João Pina, however, explained clearly and eloquently that these decrees were a hoax, a mere face-saving gesture. Two hours later Porfírio was deposed and João Pina assumed the heavy burden of government. Pina found copies of the proclamation to the people, the explanatory statement to the Viceroy, and other documents issued by his predecessor. He had new originals made and sent them out over his own name and signature. The chronicles note that the wording of the new documents was a little different. For example, where the other barber had spoken of “a corrupt and irresponsible Town Council,” João Pina spoke of “a body contaminated by French doctrines wholly contrary to the sacrosanct interests of His Majesty.”

The new dictator barely had time to dispatch the documents when a military force sent by the Viceroy entered the town and restored order. At the alienist’s request, the troops immediately handed over to him Porfírio and some fifty other persons, and promised to deliver seventeen more of the barber’s followers as soon as they had sufficiently recovered from their wounds.

This period in the crisis of Itaguai represents the culmination of Simão Bacamarte’s influence. He got whatever he wanted. For example, the Town Council, now reëstablished, promptly consented to have Sebastião Freitas committed to the asylum. The alienist had requested this in view of the extraordinary inconsistency of the Councilman’s opinions, which Bacamarte considered a clear sign of mental illness. Subsequently the same thing happened to Crispim Soares. When the alienist learned that his close friend and staunch supporter had suddenly gone over to the side of the Stewed Corners, he ordered him to be seized and taken to the Green House. The druggist did not deny his switch of allegiance but explained that he had been motivated by an overwhelming fear of the new government. Simão Bacamarte accepted the explanation as true; he pointed out, however, that fear is a common symptom of mental abnormality.

Perhaps the most striking proof of the alienist’s influence was the docility with which the Town Council surrendered to him its own President. This worthy official had declared that the affront to the Council could be washed away only by the blood of the Stewed Corners. Bacamarte learned of this through the Secretary of the Council, who repeated the President’s words with immense enthusiasm. The alienist first committed the Secretary to the Green House and then proceeded to the town hall. He told the Council that its President was suffering from hemoferal mania, an illness that he planned to study in depth, with, he hoped, immense benefit to the world. The Council hesitated for a moment and then acquiesced.