Page:Pictures of life in Mexico Vol 2.djvu/54

32 through the principal thoroughfares to the chief square and bringing with them in their persons, their own pronunciamiento.

The insurrection was wholly unexpected: so well had the conspiracy been kept, that all ranks of the people were taken by surprise, as the mob took possession of some of the principal buildings, and plundered houses in their progress. Léperos and vagrants in general joined the ranks of the insurgents; and gentlemen whose appearance promised better things, fled precipitately before the throng. Shrieks and cries proceeded from every quarter: women in the crowd were thrown down and trampled upon: market people were either dispersed among their goods, or pressed hastily on in retreat. Stores, sheds, and shops were plundered; stalls and panniers of glass and china, eggs and provisions, silks and cottons, arms and fancy articles, were ransacked or broken to pieces: houses were stormed, and their ornaments destroyed; those belonging to the obnoxious being set on fire. Pillage, dismay, and confusion, reigned paramount in the place where pleasure and business had so lately presided.

A few gentlemen, however, assisted by some respectable merchants and storekeepers, and