Murderers In Manila
Murderers In Manila
A Vendetta Vows to Kill an American Soldier Every Week.
DEPREDATIONS ON OUTLAW BANDS
Natives Driven to Desperation by Spanish Barbarities-Insurgents Take Terrible Revenge Upon Their Former Oppressors- Tragic Incidents In the Fillipino Revolt
[Copyright, 1899, by the Author.]
.VI.
There are many native outlaw organizations on these islands, and at first we credited this outlawry to the natives as a class, but we have learned our mistake. They are not confined to any one class, foreigners as well as natives being members of the variety bands.
Probably the greatest of these organizations is the Maccabebes, who are especially strong in Manila and on the island of Luzon. Almost every night these organized freebooters find victims in the city and suburb. Chinese, Spaniards, natives and Americans all fall prey to these outlaws. Lately they have made a vow to kill at least one American soldier each week, and they have been succeeding in their resolve. The death of the Maccabebe organization in Manila will be only the question of a few months, for our officials are now hot on the trail of its leaders. There are other lawless classes of natives on these islands. In many cases they are led by "auting auting" (or charm men, and their system of robbery and plunder extends over large districts. A just administration will eliminate many of these outlaw bands, whose existence in many cases was brought about by the outrages of their cruel and oppressive Spanish masters.
Lately I have had occasion to learn much about the inhumanity of Spanish officials in the Philippines. Every day these tales of barbarity are cropping out. It was in the collection of taxes that the Spaniards were most unrelenting. The natives were taxed for everything, even to their children. Out in Malaban a native had three children, and when the tax gatherer arrived the native had but 'money enough to pay the tax on one child. He was given a choice of which this should be, and the other two were beheaded before his eyes. This is only one of many similar cases. It is no wonder that the insurgents revolted against their inhuman rulers, and their thirst for Spanish blood is but natural in view of the circumstances.
The leper colony of Manila is located in an old convent out on the Passe del Norte bevond the Santa Cruz district of New Manila. During the turbulent times of the siege and blockade vigilance was relaxed, and many of the poor wretches escaped from their prison and commenced wandering about the streets in search of food. 'As soon as we entered the city the work of returning these leper? some 200 or 500 in number, was begun. Every time one crept from his hiding place lie was loaded on a bull cart and taken back to his dreamy prison to slowly rot away. The appearance of the leper is repulsive yet pitiful. There are seen faces so contorted and disfigured by the terrible disease that every vestige of humanity seems to be lacking; eyes from whose leaden balls comes no gleam of answering intelligence to tell that in that deformed and shriveled frame there still dwells a human soul. I have seen bodies and limbs so shrunken, twisted and decayed that it seems a marvel that so battered a hulk had still sufficient vitality to hold imprisoned the smoldering spark of life.
Manila has no theaters worthy of especial mention, the Zurilla, the finest of the playhouses of the city, being at present occupied as barracks by our troops. The Philippine theater, down in the Suiapo district, is about the only playhouse whose doors are now open to the public. Here a number of native productions have lately been given which are certainly unique if not artistic specimens of the histrionic art.
Out to the north of Manila ia situated a native cemetery in which is located a chapel with which is connected some stirring events of the late war between the Spanish and the insurgents. At the breaking out of the insurrection two years ago the Spaniards built a blockhouse, which is still in good condition and an interesting place to visit. This blockhouse stands about 200 yards to the north and east of the church and in an open field about half a mile from the Calle de Real. It is built in the form of a hollow square, with conning towers diagonally placed at the northeast and Southwest corners, and seemed to be impregnable.
However, in providing for an emergency the small Spanish detachment garrisoning the blockhouse forgot to secure a supply of water. They had only a small tank and were dependent upon the rains to keep up the supply. When the insurgent forces appeared upon the three sides at once, the garrison was not in the least daunted, as plentiful supplies of food and ammunition were stored within the strong stone walls. For four days and nights they kept the insurgents at bay, but the water supply was gone, and there were no signs of rain as it was the dry season.
Two days longer the garrison held out and then retreated under cover of darkness to the cemetery chapel, no doubt believing that they were safe from the vengeance of the natives under the sanctity of the cross. The insurgents closed in and occupied the blockhouse deserted by the Spaniards. This position commanded the north walls and windows of the chapel, and under the cover of their guns the insurgents crept up and commenced the work of cutting a passage through the two foot stone wall which surrounded the cemetery and chapel. The Spaniards could in no way check this movement, as there was no way of reaching the men on the outside of the wall without exposing themselves to the deadly fire of the insurgents.
To cut a hole through the wall required two days, and then a hole only sufficient to admit two men at a time was made. Through this opening they flocked into the yard, and then, making a charge on three sides of the building, climbed in through the windows and killed the 28 Spanish soldiers of the garrison. What a scene of carnage there was the next morning when the sun sent its golden rays through the gothic windows in the dome of the chapel. On the floor beneath lay the 28 dead soldiers, the remnant of the garrison of the ill fated stone fort, struck down beneath the cross which had been the rod of iron used in tyrannizing over the poor and ignorant natives; surely a retribution on those, who, by their brutality and un-Christianlike abuse, taught their victors to know no pity.
When Cavite fell, a single Spanish officer escaped capture or massacre. He sought refuge in a small room which, like several of its kind, opened into a court from which an arched passage way led out to the street. His flight was observed at the time, but the insurgents, busy with their bloody slaughter, forgot him. But toward evening his flight was recalled, and a horde was soon upon him. He had barricaded the door, and at last this was broken down. The officer then fought fiercely for his life, and only after a great struggle, in which a number of natives were struck down, was his sword arm piecred by a bullet, and, disabled, he fell an easy prey to their thirst for Spanish blood Finally his head was severed from his body, and one of the natives, bolder than the rest, set it up on a window and, falling down before it, shouted, "Sextus gloria!" and thus the bloody work was christened the sixth glory.
When it is remembered that the established church of the Philippine has but "five glories," the significance of this bloody work to the long oppressed insurgents becomes apparent. Finally one of the natives took up the head upon a pike and headed the procession about the room, and all shouted "Sextus gloria!" as they marched. This was another dark day for Spanish rule in the Philippines, and countless others just as horrible can be recited. Had Manila fallen before the hordes of Aguinaldo horrors more terrible than the modern world has ever known doubtless would have been enacted.
The church in the Philippines has been a great fomenter of evil. It would be a hard matter to tell just what the position of the church here is at present. It was established here coincident with the establishment of Spanish rule and is the established church of Spain, fostered by Spanish rule, supported by Spanish grants of land, its priests being paid from the money extorted from the natives through excessive taxation and customs fees. The church as it exists here today is not the true Catholic church. There are many ecclesiastical orders here, som e of them being strictly native and naturally in sympathy with the insurgents. It is to some of these ecclesiastical orders that the real cause of these native uprisings is largely due.
Manila
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Old News
Ann Arbor Argus-Democrat