| Title: | Moore, Sally to Pettit, John, 1875 |
|---|---|
| ID | 4187 |
| Collection | Argentina - Pettit |
| File | pettit/27 |
| Year | 1875 |
| Sender | Moore, Sally |
| Sender Gender | female |
| Sender Occupation | unknown |
| Sender Religion | unknown |
| Origin | Buenos Aires, Argentina |
| Destination | Melbourne, Australia |
| Recipient | Pettit, John |
| Recipient Gender | male |
| Relationship | cousins |
| Source | |
| Archive | |
| Doc. No. | |
| Date | |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | |
| Log | unknown |
| Word Count | 1079 |
| Genre | politics, attack, family |
| Note | |
| Transcript | Buenos Aires, October 25th, 1875. Dear John, I received a letter from you I think dated in February of this year by which I was glad to hear that you are in good health. We are all well here thank God. You said in your letter that you wished mine did not so often take you news of deaths, and thanks be to God that I have not a terrible account to give you in this one. I saw by your letter that you had heard of the revolution that had broken out here after so many years of peace, it has been fortunately put down, as it would be a bad example for the future if the rebels had triumphed, although the present government is not as good as it might be, at the time that the revolution commenced Mamma was out in the Camp with Maggie’s little son Patricio I think at my brother John’s, when on the sixteenth of October the place was attacked by three ruffians. John not suspecting them of bad intentions went out to speak to them, they pretended to be government men collecting horses for the troops but they soon showed their intention, the leader fired three shots at John whilst he was standing at his horses head, after the first or second John caught his horses reins and tried to upset the fellow and at the same time to defend himself by getting under the horse neck, but the third shot went in under his shoulder, at the sound of the my sister in law and Mamma ran out, the fellows then rushed to the house but John and all those who were outside that is Martha, Mama, a servant girl, an Irishman and the children got in and were followed by a lot of bullets, two men remained outside but the poor fellows hid themselves, the robbers then galloped down through the trees evidently to see if there were any more men about the place, after satisfying themselves on that point they returned to break in the house but John had his revolver and they put matrasses to the doors to keep out the balls, one door was all that they attacked they broke it in and one of them attempting to come in the man inside met him with an iron bar which made retreat. John fired through the shutters and through a side window one of his shots killed one of them and they think that another of them was wounded before they went away, leaving the dead man in the yard and threatening to come back with others and to cut all their throats. Poor John wounded as he was mounted the dead man’s horse and telling the family to hide in the weeds went away to collect the neighbours but they did not return. John was bad for some days from the wound, the ball has not been extracted, he has seen three doctors, they were all of the opinion that he may never feel it, it must have settled in the flesh near the backbone, so my dear cousin you see how very near I was to have to tell you of many more deaths, for certainly they would have murdered everyone in the place if they had succeeded in killing Johnnie at first. The fellows have not been taken, the man killed was a policeman from the village near Johns he had asked permission for four hours leave of absence that day. Mamma is out there again now after all the fright, we expect her in soon. All our relations are well. Fanny comes often to see us she is living in town. It is well for you that live in a quiet country, this place is getting worse and worse. On the 28th of February last a lot of rabble held a meeting and went to the palace of the Archbishop and not finding him there broke and destroyed several things. It is believed that had they found the Archbishop they would have murdered him. From there they the church of St Ignatius, here they broke some benches and made a noise and from there they went to the Jesuit College of the Salvador, a splendid building, the Rector and some more of the priests went to speak to them but were met with clubs and sticks, some of the fathers escaped over the walls and more of them were left for dead but fortunately those wounded recovered although it took some time, they then robbed and destroyed and finally set the whole place on fire, it burned for part of two days. Things were then restored to quietness some of the leaders were imprisoned but were soon liberated which showed that the authorities winked at the whole affair. The Fathers are endeavouring to rebuild their college but there is no security but the same thing may occur again although they have the sons of the Sirs families in their College. To make amends for all this we have a splendid season. There is plenty of grass and water in the camp and if the wool brings a good price all past troubles will be forgotten. Our little place here is like a little paradise with flowers, and only for the loss of poor Patricio we would be very happy but there is a gloom over the place ever since his death which will never leave it, he was the life of the place but God’s will be done, poor Mamma finds a consolation in her other sons, she paid a visit to Robert and now to John, it does her good to go out now and then, she is always happy when she is with Johnnie, for some years past she had been suffering very much from rheumatic pains, but lately she is much better, she says that the fright that the robbers gave her did her good that she is better ever since. Now my dear John I have told you all that I thought might interest you all excepting on business, on this subject I know nothing. I am not a business woman I hear people say that business is very bad and this is all that I know about the matter. Write soon and forgive me for delaying to write so long I promise to write soon after I receive your next. I remain your affectionate cousin, Sally Moore |
