Law Of The Bullet.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18550, 25 August 1928, Page 19 (Supplement)

Law Of The Bullet.

Rules in Diamond Diggings.

The Story Behind a Bald Cable.

ris a thrilling story of life in the raw that lies behind a bald cablegram from Rio de Janeiro, which was published last week. It is a tale of untold riches, greed, robbery, murder and a peaceful rancher who has shown himself to be the Cecil Rhodes of Brazil. Last week a cablegram announced the outbreak of a rebellion, with rioting «nd murders, in the diamond regions in the States of Matto Grosso and Goyaz. Several towns had been looted by enraged natives, who had been paid with counterfeit money by prospectors.

The brewing conflict came to a head •Twelve years ago. Tt was near the‘end of the wet season when a few scattered forerunners of the annual influx of diggers brought news to Dr Morbeck that armed Goyanos were gathering in the border town of Rio Bonito for their long-threatened raid across the State line. Dr Morbeck realised that only prompt and clever strategy' could prevent a bloody contest for possession of the diamond-bearing rivers. He rode desperately* the hundred miles to Registro, the nearest permanent settlement, located on the Araguaya River, on the edge of the unmapped Indian country. There he established an entente with his friend -Alphonso, Chefe Politico of the community’, and between them they enlisted the co-opera-tion of a group of Bororo warriors from the neighbouring Indian village of Coracao Sagrado. . By' the time Dr Morbeck got back to the Rio das Garcas fields with his

New York papers just to hand give details of the situation which was then developing, and tell a story which had its beginning twenty-five years ago. Writing in the “ New York HeraldTribune," Francis Gow Smith, leader of a recent expedition to study the Indians of Brazil, described the conditions reigning on the diamond fields. Two years ago there was a revolt at Cassununga, from which one of the most interesting political leaders in Latin America arose. He was Don Jose Morbeck, and out of the conflict he rose to supreme dictatorship of the

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diamond diggings; but Dr Morbeck has an opponent. Jaoa de Souza, surly and domineering Chefe Politico of a ■\-illagc on the Araguaya River. De Souza, represents the ambitions of the Brazilian State of Para, bitter rival of Matto Grosso, in which Dr Morbeck’s power is rooted.

sharp-shooting frontiersmen from Registro and their Indian allies, he found that the diggings around Cassununga and along the Rio Diamantino had al ready been appropriated by the raiding Goyanos. They' had posted armed men at the more productive lavras! rcadv to dnve back the regular diamond dig gers when they arrived with the begin ning of the dry season.

“ There Can be little doubt concerning the outcome of a clash between Joao de Souza and Dr Jose Morbeck, for. De Souza rules bis followers by fear, while Dr Morbeck has repeatedly proved that the loyalty of his supporters- rests on a democratic sympathy,” writes Mr Smith. “ Indeed, while Dr Morbeck is the de tacto Czar of an inland empire of gems and gold, there is nothing of the traditional dictator about him. He is an unassuming, frank and friendly indivi-dual-about sixty years old v who gives vent to-the volcanic fires of his inner nature only when the best interests of his’ illiterate followers in the diamond diggings are threatened. . Dr Morbeck is ;to * Matto Grosso what Cecil Rhodes was to South Africa. He is ; the-Mussolini of . the diamond diggings. Within his own domain of jungle, swamp and plain, he exercises greater power than any ruler in the western hemisphere. He is a man to hew an empire from the wilderness, and he is inspired not by craving for fame or fortune, by dreams of a prosperous, stable civilisation that will cover Matto Grosso with farms and cities when the present hfytic' era of gold and diamonds is forgotten. For diamonds and gold he considers the curse of Matto Grosso. Yet, oddly enough, it is the diamond industry on which he has built his unique political position.”

But for Dr Morbeck’s clever strategy the situation would have developed into open and bloody warfare. He and his little force swept down the rivers preceded by a skirmish line of or ore Indians, who had been thoroughly schooled in their role. They were tc prowl about the Goyanos’ outposts, fire arrows from ambush into their midst, and strike terror into the raiders hearts with war cries and fleeting: manoeuvres through the jungle, without'actually attacking them. This stratagem had instant effect The. Goyanos knew that the Bororc Indians were only a generation re moved from the time they killed whites for the sake of jawbones to add tc their necklaces. Fearing they would be caught in an Indian uprising, the in vaders melted swiftly away, while Dr Morbeck and his friends from Registry took up their trail and harried their retreat into Goyaz.

With a minimum of casualties, D Morbeck had checked the Goyanos overt attempt to appropriate the fields It was the final proof of his cleve: leadership, and left him the undisputed master of the Cassununga region.

Some idea of the lawlesnsses of th< region may lie gained from an incident related by Mr Smith, who says that whilst he was visiting Matto Grosso, e troublesome criminal was releasee from gaol and allowed to run for free dom, while irate citizens took pot-shot at him—‘‘with promptly fatal results.’

Twenty-five years ago. Dr Morbeck was a simple rancher. Then a German scientist discovered diamonds in the banks of the Rio das Garcas. on the edge of Dr Morbeck's property. Word of the strike filtered back to Bahia. Dr Morbeck's native State, and brought a flood of fortune-hunters. Familiar with the black diamond industry of their own region, they set about to exploit the new white diamond diggings thoroughly. Mushroom towns sprang up all around Dr Morbeck’s peaceful ranch, and soon such wild lawlessness prevailed that Dr Morbeek was compelled to take a hand and enforce law and order where the police of Matto Grosso were powerless. His fiery energy won the admiration of the adventurers from Bahia, and soon he had rallied around him a corps, of able lieutenants who policed the mushroom towns and kept down the worst of the feuds over rival claims.

Dr Morbeck’s rule is maintained by the loyalty' of the diggers as much a. c by his quick-triggered lieutenants. Following a further expedition against •Dr Morbeck, in which the raiders were allowed to enter Dr Mor beckLs town unopposed, and were deci mated from ambush, the Governor of Matto Grosso personally sent an offi cial force to arrest Dr Morbeck, on charges of sedition. “In Registro I met a body of a hundred armed men who were going to his defence; but Dr Mor beck voluntarily surrendered,” writes Mr Smith. He was taken down to Rio. to stand trial, and there he made such an eloquent plea in his own defence and on behalf of the misunderstood diamond diggers, that he was sent back to Santa Rita to carry' on his work in his own way. A new governor now governs Matto Grosso, and he works ip the closest harmony' with the Mussolini of the diamond diggings, while the diggers themselves worship him.” Dr Morbeck dreams of a prosperous future for his land, with its agricultural and pastoral worth fully realised.

Barely had he established a semblance of peace, however, when a new threat arose. The inhabitants of the State of Goyaz. just across the Araguaya River from the diamond diggings, began to look with covetous eyes upon this vast source of wealth. Reports reached Dr Morbeck that the Goyanos were preparing for a raid that would extend the boundaries of Goyaz to include the diamond fields. Ilis anger agaiust the Goyanos was increased by their robbery of the dia-

Mr Smith concludes: “Dr Morbeck probably will not live to see the civilisation along the Araguaya that he dreams of, but in future generations his name will be written large as one of the great pioneers of America’s last frontier.”

mond diggers,* who crossed the Goyaz on their return to Bahia each year when the end of the dry season terminated their work in the river beds. One powerful rancher in Goyaz began to play' the-role of robber baron. Many of the migrant Bahianos, laden with six months’ trove of precious stones; disappeared near his ranch. Yet the State of Goyaz took no action.