“MONSTROUS AND ILLEGAL PROCEEDINGS”: LAW ...

According to Freitas Valle’s complaint, however, Amaral seized upon the event in
order to attempt to influence the impending municipal elections. In the process, he
transformed what appeared at first to be a simple criminal act into a major political
battleground. As both a supporter of the Ribeiro faction and a member of the election
board, Freitas Valle represented a tempting target for Prado Lima’s supporters. Freitas Valle
argued that with the 1852 election approaching, Amaral, a supporter of the Liga’s candidates,
reopened the investigation. He issued a summons against him for “conspiracy to commit
attempted murder.” As Freitas Valle pointed out (correctly), conspiracy to commit
attempted murder was “a crime that has never existed.” 25 Convinced of his innocence,
Freitas Valle sought to continue to serve on the election board despite the charges pending
against him. On election day, however, Prado Lima appeared at Alegrete’s church with the
juiz de paz and several police officers. When Freitas Valle appeared to assume his post on the
election board, Prado Lima presented him with a warrant from Amaral and then placed him
under arrest. Despite Amaral’s actions, the Ribeiro faction triumphed in the 1852 elections.
The victory probably was cold comfort for Freitas Valle because he continued to languish in
prison a month afterwards.
However, the Ribeiro’s electoral victory ensured that the factional battle over the
Alegrete courthouse and Freitas Valle’s freedom was far from over. Freitas Valle’s attorney,
Mathias Teixeira de Almeida, petitioned the provincial president, João Lins Vieira Cansanção
de Sinimbú, to conduct a full investigation into the matter. Teixeira’s appearance in the
proceeding was no accident. Rather, Teixeira was a central figure in the Ribeiro faction’s
strategy to gain political control over Rio Grande do Sul’s borderlands. Born in Cruz Alta,
Teixeira only arrived in Alegrete after the end of the Farrapos War. The reasons for his
25 Ibid., at 14-14bis.
162