Page:Letters from the Battle-fields of Paraguay (1870).djvu/145



THE MURDER OF GENERAL FLORES. 115

House, and called upon the people to put down the existing Executive. But no one was moved by the revolutionary proclamation,, and soon D. Hector Varela, D. Segundo Flores, the third son, and other Colorados, broke into the house, seized D. Bernardo Berro, and his friends, and hurry- ing them to the Cabildo, put them to death. Some say that the ex-President was shot, others that he was run through with a sword ; some that his throat was cut, others that he was thrown out of the window.

Thus the attempt at a revolution had proved futile, and fatal to the leaders of both the contending parties. During five days military and mob law struggled for supremacy. Flags were hoisted half-mast high. A body of a hundred men found in arms were cut down. Citizens were compelled to prove themselves Floristas by wearing red ribbons, and the lives of strangers were in serious danger. Captain Mariette, a retired officer of our Rifles, was arrested in the streets by black fellows, calling themselves soldiers, upon the charge of having jostled one of their number, and he luckily escaped with unsplit weazand.

Meanwhile, D. Pedro Varela becoming acting President, proceeded to appoint D. Hector Varela, associating with him D. Jose C. Bustamente, as Minister of War and Ma- rine, and D. Eureterio Rigunaga, Minister of Finance. The National Guard was mustered, and ordered to take charge of the city. The territory of the Republic was divided into three military departments, with the view of suppressing any intended movements of the '^whites,^^ and all the Blanco officers were cashiered. M. Varela applied to the British Admiral for a force of ma- rines to guard the Custom House ; the gunboats of other foreign powers also joined them, while all prepared to pro- tect their respective fellow-subjects.

On February 21, Adjutant-Major D. Segundo Flores, a

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