At eight o'clock on the morning of the 15th the great square was full of excited people. Cristóbal de Osorio, regarded as one of the chief oppressors of the archbishop, passed through it in his carriage and was recognized by some boys. Cries of "heretic," "excommunicated dog," and the like came lustily from their throats until Osorio, losing his temper, ordered his servants to chastise them. The boys defended themselves with stones, and at length forced the coachman to drive toward the palace for protection.[1] The viceroy, who was still in his bed, received a probably exaggerated account of the attack and ordered out the guard to the rescue. Though roughly handled at first, the boys were soon reënforced by others and at length joined by many of the idle men who flocked to the spot. Armed with sharp fragments of stone gathered from the spot where the cathedral was a-building, they soon forced the guard to retire within the palace gates, against which the mob, which had now assumed formidable proportions, threw itself. Gelves with characteristic valor would have sallied forth sword in hand, but from such a rash proceeding he was dissuaded by Admiral Cevallos and others who happened to be with him. He contented himself therefore with ordering the general call to arms to be sounded from the palace roof, and displaying from a window the pendant used during the negro trouble in 1612. The call of the trumpet served first to summon aid to the rabble, and, amidst the encouraging cries of his fellows, one of the crowd mounted a ladder and tore down the flag, which soon waved in triumph from one of the cathedral towers. But the rioters lost little time in idle demonstrations. Some busied themselves in an attempt to fire the palace gate, others sought to
- ↑ The author of the Relacion Sumaria says that the boys were urged on by a priest. Mex., Rel. Sum., 8. This was the theory of the causes of the tumult which Gelves and his friends endeavored to have adopted, and although later clergymen witnesses unanimously contradicted this, Doc. Hist. Mex., série ii. tom. ii. 275-345, there can be no doubt that the secular clergy was to a great extent responsible for the acts of the mob on this day.
