The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 45, July 1941 - April, 1942 Page: 7

The Laredo City Election and Riot of 1886

a native of Laredo, his family having long been residents of
the town, and he had for many years served as sheriff of the
county. He was actively assisted in his political directions by
Stephen Boyard, then city marshal, a Louisiana creole from
New Orleans.
Society was enjoying many affairs. The Wizard Oil Company
was showing in the old opera house over the City Hall, and a
roller-skating rink was being operated in the same building
under the management of Mr. Fly, who had expert skaters
exhibiting at times, with a band for the entertainment of his
patrons.8 Turner Hall had just been redecorated and was "as
elegant and recherche as the boudoir of a new York belle."9
Those were the romantic horse and buggy days, and any bright
afternoon the carriage of W. H. Kenner, with coachman "Nigger
Dick" handling the reins, could be seen around the Plaza. The
tightly-drawn lines of the coming political contest for city offices
had even reached to the young lovers by this time, and caused
the Laredo Times to grow poetic with the following verse:
Ill fares the hapless Bota youth today,
Whose novia treads the wild Guarache way!
Nor better he who by the sole of sandal swears,
Whose dulce corazdn the Bota wears.'0
The two local political parties had worked themselves up to
fever heat by the time of the city election of that year, and
the campaign ended with a quiet and peaceful election on April
6, 1886, to be followed next day by the most sanguinary politi-
cal battle the border has yet known. The whole campaign and
election, with its bloody ending, may be summed up with
"Votes and Victory! Vanity and Violence !"
At the opening of the campaign for the city election in April,
J. M. Rodriguez, a leader among the Botas, and whose father
had fought under Houston at San Jacinto, was county judge
of Webb County. Dario GonzAlez, the head of the Guarache
party, who had served many years as sheriff, had just been
ousted from office, and Dario SAnchez, a Bota, named in his
stead. Mr. SAnchez had held the office of mayor, and on his
being appointed sheriff, Hon. E. A. Atlee, a lawyer and a "Bota,"
SLaredo Times, February 7, 1886.
9lbid., January 31, 1886.
'oThe words novia and dulce corazdn are equivalent to the English word
"sweetheart."