas would respect them, decided to remain. Fully 500 women followed the army. Just five hours after the troops left immense hordes of guerrillas poured in There were 600 armed with rifles and equipped like regulars, who. entered, formed in column, followed by at least 3,000 guerrillas armed with sticks, clubs, lances and other similar weapons, who entered pellmell, shouting vociferously. On it being known that all well-to-do and decent families had left town the fury of the Indians knew no bounds. Residences were stripped, and those of many foreign residents shared the same fate. Many assassinations followed. Among the victims were eighteen foreigners. In the midst of the drunken orgie Tarma was reduced to ruins. With the object of burning the properties of foreigners and Chilianized Tarmanians all the town was burned. The cities of Jauja and Huancayo shared the fate of Tarma The names of some foreigners assassinated are given. An Italian named Motto and two Germans named Strinz and Scholk are among the slain. Four Chilian soldiers and six fugitive Peruvians were frozen to death in the Cordilleras. At Concepcion the Chilian garrison made a noble defense against hordes of Indians. When the ammunition of the Chilians was exhausted, the assailants secured paraffine and fired the barracks, burning some of the wounded soldiers. Capt. Pinto and a few survivors of the garrison made a sally, cut down the enemy, and cleared the front and sides of the barracks, while the men inside extinguished the flames and removed the wounded to places of safety. In another sally Capt Pinto was shot dead. The Indians again fired the building, and sallies were organized under Sub-Lieuts. Montt, Cruz and J’ eicz - In one of the earliest of these the first-mentioned officer was mortally wounded. 'Subsequently Sub-Lieut. Peicz fell wounded in another sally. The young officer was immediately pounced upon" by a horde of Indians, who lanced hjm to death. At this hour five friars from the neighboring convent of Ocopa have appeared on the scene, and. crucifix in hand, commenced to incite the Indians to renew the attack on the building. At 10 o’clock, of seventy-seven Chilians composing the garrison, only four, and two of them wounded, remained to offer resistance. The others were either dead or dying. The building is now ablaze in every direction. Four women, wives of the soldiers, were eye-witnesses of the death of their husbands. One of them accompanied by her son of 5 years and another by an infant who had come into the world at the commencement of the attack—after removing the wounded from the burning building—went out into the square, hoping their lives would be spared. They had barely stepped outside the building w t'kc.V were sot upon by a crowd of yelling and drunken savages and horribly butchered. The 5-year-old boy had his throat cut from ear to ear, and was barbarously mutilated, and the body of the new-born child was found pierced with lance wounds. Sub-Lieut Cruz and the • surviving soldiers were also surrounded, and they fell one after another, but not until they had sold their lives dearly. When theptber Chilian troops ar-' rived, a few days, afterward, they found tn the square and the adjacent streets 2!>l of the feqemy’s dead. The wounded wemdouble that number, and were caltried off Cb' the hills The Chilian dead were collected and buried. The city was burned, and every!-ody ‘ implicated in the massacre dFho coii.d be found was summarily executed.