Referring To The
Sacking And Burning Of Mr. Payne's Possessions Previously Referred
To.]
Bolivia was one of the last of the Republics to hold out against
"liberty of worship," but in 1907 this was at last declared.
Great
efforts were made that this law should not be passed.
In my lectures on this continent I have invariably stated that in
South America the priest is the real ruler of the country. I append a
recent despatch from Washington, which is an account of a massacre of
revolutionary soldiers, under most revolting circumstances, committed
at the instigation of the ecclesiastical authorities: "The Department
of State has been informed by the United States Minister at La Paz,
Bolivia, that Col. Pando sent 120 men to Ayopaya. On arriving at the
town of Mohoza, the commander demanded a loan of two hundred dollars
from the priest of the town, and one hundred dollars from the mayor.
These demands being refused, the priest and the mayor were
imprisoned. Meanwhile, however, the priest had despatched couriers to
the Indian village, asking that the natives attack Pando's men. A
large crowd of Indians came, and, in spite of all measures taken to
pacify them, the arms of the soldiers were taken away, the men
subjected to revolting treatment, and finally locked inside the
church for the night. In the morning the priest, after celebrating
the so-called 'mass of agony,' allowed the Indians to take out the
unfortunate victims, two by two, and 103 were deliberately murdered,
each pair by different tortures.
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![Through Five Republics On Horseback Being An Account Of Many Wanderings In South America By G. Whitfield Ray
- Referring to the
sacking and burning of Mr. Payne's possessions previously referred
to.]
Bolivia was one of the last of - Page 134](../images/travel.jpg)
