Hamlet’s Lament - The Scramble for the Amazon and the Lost Paradise of Euclides da Cunha - page 374

rubbermonopolywasfailing, buttherewasthenewpresence ofthenation: anextension
of order, of civilization, where the conflicts were increasingly supposed to be mediated
bylocal state officials ratherthanthe seringalista militias andgunslingers ofthefrontier
heyday.
Solon lived in the village of Tarauacá, in the core of Acre Territory, just as the boom
was winding down. He was a type of sheriff's deputy and was much liked in the little
town. He apparently had a fiancée, friends, and “tender esteem,” as the scribe who ac-
companied him to his death put it—a world well apart from the intrigues he had been
living. My account is taken from the reportage of this scribe, Sancho Pinto Ferreira
Gomes. 5
In April 1916, Solon was sent to open an inquiry and to take into custody those ac-
cusedofthreemurdersinabackwoodsvendetta,henchmenofthepowerfulCorrea-Lima
family, an influential trading and estate owning clan. According to the weekly journal
of Tarauacá, O Jornal Oficial , three seringalistas from the estates of Sant'anna, Mira
Flores, and Sta. Cruz organized an ambush of the police delegation in order to protect
their gunslingers. As reported in the journal by the police scribe, the group managed to
capturetwooftheperpetratorsandtookthemprisoner.Theyarrivedata barracão called
Ambrosio. A quick reconnaissance revealed four men hidden inside, waiting with rifles
poised,“readytoresistwhoevermightarrive.”Themenwhohadearlierbeentakenpris-
oner by the sheriff's delegation were in fact part of a ruse arranged by the ambushers
to warn them of the police arrival and to interfere with the strike force. As the deputies
entered the open patio in front of the trading post, a cry would be given, and the men
inside would have their rifles at the ready and the hapless lawmen in their sights.
Solon went up the stairs of the trading post, announcing that he was a delegate of the
police, at which time two of the men opened fire. The volley from Francisco Leandro
hitSoloninthemiddle ofhisbelly.Thoughwounded,Solonblasted hisopponentwitha
shottothechest,killinghim,andorderedthearmymenwithhimtofire,whichtheydid,
taking down Solon's other assailant. The other two men inside the post fled the scene.
Less than an hour away by foot, another group of nine men, armed and ready, awaited
this delegation in ambush, at least according to one of their prisoners.
Outnumbered and with the mortally wounded Solon to attend to, the police resolved
to leave as quickly as possible. A couple of men were dispatched to Mira Flores Estate
to seek medical help. Solon was placed in a hammock and carried through the rubber
forests for several hours toward the trading post known as Revolta. After three hours, he
asked the men carrying him to stop. He said he was almost blind, and then with a long
sigh said, “Aí, meu pai”—a cry of pain and a whimper for the comfort of his father. But
aí has another meaning: “here,” or “there you have it, it's done”—his death, an offering,
or perhaps both. The men walked until one in the morning through, as Ferreira Gomes