The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, September 15, 1901, Page 1

il & independencia! Viva! Viva! in & cup does nmot s & tempest in a tea- two great o Grande in the wine Hidalgo, Cura of the L Potosl go was fond of wine , for which he, crush the grapes r or when they were would enforce tem- at she might sell ETapes anyway, any- r kind Hidalgo, who had none women, would have those,of the wi But he had no money osed upon the wine and fore- of the vine would asure he planted s of the mission. from it part w nd a modest amount the sea Government was then eag- method by which e ch h, and as when the missions as were secularized every ken to wrest from all properties. In algo it was declared by ¥ he was planting the was t aking wine for the purpose g the Indians and inciting rebellion. k upon the vines which ing the holy commun- the quiet priest beyond refused to obey roy them. sent to enforce the ey left the vineyard 2d burned, the wine press wine confiscated. the wine party of the Padre e wrong may account for the gged, almost Saxon persistence which be began the contest. He used the pulpit and confessional to pro- mote his views, and under the pretense of & literary soclety patriotic meetings were beld. * The plans of these patriots were discov- > be taken from Library-***8 ered befor: on the mo , and £ of the 16th of September in 1810, the comrades came to the house of Hidalgo and told him that d been discovered. - knew that they must act at church bell earlier than ., he sembled his little regation to ma But instead of ers, he thus addressed them: *“My this day comes to us a new dis- Are you ready to receive it? you be free? Will you make an ef- recover from the hated Spaniards stolen from your forefathers?"” ng the banner of Guadaloupe from the sacred altar he sounded the Grito de Dolores: *Viva nuestra Senora daloupe! Viva la independencia!” and marched out of the church. The whole congregation followed him into the street. He liberated the prisoners who were he city’s prison and armed them. T news of the enterprise spread wide he people, who had only been leader. Within twenty-four hours the patriot priest was at the head ofan a arge enough to enable him to capture two cities with a united popula- tion of more than 30,000. The mass of his army were Indians armed h bows, arrows, slings, ma- chetes and lances. Arms of obsidian, the volc glass 5o often referred to by the early storians of Mexico, which had lain ed since the days of.Cortez, were now brought out and a stranger contrast can scarcely be imagined than that pre- sented by the Aztec levies and the beau- tiful regiment of the Queen and a.detach- ment of regulars which had joined Hidal- go on his march. Guanajuato was the objective point of the campaign. It was the capital of the province and the depot of the wealth of the Spaniards. It is in the heart of the richest mineral district. The natives to this will tell you that after the hogs have wallowed in the pools the hose is turned on them to wash the silver from thelr bristles. waiting for Rianon, the chief of the province, was a great favorite in Mexico and a man universally respected for his courage and humanity. When he saw that all the In- dians and native-born Spanish-Americans flacked to Hidalgo’s banner he determined not to defend the city, and shut himself up with all the Europeans and the gold, silver and quicksilver in the Alhondega, or granary. Here Rianon intended to de- fend his trust. The Alhondega is still standing. It ts & two-story stone structure of immense size, with walls from five to ten feet in thickness. It was originally Intended to be used as a granary in which to store S'E (o Je) ‘they had obs iy / A sur; plus cordt for public protection agatnst scasons of scarcity. the s made an attack upon th ess Hidalgo sent Abasola to Rianon wi letter a ncing that he tad enee of the coun e only difficulty in the way was e of Europeans it was necessary tc sh the Span! and to co propert 1ed by oppressive 1 promi. they would su d protection to the Span mit and that their persons should be conveyed to a place of safety. Rianon replied that he decifned to capit- ate, and Hidalgo at once marched to the attack. The far hout 2000 strong, were well e stand a long siege. ts tried in vain to carry the pla the besieged were constantly on watch and gave them no oppor to approach the gat Torches were kept at night, and by their t the rds shot every man who came within reach. At last an Indian placed a great flat stone upon his back. and thus shielded from the .bullets which the Spaniards rained down upon it crawled up to the gates and bu followed up this advantage, and after part of the garrison had perished from suffo- :atifon carried the castle. Rianon fell dead as all was lost. Not a 3paniard escaped. Hidalgo secured $5,000,- X00 in treasure. This stege of the Alhondega of Guanaju- 1to was the Bunker Hill of Mexico. Hidalgo did not remain long at Guana- juato, but’ while there he establisfied a mint and a foundry for cannon, for which he made use of bells found in the desert- ed houses of the rich. From there he went to Valladolid and entered without resistance. His army now numbered 30,000, and in addition he was refnforced by the militia of the province and the dragoons of a neighboring city, both of which were well equipped and in good discipline. But the most valuable addition he re- ceived was the person of Don Jose Marle Morelos, also a priest. On Morelos after the death of Hidalgo rested the mantle of command. Some idea of his enthusiasm may be formedl from the fact that he set out on the receipt of his commission ac- tompanied by but five badly armed ser- vants, with the promise that within a year he would take ® Acapules, a feat which he absolutely accomplished and of which Napoleon said: “It is one of the great victorles of ‘the ‘world. sufficient of itself to win for Morelos a place among the immortals.” ‘t'he City of Mexico was taken aghast at the capture of Guanajuato. The pres- tige of tacit obedience had been broken! The depot of the mining district had been sacked! The whole country was {n arms! Hidalgo continued his march to the cap- ttal without once suffering dcfeat. Every precaution, was made to defend the capi- tal. At Las Cruces, almost within sight _of the city, hie met the royal forces and drove them back. But for some reason never understood -Hidalgo decided to re- treat. d them down. The army 2ine dection ‘While his motives will never be known, his courage should not be questioned. But whatever the reason may have been, it e began that series y resulted in the After ‘a terrific battle at Guadalajara, in which the Mexican troops wers com- pelled to retreat, were but four thousand soldiers left. It was decided to leave them under command of Rayonm, while Hidalgo and his three leaders, Al- lende, Aldama and Abasolo, who had ever been the souls of the revolution, were to set out for the United States to purchase arms and procure the assistance of ex- perienced officers. On the road they were surprised and captured by a former partisan, who could not resist the temptation of so valuable & capture. They were taken to Chihua~ hua, tried, deg shot. Thelr heads off and taken to Guanajuato, where they were placed on fc hoo projecting from the corners of the Alhondega. And there they re- matned until 1823, when the successful revolutionists took them down and burled them with the honors due the memory of the first martyrs of Mexican liberty. With the heads of the leaders cut off many thought that the revolution was forever at an end. There was at this time one man only who stood forth con=- spicuous among the revolutionists as an admitted chief—Morelos. He was a -blooded Indian, who had the elements of a great warrior in him. He organized a Government, convened Congress, which issued *a constitution, and defeated the Spaniards in several battles. The history of his life from the death of Hidalgo to his own 1s ory of the revolutfon. os” first great exploit was the cap- of Acapuleo, already alluded to. lco was the great depot of the Ma- bably the busiest town in n of it would put t quarter. arched out against merous body of troops, Morelos did not hesitate to attack rior force, and under ised and defeated the him with an in cover of night su royalists. The result of this battle was the posses- sion of eight hundred muskets and eight pieces of artillery, a large quantity of ammunition and money. The whole of the year 1511 was spent fn 1gagements, and by the great and sful effort of Morelos to discipline army, the mass of whom were negroes. Several prominent men now joined the ranks of Morelos. They were from the upper classes, and although sympathizers with the cause of Independence from the first they did not declare themselves until they saw a man appear whom they thought capable of ruling the storm. As soon as Morelos hecame known he was recognized as the man they sought. In Jgnuary of 1512 the royal forces, un- der Chlleja, left the capital to' oppose Morelos, who was at Cuautla, about twen~ (Continued on Page &)