Specifications of Grievances of the Filipinos.
An Official Copy of the Manifesto of the Junta Showing the Bad Faith
of Spain in the Making and Evasion of a Treaty--The Declaration
of the Renewal of the War of Rebellion--Complaints Against the
Priests Defined--The Most Important Document the Filipinos Have
Issued--Official Reports of Cases of Persecution of Men and Women in
Manila by the Spanish Authorities--Memoranda of the Proceedings in
Several Cases in the Court of Inquiry of the United States Officers.
The pages following, showing a cynical disregard of a solemn treaty
by the Spaniards, a complete exposure of the reasons the Filipinos had
for renewing the war, and the particulars of cases of individual wrongs
suffered, as they were made known in the course of legal investigation,
have been received direct from Manila, and enable us to complete the
story of the Philippines with the testimony that the depravity of bad
faith in regard to treaties, and incidents of personal cruelties in
Spanish colonial governments, have illustrations in the Philippines
as in Cuba, and demand of the American Nation in the hour of victory
that Spain shall lose now and forever all her possessions in the East
and West Indies, and be restricted to the peninsula and islands--the
Canary and Balearic groups--that is, in two words to home rule. The
circumstances of the treaty between the Philippine Junta--the treaty
of Biyak--and the Spanish authorities, are of great notoriety, but
the Philippine story has not until now reached the English speaking
peoples. We give it from the official paper:
"On signing the Treaty of Biyak na bato, we, the natives of the
Philippines and the government of Spain, agreed that between our
armies be established an armistice which was to last three years from
the date of the mentioned treaty.
"The natives were to lay down their arms and turn them over to the
Spanish authorities with all their depot (maestranza, a manufactory
of ammunition, for repairs of rifles, etc., etc.) their ammunitions
and forts.
"The Spanish authorities, on the other hand, bound themselves to
consent to the reforms (of public opinion amongst) the natives of the
country claim; reforms which, according to the text of the decree of
9th August, 1897, the Captain and Guberno General assured us were
granted and the execution of which was suspended on account of the
insurrection.
"The reforms asked for and granted were the following:
1. Expulsion or at least exclaustration of the religious orders.
2. Representation of the Philippines in the Spanish Cortes.
3. Application of real justice in the Philippines, equal for the
Indian and for the Peninsular. Unity of laws between Spain and the
Philippines. Participation of the Indians in the chief offices of
the Civil Administration.
4. Adjustment of the property of the Parishes (church property)
and of contributions in favor of the Indians.
5. Proclamation of the individual rights of the Indians, as also of
the liberty of the press and of association.
"The same Spanish government agreed to pay the liberating government a
war indemnity, reduced to the limited sum of 600,000 pesos, in payment
of the arms, ammunitions, depots and forts which were surrendered,
and in order to indemnify those who were to be obliged to live abroad
during the term of the armistice, as an assistance to stay out of
the Philippines while they were trying to establish themselves and
looking for legitimate and decorous means of existence.
"It was agreed in like manner that General Don Fernando Primo de
Rivera, Goberno General of the islands, should remain in his post
during the time of the armistice, as a guarantee that the reforms
be established.
"And, finally, said authority promised that he would propose and
there would be conceded a very ample amnesty.
"Contrary to what was stipulated, the mentioned General was removed
from his post shortly after the agreement was signed; and although
the liberating government had fulfilled the laying down and delivery
of the arms, ammunitions, depot and forts of its general encampment,
the reforms were not established, only part of the offered indemnity
has been paid and the amnesty remains a project only, some pardons
being given.
"The government of Madrid, deriding the natives, and with contempt
of what had signed as a gentleman the General Commander of their
army in the field, tried, instead of carrying out the expulsion or
exclaustration of the Priests, to elevate them more, nominating at
once for the two bishoprics, vacant in the colonies, two Priests
of those same religious orders that oppressed the country and were
the first cause of the insurrection, the disorder and the general
dissatisfaction in the islands; thus ridiculing the virtue, knowledge
and worth of the numerous secular Spanish clergy, and especially of
that of the Philippines.
"Not contented with this, they have raised and rewarded those
Peninsulars who in the Philippines, as in Madrid, more cowardly and
miserable still, because they abused their position and the protection
of those same authorities who signed the treaty, insulted at banquets,
assemblies and through the press, with epithets and jokes offensive and
vulgar, the patient natives; as happened with the Peninsular Rafael
Comenge, the protege and farcical table companion of the Priest,
who amongst us performs the duties of the Archbishopric of Manila;
the Minister of War has just conceded the said Comenge the grand
cross of military merit, for shouting against us and imputing to
us every kind of baseness and vices, knowing that he was lying, and
for exacting from the gamblers of the Casino Espanol of Manila, as
their president; the contribution of 30,000 pesos, to present General
Primo de Rivera with a golden statute of that value, and, a curious
coincident, this brave was one of the first who escaped from Manila,
full of fear when the news arrived there that an American squadron
would attack that port and that the risk he would run was real.
"You have seen before now, how that insect Wencestao Retana was
rewarded with a cooked up deputyship to the Cortes, that salaried
reptile of the Philippine convents, who, with the aid of that tyrant
General Weyler, his worthy godfather, the despotic incendiary of
the town of Calamba, of ominous memory amongst us, does nothing but
vomit rabid foam, insulting us by day and night with calumnies and
shrieks, in that paper whose expenses the Procurators of the Manila
convents pay.
"Prepare yourselves also for seeing that a titled nobility be given
to the well known 'Quioguiap' (fecer y Temprado), writer in the
'El Liberat,' of Madrid, who, to be in unison with the priests,
does not cease to call us inferior race, troglodytes, without human
nature or understanding, big boy; the same who, in order to deprive
the rich 'Abellas' (father and son) of Carnarines, of the position
they had conquered by their industry, economy and intelligence as
almost exclusive purchasers of the Abaco (Manila hemp) of that region,
tried and succeeded villainously in having them accused and shot in the
camp of Bagumbayan; the same who afterwards sought in vain the reward
of his criminal attempts, although conscious of his perverseness,
to deliver to himself the produce of their harvest and their labor.
"Peace was hardly made, when General Primo de Rivera denied the
existence of the agreement and shot day after day those same persons
whom he had promised to protect, believing foolishly that, the nucleus
of the revolution once destroyed, the insurgents would need thirty or
forty years in order to reunite themselves; but he accepted freely
the pension of the grand cross of San Fernando, which, as a reward
for the peace, he was given.
"The same happened with bloodthirsty Monet, the author of the hecatomb
of Zambales, who was promoted to the rank of a general and honored
by a grand cross; also with his competitor in brutal deeds, General
Tejeirs, the assassin of the Bisayos, and with the Vice Admiral
Montojo, so severely punished later on, by whose orders the city of
Cebu was destroyed and demolished, to revenge the death of an impure
Recoleto Priest.
"In eloquent contrast with what the natives had to expect, there has
not been one single concession or reward for the credulous Pedro
A. Paterno, a Filipino, the only real agent of the miracle of the
Peace, to whom they have denied even the modest historical title
'Maguinong' (Don).
"Add to all these infamies and indignities the removal of General
Primo de Rivera, who, we repeat, was bound to remain in Manila during
the three years of the armistice, and the nomination in his stead of
another governor, General Augusti, who, completely without knowledge of
the country, brought with him as his counsellor the unworthy Colonel
Olive, the same who had proceeded with the utmost haste and greatest
partiality and passion against the pretended chieftains, authors,
protectors and followers of the sacred movement begun in August, 1896;
who had, as military prosecutor for the 'Captain General,' exacted
with insolent cynicism, and with the knowledge and consent of his
superior officers, considerable sums of money from those who wished to
be absolved, in order to imprison them again when they did not comply
with all his extortions; the same who, with shameless partiality
worked and used his influence all he could towards the shooting of
the immortal Tagalo martyr, Dr. Jose Rizal; the same finally, who,
during the command of weak General Blanco and of bloodthirsty and
base General Polariyi demanded continually the imprisoning of the
so-called 'Sons of the Country,' the descendants of the Europeans,
that is, who had amongst us any importance by their learning, their
industry, their fortunes or their lineage, and who were not willing
to bribe him so as to be left in liberty.
"In view of this series of acts of faithlessness, of contempt, of
insults, of crimes, and before all, the forgetting of the treaty,
so recently as well as solemnly entered upon, those same who signed
the treaty of Biyak na bato, have considered themselves free of the
obligation to remain abroad and of keeping any longer the promised
armistice.
"And, taking advantage of the Providential coming to the Philippines
of the revenging squadron of the Great Republic of the United States
of North America, they come back to their native soil proud and
contented, to reconquer their liberty and their rights, counting
on the aid and protection of the brave, decided, and noble Admiral
Dewey, of the Anglo-Saxon squadron which has succeeded in beating
and destroying the forces of the tyrants who have been annihilating
the personality and energy of our industrious people, model of noble
and glorious qualities.
"The moment has come, therefore, for the Filipinos to count themselves
and to enter into rank and file in order to defend with zeal and
resolution and with a virility of strong men, the soil that saw
their birth as well as the honor of their name, making publicly
and universally known their competence, ability and their civic,
political and social virtues.
"Let us all fight united; seconding the revenging and humanitarian
action of the North American Republic; and let us learn from her,
accepting her counsels and her system, the way of living in order,
peace and liberty, copying her institutions, which are the only
adequate ones for the nations who wish to reconquer their personality
in history, in the period we are passing.
"On going to battle, let us inscribe on our flag with clearness and
accuracy the sacred legend of our aspirations.
"We want a stable government, elected by the people themselves; the
laws of which are to be voted for by those same who have to keep them
faithfully, conserving or modifying their present institutions in the
natural times in the life of nations, but modeling them and taking us
their own, the democratic ones of the United States of North America.
"We want the country to vote its taxes; those necessary for public
services and to satisfy (pay in full) the assistance North America
and the corporations, organizations and individuals who help us to
rise out of our lethargic state, are rendering us; taking care at the
same time to abolish all those which have for basis a social vice or an
immoral action, like the lottery, the tax on gambling dens, on galleras
(arenas for fights of game cocks) and the farming out of the sale of
opium. But before all, may there nevermore appear again that repugnant
tax levied on Pederasty, which, to get two thousand pesos offended
the universal conscience and the chaste name of 'Chinese Comedies.'
"We want plainest liberty in all its bearings, including that of
ideas, association and the press, without arriving at lawlessness and
disorder; just as it is established in that great, so well regulated
Republic.
"We want to see the religion of the natives and of those that come
to this country rigorously respected by the public powers and by the
individuals in particular.
"We want Christianism, the basis of present civilization, to be
the emblem and solid foundation of our religious institutions,
without force or compulsion; that the native clergy of the country
be that which direct and teach the natives in all the degrees of the
ecclesiastical hierarchy.
"We want the maintenance of this clergy to be effected as the different
regional governments may see fit, or, as the city councils or popular
elective institutions established in every locality may determine.
"We want personal property to be absolutely and unconditionally
respected; and, as a consequence, the recognition to the land holder
of the property he cultivates and has improved by his labor, of the
so-called Haciendas of the religious orders, who have usurped them
and robbed them by the perverse acts of the confessionary, beguiling
the fanaticism of ignorant women and or more than timid aged man,
afraid of the vengeance the priests in their innate wickedness
might meditate against their families, who extorted from them dues
at the last moments of their existence denying them spiritual aid
and divine rewards without the cession of their material interests
before departing from this earth.
"We want the possessions of these land holders to be respected
without their being obliged to pay any canon, lease or tax whatsoever
of religious character, depressive or unjust, ceasing thus their
detainment, anti-juridicial and anti-social, on the part of monarchial
orders, rapacious orders whom, on the strength of their being a
'necessary evil,' the ignorant functionaries of Spanish administration,
like themselves insatiable extortioners, have been aiding, in disdain
of right, reason and equity.
"We want in order to consolidate the property, the ominous 'Inspection
de Montes,' to disappear and cease in its actual functions, as a
disorganizing and fiscalizing center of the titles of property of
the natives, which on pretense of investigating and discovering
the detainment of State lands, had the custom of declaring the
property of the State or of others, such as was already cultivated
and producing by the improvements made by the poor peasant, awarding
such to their friends or to those who bribe them if the legitimate
proprietor refused to give them, in shameless auction, what they asked
for as a remuneration for what they called 'shutting their eyes,'
as has happened lately, amongst other scandalous cases, in Mindoro,
when staking out the limits of the new Hacienda adjudged there to
the Recoleto Priests.
"We want public administration to be founded and to act on a basis
of morality, economy and competence, in the charge of natives of the
country or of such others who by their experience and learning can
serve us as guides and teach us the basis and the system of those
countries who have their economical, political and administrative
offices and proceedings simplified and well organized.
"We want the recognition of all the substantive rights of the human
personality; guaranteed by judicial power, cemented in the principles
in force in all the cultured nations; that the judicial authorities,
when applying the laws, be penetrated by and identified with the
spirit and the necessities of the locality; that the administration of
justice be developed by simple, economical and decisive proceedings;
and that judges and magistrates have their attributions limited by
the functions of a jury and by verbal and public judgment, making
thus disappear the actual state of affairs, of which prevarication
and crooked dealings are the natural and necessary mark.
"We want sensible codes, adapted to our manner of being without
differentiation of races and without odious privileges contrary to
the principle of equality before the law.
"We want the increase and protection of our industries by means of
subventions and of local and transient privileges without putting
barriers to the general exchange of produce and of mercantile
transactions with all the nations of the globe without exception.
"We want liberty of banking business, liberty of mercantile and
industrial societies and companies, commercial liberty, and that the
Philippines cease to be shut up amongst the walls of its convents,
to become again the universal market, like that of Hongkong, that of
Singapore, that of the Straits, that of Borneo, that of the Moluccas,
and that of some of the autonomous colonies of Australia, countries
which surround us; and that capital may with confidence develop all
the elements of wealth of this privileged soil, without more duties
or charges on import and export than those the circumstances of each
epoch may require for determined purposes.
"We want roads, canals and ports, the dredging of our rivers and
other waterways, railroads, tramways and all the means of locomotion
and transport, on water and earth, with such help and assistance as
may be needed to carry them out within a certain time and develop
them conveniently.
"We want the suppression of the so-called 'Guardia Civil,' this
pretorian and odious institution in whose malignment and inhuman meshes
so many Philippine martyrs have suffered and expired; that center of
tortures and iniquities, those contemptible flatterers of small tyrants
and of the concupiscense of the priests, those insatiable extortioners
of the poor native; those hardened criminals animated constantly
in their perverseness by the impunity with which their accomplices,
the representatives of despotism and official immorality, covered them.
"In their stead we want a judicial and gubernatorial police, which
is to watch over and oblige the fulfillment of existing laws and
regulations without tortures and abuses.
"We want a local army, composed of native volunteers, strictly limited
to what order and natural defense demands.
"We want a public instruction less levitical and more extensive
in what refers to natural and positive sciences; so that it may be
fitted to industrate woman as well as man in the establishment and
development of the industries and wealth of the country, marine
and terrestrial mining, forestal and industrial of all kinds, an
instruction which is to be free of expenses in all its degrees
and obligatory in its primary portion, leaving and applying to
this object all such property as is destined to-day to supply the
sustainment of the same; taking charge of the administration of such
property a Council of Public Instruction, not leaving for one moment
longer in the hands of religious institutions, since these teach
only prejudice and fanaticism, proclaiming, as did not long since
a rector of the university of Manila, that 'medicine and physical
sciences are materialistic and impious studies,' and another, that
'political economy was the science of the devil.'
"We want to develop this public instruction, to have primary schools,
normal schools, institutes of second degree, professional schools,
universities, museums, public libraries, meteorological observatories,
agricultural schools, geological and botanical gardens and a general
practical and theoretical system of teaching agriculture, arts and
handicraft and commerce. All this exists already in the country,
but badly organized and dispersed, costing the contributors a good
deal without practical results, which might have been expected,
by the incompetency of the teachers and the favoritism employed in
their nominations and remunerations.
"We want laws for hunting and fishing, and teaching and regular
vigilance for the faithful carrying on of pisciculture, well-known
already to the natives, for the advantageous disposing of their marine
products, such as conch shell, mother of pearl, pearls, bichi de mer,
ray skins, fish lime, etc., and for the raising of all kinds of animals
useful for agricultural and industrial purposes and as victuals for
the natives and for export.
"We want liberty of immigration and assistance for foreign settlers and
capitalists, with such restrictions only, when there be an opportunity,
as limit actually Chinese immigration, similar to legislature on this
point in North America and Australia.
"We want, finally, anything that be just, equitable and orderly;
all that may be basis for development, prosperity and well being;
all that may be a propelling element of morality, virtue and respect
to the mutual rights of all the inhabitants, in their minor relations
and in those with the foreigner.
"Do not believe that the American nation is unbelieving or fanatically
protestant, that it take to the scaffold or to the fire those who
do not believe determined principles and practice special religious
creeds; within that admirable organization, masterly and living
model of perfection for the old nations of Europe and Asia, lives
and prospers the Roman Catholic Church.
"There are some seven million inhabitants who profess that religion
directed by natural clergy with their proper ministers, taken from
that fold of Christ.
"Then there are bishops, archbishops, cardinals of the Roman Church,
American subjects, beloved faithful of the Pope Leo XIII.
"There then is a Temporal Apostolical Delegate representative of
the legitimate successor of St. Peter; there are parsons, canons,
dignitaries and provisors, who live and teach in order peace and
prosperity, respected by one and all, as you yourselves will be the
day the American flag will influence in the spiritual direction of
the Philippine people.
"Then there are cathedrals, parish churches, temples and chapels,
sumptuous and admired, where they adore the same God of the Sinai and
Golgotha, where severs and ostensive cult is rendered to Immaculate
Virgin Mary and to the Saints you have on your altars and none dare
to destroy, attack or prostitute them.
"There then are seminaries, convents, missions, fraternities, schools,
everything Catholic, richly furnished, well kept up and perfectly
managed to the glory of the religion.
"There resides His Eminence Cardinal Gibbons, a wise Roman Catholic
prelate, American citizen, who recently and on occasion of the
present war, has ordered, with consent of His Sanctity, that all
the catholic clergy of the American nation raise daily prayers to
the Most High to obtain the triumph of the arms of their country,
for the good of religion and humanity, which cause, in the present
conflict legitimately and unquestionably represents that government.
"And just as Christ, to be Messiah, had to be according to the
prophecies, Jew and of the Tribe of Judah, that is: By right of his
political fatherland, as by that of his native soil, of the chosen
people, thus amongst you who ever wants to be a clergyman or merit
being canon, dignitary, provisor, bishop, archbishop and cardinal,
must as an indispensable condition, have been born on your proper
soil, as is occurring absolutely in all the civilized nations of the
old and new world, with the only exception of the Philippines.
"There may be priests, religious congregations, nuns and convents, but
submissive to the laws of the country and obliged to admit in their
bosom as formerly happened in these isles, as estimable and superior
members of such institutions, those feel a vocation for a conventual
life, as the noble and generous people of North America will demand,
and will, do not doubt it, recognize these your legitimate rights.
_Filipinos and Countrymen._
"The protection of the great American Republic will make you respected
and considered before the cultured powers, legitimately constituted;
and your personality will be proclaimed and sanctioned everywhere.
"We have the duty to exact the rights we have just proclaimed and the
'natives' in all the isles and in all their different races, as well
as the 'Mestizo Sangley,' as the 'Mestizo Espanol,' and the 'Son of
the Country,' we all have the honorable duty of defending ourselves
against the whip and the contempt of the Spaniards, accepting the
protection and direction of the humane North American nation.
_Viva Filipinos_
Hurrah for liberty and right.
Hurrah for the Grand Republic of the United States of North America.
Hurrah for President McKinley and Rear Admiral Dewey.
[ERROR: unhandled comment start]
-->_The Junta Patriotica_.
"Hongkong, April, 1898."
Under the authority of the United States there have been inquiries
by a court into the causes of the imprisonment of the inmates of the
penitentiary and common jail at Manila, and others who have suffered
from the enmities of the members of the government that ceased when
the Spanish flag was taken down and the American flag raised. The
memoranda following were made in the court proceedings, and state
the facts as judicially established.
_Fulgencia Tuazon_.
This lady was confined in Bilibid seven years ago (though the record
shows July 11, 1898,) by order of the Governor-General, on a charge of
selling counterfeit stamps. She was tried, and sentenced to six years'
confinement; but the Judge accepted a bribe of $900 and released
her about a week after her trial. A year afterwards she was again
arrested by a new judge on the same charge, and $3,000 was demanded
as the price of her liberty. This was refused, and imprisonment
followed. She claims to have bought the stamps (which were telegraph
stamps), from the Government.
_Dorotea Arteaga_.
This young lady, who was a school teacher in her native province,
Montinlupa, Manila province, was confined in Bilibid, August 8th,
1895, charged with "sacrilege and robbery," and insurrection. She
came to Malate to see about her license as a school teacher, and
was arrested by the civil guard on the above charge. She claims her
arrest was instigated by a priest who had made overtures to her to have
carnal intercourse with him, and had attempted the same, and had been
repulsed and refused. To cover up his ill-doing he caused her arrest on
the charge of having stolen part of the vessels used in the communion
service of the Roman Catholic church. She has never been married and
the Alcalde says, "Her conduct in prison has been very good."
_Senora Maxima Guerrera_.
This woman was born in Santa Cruz, in 1838, and has been confined in
Bilibid since 1890, though the record shows that she was imprisoned
July 11, 1898, by order of the Governor-General. This date, however,
is admitted to be an error by the Alcalde, without any explanation
of the error. The record shows that she was imprisoned because she
objected to the Government taking wood off her property without paying
for it. She claims that since her imprisonment, the Government has
confiscated $10,000 worth of her property.
_Felipe Rementina_.
This prisoner was confined in the year 1889, when only 12 years
old. At that time a revolution was in progress in the province in
which he resided, and he was "captured" by the Spanish forces and
sent to Bilibid Carcel. He did not know with what he was charged,
and while he was tried, he never received any sentence.
_Jose David_.
"I was put in here June 13th, 1898. Am a civilian and a
'Katipunan.' Was tried, but never sentenced." The foregoing is
the testimony of the prisoner Jose David, and is quoted here as an
example of the testimony of some hundreds of others, which is almost
identical. Large numbers of the natives seem to be members of the
"Katipunan" society, which appears to be a revolutionary brotherhood
of some kind. They have been imprisoned for terms varying from one
or two months to several years (in some cases ten or twelve years),
upon the charge of belonging to this society; in very many cases
without trial, and in the majority with no sentence whatever, and,
very largely, simply "on suspicion."
_Agapito Calibugar_.
This man was arrested by the Civil Guard, in July, 1889, in his own
house, and was tried but not sentenced, or rather did not know what
his sentence was. He was told that his sentence was served out, but
he could not be returned to his own province of Negros because the
Governor had no ships available for that purpose. He had no idea why
he was arrested and tried. There are several other cases similar to
this one, in which the charge is "resisting armed forces"--most of
which were tried by court martial, and never sentenced.
_Gregorio Domingo_.
This prisoner was confined in Bilibid Carcel on the 25th of November,
1896, the entry on the prison record against his name being "no se
espresa"--"no charge expressed." He was, of course, neither tried nor
sentenced, but had been in prison almost two years, with absolutely
no reason attempted to be made for his confinement. This case is also
cited as an example of many similar ones.
_Jose Trabado_.
This is the case of a man who was a member of the Katipunan society,
but who was tried and sentenced. He was imprisoned in Bilibid Carcel,
May 5th, 1898, his sentence being confinement "cardena perpetua"--"in
chains forever." He was one of five men who received the same sentence
for a like offence. He, with the others, was set free August 31st,
1898.
_Silvino De Castro_.
In this case the prisoner, who was formerly employed as a clerk in
a grocery store, was imprisoned in Bilibid Carcel on the 25th of
December, 1897, charged with having stolen $4.50 (Spanish, which
represents about $2.25 American). His story was that he was sent
out to collect a bill, but lost the said bill, and was therefore
accused by his employer of stealing the money, and was imprisoned,
He was tried, but never received any sentence.
_Don Fernando Sierra_.
The prisoner above named is a full-blooded Spaniard, thirty-eight
years of age, married, and has one child, three months old. He was
confined in Bilibid, May 28, 1893, for "insulting" a civil guard,
while drunk, and was tried and sentenced to six years and six months
imprisonment. He had already served over five years of this sentence,
when he was released September 2nd, 1898.
_Cristan del Carmen_.
This man was confined in the Carcel De Bilibid, the "common prison,"
May 4th, 1898, and his offense was that he was "suspected of being an
American!" For this heinous crime he was neither tried nor sentenced.
_Julian Soriano_.
In this case the prisoner was confined in Bilibid, March 25th, 1895,
after having been in prison one year in his province on suspicion of
being implicated in the killing of a civil guard at a place colled
Balauga. He was tried by a sergeant of the civil guard, who caused him
to be tortured in order to wring a confession from him. This torture
was inflicted by means of a thin rope or cord, tied very tightly around
the muscles of the arm above the elbow (cutting into the flesh deeply),
and left there in some instances for thirty days. In some cases the
men were also hung up, the weight of the body being sustained by the
cords around the arms. Several of the prisoners have deep scars on
their arms caused by the torture. This man was never sentenced.
_Leon Bueno_.
The charge against this man was that he had stolen a pig, and he was
confined in Bilibid, March 21st, 1893, after being tried and sentenced
to eight years' imprisonment. He had already served over five years
when released Sept. 3, 1898.
_Jose Castillo_.
This man was confined in Bilibid Carcel, December loth, 1894, charged
with "insulting the armed forces of Spain." His version of the reason
for his imprisonment is as follows: His cousin and a lieutenant in the
guardia civile were very close friends, and the said cousin, wishing
to present a cow to the lieutenant, applied to the prisoner for one,
which was given to him. Later on the cousin thought he would like to
present his friend with another cow, so applied to the prisoner for
cow No. 2, and was this time refused. In order to take vengeance on the
prisoner, the cousin denounced him to the civil guard lieutenant as a
"bandit," and he was arrested and imprisoned as above. The prisoner
was sixty years of age.
_Anastacio de Mesa_.
The story of this prisoner seems to be particularly sad. He was
a chorister or sacristan in a Roman Catholic church, with several
others, and was arrested, with his companions, by the civil guard,
charged with "sacrilege." The truth of the matter, however, seems to
be as follows: The prisoner had a sweetheart with whom a lieutenant of
the civil guard, named de Vega, appears to have been infatuated. After
imprisoning Anastacio de Mesa and his companions upon the above charge,
which seems to be without foundation entirely, de Vega took the girl,
and compelled her by force and against her will to live with him as
his mistress. The girl soon died, her end, no doubt, being hastened
by the brutal cruelty of de Vega. These young men, hardly more than
boys, were imprisoned on August 3, 1895, after having been tried by
court martial, but not sentenced. They have now been liberated. It
should be stated that de Vega himself constituted the "court martial"
before which these boys were tried.
Note.--There are several cases of arrests for "insulting and resisting
the armed forces of Spain." In the case of Pedro Javier, the accused
was over seventy years old, and in that of Miguel de la Cruz, he was
seventy-five years old; while in one or two other cases boys of ten
or twelve years of age were arrested on the same charge.