CAPTURED BY BRIGANDS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 95, 22 April 1922, Page 19

CAPTURED BY BRIGANDS.

BRITON'S ADVENTURE IN PATAGONIA.

MURDERERS FORM A "RED" ARMY.

An eye-witness account o_ the raids by brigands on ranches owned by British settlers In Patagonia has been sent to "The Dally Mall" by Mr. Hugo Lively, manager of an estate at Lago Tar, near Santa Cruz, who was taken prisoner but escaped after being 20 days in the brigands' hands.

The raids were organised by Toscano, a notorious brigand, whose object, it appears, was to establish a Red Republic in Patagonia on the Russian Soviet plan. He and three agitators of the local workmen's' union escaped from Santa Cruz prison to Lago Viedma, where they knew they would get aid from 25 escaped murderers, horse thieves, and loafers, to form the nucleus of the Red Army.

They raided all the farms In that district, seized horses, arms, and ammunition, took the farmers and foremen prisoners, and made all the workmen join them, whether they were willing or not. Then they passed over the mountains to Lago S Martin and Lago Tar, where other raids were carried out on the same scale.

Mr. Lively says: "I was captured about 7.30 on November 8, as I was talking with the British chaplain for the district, the Rev. J. Dennis de Vitrie, who was staying with mc. One of the farm boys ran into the house to say there was a body of armed men close at hand, and I had just time to get to the door when I found myself looking down the muzzles of 8 to 10 Winchesters in the hands of the roughest gang I have ever seen. 200 MILES MARCH.

"They took mc to a neighbouring farm where there were more of their prisoners. The British chaplain was left behind. Next morning, after raiding all the houses on the south side of the lake, they marched to the north side and repeated the process. They took mc to a bi_ German ranch which they absolutely 'cleaned out.' Later I went to the leader of this section of the movement (for it is general all over Patagonia, but not so well carried out as In our district), and asked to be released. The men, who are nearly all Chileans whom I knew, would have let mc go, as we have always been on the best of terms, but the leaders were Austrians and Spaniards who were aware that I counteracted some of their | Red propaganda.

"On November 1 they started a 200 miles march to Paso Ibanez, on the Rio Sante Cruz, and made an absolutely clean sweep of the country. They looted farms and stores of horses, motor-cars, tractors, arms, and pressed the workmen to join them. They called themselves 'Comrades of the Proletariat,' and every policeman, farmer, foreman, and bookkeeper were taken prisoner. At one place about 50 of the 'Comrades' took a village with 600 inhabitants without firing a shot.

"Of course, there were a few tragedies on the way down. Two or three workmen who would not join up were killed, and early one morning a young Englishman, Bobbins, a neighbour of mine, snatched a revolver from a Red's belt and blew his brains out.

"The first hitch occurred at Paso Ibanez,! where the 'Comrades' arrived about 800 strong, and with 4000 horses. Instead of the 'Comrades' of the south side of the river being In possession of the ferry, according to plan, there was a party of sailors from the Argentine warship Almirante Brown, armed with a machine gun. The officer in charge refused to parley with the revolutionaries until they had liberated their prisoners and handed over their arms.

"The Reds herded us in a shed, but we were not badly treated. There was plenty to eat and smoke from the looted stores.

"On November 21 the sailors started rifle I and macbine-gun fire into the \town across j the river, and about 100 sailors made an encircling movement. At the first splutter of fire, the Reds 'dissolved' into cellars, but about 50 of the hardest cases, armed with J Mausers taken from the police, made a! barricade of wool-bales across the main J istreet of the town and drove the prisoners! in front of them as a screen. With many!

•Vivas' for the Revolution, they gallantly awaited the onslaught, but not before telling us in no measured terms what would happen to us before the troops captured the place. Fortunately the officer in charge of the troops realised the situation and ceased fire, but the sailors on the south side of the river kept up a continuous fire all day. Marvellous to relate, there were no casualties. LIBERATION DEMAND. "On Novembei- 23 Colonel Varela, who is in command of Patagonia, sent word to the Reds that if all the prisoners were not liberated within 24 hours and all arms handed over, he would take the place by storm and for every prisoner killed he would shoot five Reds and everyone found with arms would be executed .immediately. Then the Reds told us that they were going to take us to the mountains. Several Reds, however, were in favour of discussing Colonel Varela's terms.

"At this time they were equally divided! whether they should keep us or cut our throats, but they pnt the matter to the vote. As a result they let us go out into the town to get some coffee before setting us free. Later the rumour spread that the Reds had another division, and they were now in favour of taking us back to the mountains. Two Scotsmen (one had been a prisoner of war in Germany for a year but preferred it to 20 days with the Patagonian Reds) and I decided to escape. We crawled past the Red sentries at the edge of the town, and after half walking, half running 21 miles we reached the sailors from the Almlrante Brown.

"Later the other prisoners arrived, and apparently the Reds had had about 20 divisions as to what to do with them. The next day the Reds evacuated Paso Ibanez and started their retreat with Colonel Varela and 50 of his men In pursuit. He first captured five of the Reds in charge of a Ford tractor loaded with Ammunition. Their hands were tied behind them and they were told to drive on. Of course, with the jolting of the car the prisoners fell out and were shot for 'attempting to escape.

Two of the leaders were told te dig the graves. Then they too were shot and buried with the rest. The South American method of putting down rebellion is not pretty. SUMMARY EXECUTION. "About five days later Colonel Tarela came up with the main body—about 500 — and after a. few shots they surrendered. The six ringleaders were shot at sight, and after sorting out the others, six to ten were shot every night. 1 arrived on the scene two days later when the Reds were reduced to 90, some 300 having been liberated. j

"The faces of the remainder were pitiful. I knew about half of them, and they looked at mc and begged for a word in thenfavour. 'For your mother's sake.' they said In Spanish, 'save me.' I was able to help one man, and did what I could for some others.

"How false the whole agitation was, was proved when the prisoners were searched. Some had £50 to £100 in their pockets in money or wages certificates, while others had certificates showing that they owned property worth more than that on the farms they had robbed in the Interests of the 'down-trodden proletariat.'

"Colonel Varela has captured another 500 Reds in Lago Argentina, and the district of Lago S. Martin is about to be searched for more. The situation is not quite normal, but Patagonia is having the cleaning up it has needed for so long."