“MONSTROUS AND ILLEGAL PROCEEDINGS”: LAW ...

convicted Rodrigues of the murder and sentenced him to “life imprisonment with labor.” 73
Teixeira appealed the case, again pointing out the deficiencies in the evidence. He further
filed a claim against Luis Ignacio Jacques, the delegado de policia leading the investigation, for
allegedly abusing his office in gathering evidence against the two men. 74
Both the local trial and the appeal offered Alegrete’s liberal faction with a golden
opportunity to justify the exclusion of their political rivals from the local government and
the judiciary. They seized the moment. The local Liberals transformed the trial into an
intensely public spectacle. The case involved dozens of witnesses. These “honorable
vizinhos” delved into every aspect of Rodrigues’ relationship with his son and the killers. This
testimony again appealed to traditional borderlands conceptions of litigation and proof. The
evidence also publicly articulated the balance of political forces around Alegrete’s
courthouse. The testimony aimed not only at obtaining a conviction. It also sought to push
Rodrigues and his progressista allies from the sinews of local power. At the most basic level,
Rodrigues had clearly violated norms of patriarchal honor. Whether he ordered the killing
or not, he had failed to maintain order in his own household. The result was a violent crime
that had disturbed the town. Given the fact that he had failed in the domestic sphere,
Rodrigues could not be trusted in the public one either. In contrast, officials in the town
could place themselves in the role of defending a defenseless victim. They also protected
public decency and order. In doing so, they could proclaim their fitness to rule the town to
the local population. They could also use the courts to communicate this fact to provincial
officials. The appeal before the provincially appointed juiz de direito offered an opportunity
73 Ibid.
74 Manoel Rodrigues da Silva e Alexandre da Cruz Santos c. Luis Ignacio Jacques, Delegado de
Policia deste termo, APRGS. Alegrete. Cartório Civil e Crime. Processos Crimes, Maço 89, n.
3100 (1871) [documents in the file were not numbered].
360