Page:A history of Chile.djvu/407

 THE CIVIL WAR OF i8gi 365 es swam for their lives, but foolishly climbing upon a mooring buoy, were shot. Finally all were killed ex- cept two, who hid in a stokehole, and contrived to swim ashore at night."* Don Claudio Vicuna, Godoi, Julio Espinosa, Alfredo Ova He, and Admiral Viel, escaped from Valparaiso and found refuge on board the German cruiser "Sophie." The editor of the Valparaiso Balmacedist paper was not able to make his escape in time to avoid being shot without a trial. Then followed a scene in the streets of Valparaiso that would make Bacchus blush and put Nero to shame. The rabble turned itself loose and sacked the town with- out restraint. Incendiarism and ruthless murders fol- lowed. Drunken, debauched men and women danced in the streets and were shot at by other drunken men, in wanton sport. By daylight half a thousand corpses were weltering in blood about the streets. Shops and houses were plundered and firemen shot at while try- ing to extinguish flames. The wild scenes which followed at Santiago also beggar description, though there the mob confined its energies chiefly to acts of vandalism. The houses of President Balmaceda and Don Claudio Vicuna were sacked, as were houses of other Balmacedists through- out the city. From house to house the mob went, fol- lowing a leader mounted on a horse, wearing a poncho and broad-brimmed hat, and ringing a bell. Houses of oppositionists were not generally molested, but those of Balmacedists were looted, furniture and household utensils being carried through the streets, while oppo- cording to the government or opposition leaning of the reporter. Certainly the iatter of the above reports is more reasonable to believe, since it is hardly probable that the crew of the "Lynch" would have invited destruction after their cause had lieen lost in the battle. More than that, Captain Fuentes and his offl- eers, it would seem, had at this time made their escape to the "Baltimore."
 * These two accounts very well illustrate how the "atrocities" vary much ac-