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on several polo-playing board members. The British Rail Overseas Corporation

promised to send high-ranking officials to Buenos Aires on the next available

crossing to further discuss the matter with their associates there. The general

was assured that his expertise and connections would be invaluable to the

corporation and that contact would be made immediately upon his return to

South America.

The horn of plenty spread its bounty over the rich lands of Buenos

Recuerdos for the next three years. Through the general’s diligence and

painstaking attention to detail, a modern industrial and agricultural revolution

took place right there in Pergamino.

Figueroa San Marco had been able to convince the Englishmen to use his

own expansive lands as an experimental testing ground. Some seventy miles

of track were laid as a trunk spur from the main estancia compound to a site

on the Parana River, just south of the town of San Nicholas de los Arroyos.

This location became the terminus and deep-water port for the general’s own

exported goods. A slaughterhouse, tannery, grain mill, and cotton gin all

became integral operating facets of ‘Port San Marco.’

The financial viability of such a project quickly became evident to the

British Rail operators. They were dazzled by General San Marco’s resourcefulness.

One full year had not elapsed since the first railway tie had been laid at Buenos

Recuerdos, but Wendel Barrington Thompson had already seen enough. He

pleaded with the general to open negotiations immediately with the Argentine

government to secure vast tracts of land for rail expansion.

At this point in his life, Figueroa San Marco had all but retired from active

military duty. He preferred to spend his time overseeing the hands-on toils at

his rapidly developing estancia and seaport, and when necessary, traveling to

the capital to lobby government officials in an effort to achieve more favorable

trade tariffs for foreign governments.

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It was in his new capacity as a paid lobbyist that the general first opened

discussions with President Julio Argentino Roca concerning the tremendous

economic benefits that Argentina could derive should the Pampas be extensively

and efficiently connected to the ports of Rosario and Buenos Aires by means of

expanded rail service. Roca was impressed with the forecasts and statistics and

promised to inform the Minister of the Interior of the British Rail proposal.

Lonfranco De Seta was the general’s constant companion in each and

every aspect of this complicated puzzle. The boy had learned to type, and

this enabled the general to dictate and courier off memos or dispatches on a

moment’s notice.

The former ‘pick and shovel man’ was appointed executive assistant to

the general at a large formal dinner in his behalf at Casa San Marco in Buenos

Aires. There was no area of the family business of which the young Italian did

not have intimate knowledge.

Still, the newly appointed executive assistant had trouble understanding

why he deserved to be so fortunate, when he had really given the general and

his family little more than devotion and hard work in return. The continual

affection and respect showered upon him made the equation even harder to

solve. There was not one thing that he longed for, be it spiritual, emotional, or

material. He could honestly say that he had never been happier!

Nothing could have prepared him for the explosive end to this idyllic life

one beautiful Sunday morning, in November of 1905.

5

The Argentine political landscape at the turn of the century was, for the

most part, one of ‘peace and efficient administration,’ brought forth by

the ruling National Autonomist Party.

This was definitely a pro-capitalist regime and broad expansion of

the economy was courted with the use of foreign capital. But not everyone

prospered during the mandate of President Julio Argentino Roca, and civil

unrest intensified under the guise of a new populist political party, The Radical

Social Union.

Initially, the R.S.U. was nonviolent in its attempts to lure voters to their

platform, but 1905 brought rampant inflation and an economic downturn to

the country that hit the working classes the hardest. Demonstrations and minor

disruptions of public services gave way to bombings of government facilities and

kidnappings of high-ranking officials. In desperation, President Roca turned to

the one man he felt could take charge of the situation and restore law and order,

General Figueroa San Marco.

The general had initially protested that he was all but retired from

military affairs and preferred to have a younger man cut his teeth on this latest

crisis. President Roca could not be swayed, however, insisting that the general’s

high profile as a war hero and economic miracle worker could allay the peoples’

fears of a full-scale revolution.

Roca was also aware that the general possessed the ruthlessness to use

whatever force required to achieve the destruction of the R.S.U., if he was

pressed to do so.

To sweeten the reward, Roca promised the general all remaining lands

required by the British Rail investors if he succeeded in bringing an end to the

upheaval. Roca swore that this would enable San Marco to retire to his business

interests full-time, with an even greater public profile.

“Perhaps a great political career could be in the general’s future, if he so

desired. Why, even the presidency could be within your grasp. I certainly do

not plan to be here forever!” Roca eluded.

There was nothing San Marco could do but heed the call of his president

in a time of great turmoil. An assassination attempt on the life of the Minister

of the Interior the very next day brought home the urgency of the situation.

The general mobilized the army, arrested thousands of suspected subversives,

JAMES McCREATH

placed a curfew on the streets of Buenos Aires from dusk until dawn, and

banned all public gathering.

The harsh measures were supported by the majority of Porteños, who were

anxious to restore economic stability and not discourage the influx of foreign

capital.

It was one bloody confrontation with a large group of R.S.U. activists that

turned the tide of the struggle in the government’s favor. The army had been

tipped off by a paid informer that the leadership of the R.S.U. was holding

a strategy meeting at an old bull fighting stadium in the Monserrat Barrio.

Several hundred supporters would also be present to handle security.

General San Marco gave the orders to allow the meeting to take place.

Once the subversives were inside the stadium, the army closed off all the escape

routes, jammed the streets in the surrounding area with artillery loaded with

grapeshot, backed the artillery up with mounted cavalry, then set fire to the

stadium. The result was nothing but a slaughter. There were only a handful

of survivors when all the shooting stopped. The hierarchy of the R.S.U. was

wiped out completely, and it ceased to be a political or terrorist force from that

day on.

General San Marco was hailed as a hero and the savior of Argentina’s

economic prosperity by President Roca. For his part, the general did not relish

the means by which he had accomplished the demise of the R.S.U., but he was

happy that the ordeal was concluded, and that he would be able to retire fully

from military life as the president had promised.

Because of the spring planting season, Lonfranco had remained at Buenos

Recuerdos to oversee the work schedule and tend to other business in his

employer’s absence. He was mildly troubled by the general’s last visit to the

estancia, just days before he assumed his new military duties for President

Roca.

There had been something different about the man, a melancholy

sentiment that Lonfranco had never witnessed before. He had left his assistant

an extended list of duties to fulfill, leaving behind his personal diaries and

notes in Lonfranco’s care for ‘safekeeping.’

Their last night together was spent under the stars, with Roc Sena and

his guitar along to provide musical accompaniment. The three men sang and

drank and talked about old times with a lingering sadness rather than the

usual lusty bravado. At one point, without saying a word, the general turned to

Lonfranco, extending his hands. The younger man was stunned for a moment,

but he finally extended his own, grasping those of the general. They sat in

silence for more than a minute before San Marco spoke.

“You will never know how much pleasure you have brought me, Lonfranco.

You are the son I never had. As God is my witness, there is no man that ever

meant more to me than you.”

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Their eyes met for an instant before the general withdrew his hands. He

called for his favorite guitar medley, “Estilo Pampeano,” from Roc Sena to make

the mood more upbeat, but Lonfranco swore that he had seen tears in the older

man’s eyes as the general turned to put another log on the fire. When Lonfranco

arose the next morning, the old warrior had already departed for the capital.

Señora San Marco insisted on staying in Buenos Aires with her three

youngest daughters so that they could complete their school terms and lead as

normal an existence as possible during the hostilities. The general grudgingly

acquiesced, insisting on around-the-clock military guards and escorts for his

family. Only Maria, who had returned to France for her final year of studies two

months prior, was unaffected by the political situation at home.

The first Sunday after the slaughter at the bullring, President Roca

extended an invitation to the general and his family to worship with him at the

Cathedral Metropolitana. He told the general that it would be a good display

of public unity and also allow his adoring public one last glimpse of the famed

military hero before he withdrew into the private sector.

It was an offer that the general could not readily refuse. He adorned

himself in full military regalia, hitched up his most ornate open carriage, and

with his four ladies in their resplendent Sunday gowns, set off for what he

hoped would be his final command performance.

All went according to plan initially. A large, friendly crowd lined the

streets surrounding the cathedral in anticipation of the arrival of the president

and his revered military guest. Usually the general and his family worshipped at

the smaller basilica in Palermo without much fuss or bother. But his daughters

were enjoying the pageantry of the morning, with many of the city’s social elite

joining the procession of carriages that inched towards the foot of the great

cathedral’s steps.

Soldiers held the swelling crowd back from the edge of the plaza that

surrounded the great building. Officers in their finest uniforms, along with

mounted police of the President’s Guard, formed a corridor through which each

of the dignitaries would pass.

As the general’s carriage neared the point of embarkation, a commotion

erupted in the throng of people to their immediate right. Several gunshots rang

out and screams of panic filled the air. While a platoon of soldiers converged on

the troublesome area, a man on the opposite side of the plaza stepped out of the

crowd and followed the flow of the extra troopers. He took a long drag on the

cigar that he was smoking, then reached into his sachel and lit the short fuse

of a melon-size bomb.

The man was now beside the general’s carriage, and he calmly tossed the

explosive device onto its floor. The general, who was standing but facing the

opposite direction, turned just in time to meet the man’s glare, and hear him

snarl, “Death to all enemies of the people!”

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The explosion was ear-shattering, and its effects horrific. The general and

his family didn’t stand a chance of survival. In total, twelve people were killed

by the deadly blast.

The subsequent investigation showed that the attacker was a member of

the R.S.U., who had lost two brothers during the bullring massacre. He did

not survive the bomb’s devastation either, which was obviously his intention.

The gunshots and commotion in the crowd had been a planned diversionary act

which had worked to perfection.

No arrests were made at the site of the assassination. However, President

Roca imposed a city-wide curfew for two days that enabled the security forces to

incarcerate several hundred suspects. Many never walked the streets of Buenos

Aires as free men again.

General Figueroa San Marco, his wife, and their three daughters were

given a state funeral of the highest honor and laid to rest in a hero’s crypt in the

elite Recoleta Cemetery.