The Inhabitants of the Philippines Part 6

Dr. Juan Perez, of Cavite, was the medical attendant to the staff of the Varadero, and used to call there every afternoon. On hearing from him about the discovery of the bodies, the resident engineer at once thought of his missing men, and the flight of the patron confirmed his suspicions. A minute examination of the launch was made, and revealed some stains of blood which had not been entirely removed by the usual washing down. Several small cuts such as might be made with the point of a bolo were found in the flat skylight of the cabin, and a deeper cut on the bulwark rail, starboard side forward, opposite the skylight. A working rope was missing from the launch. It had only recently been supplied to it, and had been cut off a whole coil purchased a few weeks before from a sailing-vessel, for the use of the Varadero. That rope had a blue strand in the centre. Gustav Brown put on a diving-dress, and went down at the head of the northern jetty, where the launch used to lie, and carefully examined the bottom. Presently his eye rested on an object that he recognised. It was the square steel coal-breaker used by the stoker, and he brought it up.

Meanwhile, a new c.o.xswain had been found for the launch, and as the old patron had left his vessel illegally, there was ground for his arrest on that score, so orders were given to the new patron and to the engine-driver to give him into custody if he came to claim his kit. Next time the launch arrived in Manila, sure enough the old patron appeared to fetch his belongings, and was taken to the calaboose of the captain of the port. The resident engineer called on that official, and, as a result of their conversation, the prisoner was put on board the launch to be conveyed to Cavite.

With all the stoicism of the Malay, he sat quite still and silent; his impa.s.sive features betrayed no sign of anxiety or remorse.

But if the princ.i.p.al actor in this b.l.o.o.d.y tragedy could thus compose his mind, it was not so with others who knew more or less what had happened, but whose dread and hatred of the law and its myrmidons had kept their tongues quiet.

When the launch approached the Varadero near enough for the prisoner to be recognised, an unusual commotion occurred amongst the swarm of native workmen. A mysterious magnetism, an inexplicable vibration, pervaded the crowd. Unfelt by the senses, it acted on the mind, and seemed simultaneously to convey to each individual an identical idea.

The patron was a prisoner, therefore his crime was known; no good could be done by keeping silent. Before this n.o.body knew anything about the disappearance of the two men. Now it leaked out, but only in confidence to Gustav Brown, whom they trusted. The native divers had seen the bodies when at their work on the foundations, and had moved them farther off out of their way. Men working at the jetties had seen them when they floated, but had looked in another direction. In fact, the corpses had been recognised, and the crime was known to scores of native and Chinese workmen, but no word or hint ever reached the foreman or the engineer till the culprit was arrested.

Now there were sufficient details to reconst.i.tute the tragic scene.

The amour of the brothers with the San Roque girl was known, and also the well-founded jealousy of the patron, who at first endeavoured to obtain the engine-driver's discharge by the means already mentioned. This not succeeding, he determined to kill both of them, and without showing a sign of the deadly hatred that possessed him, calmly awaited his opportunity.

On the Monday night, 7th June, after the incident of the safety-valve, the launch was moored alongside the Varadero jetty, and the two brothers lay fast asleep on the flat top of the cabin skylight, each wrapped in his blanket.

A native sleeps hard, and is not easily awakened, nor when aroused does he quickly regain his faculties. It is an important point in the Malay code of manners never to awaken any person suddenly, for it is believed that, during sleep, the soul is absent from the body, wandering around, and must be given time to return, otherwise serious, even fatal consequences, may ensue. The awakened person may become an idiot, or some great harm may happen to the unmannerly one who awakened him. Many natives have as great a fear of the wandering soul of a sleeping person as of an evil spirit or ghost. The soul is said to return to the body in the form of a small black ball, which enters the mouth.

Moreover, one of the greatest, in fact, the most terrible, curse that can be uttered by many tribes, is, "May you die sleeping," for it means death to body and soul. That, however, was the fate reserved for the brothers. Towards midnight, when the cooking-fires in the coolie quarters had burnt down, and the chatter of the Chinese had subsided, when the last lights in the Europeans' houses had been extinguished, and not a sound broke the stillness of the night, the patron addressed himself to the performance of his b.l.o.o.d.y task. Slipping his sharpened bolo through his belt, he descended into the engine-room, and, seizing the coal-breaker, crept forward to where the doomed men slumbered, perhaps dreaming of the charms of that dark damsel, the enjoyment of whose embraces was to cost them so dear. Meanwhile, their fate approached; their time was come.

The patron was past his prime; privations at sea and dissipation on sh.o.r.e had sapped his strength. But bitter hatred nerving his arm, with lightning rapidity and terrific force he discharged a blow on each sleeper's unprotected head. The sharp edge of the steel bar crashed deep into their skulls, driving in the splintered bone upon the brain. One agonised shudder from each, then all was still. A European murderer might have been satisfied with this. Not so a Tagal. A ceremony still remained to be accomplished. Their blood must flow; they must suffer mutilation. Seizing his bolo, the a.s.sa.s.sin now vented his rage in cutting and thrusting at the bodies. The heavy and keen-edged blade fell repeatedly, cutting great gashes on the throats and bellies of the victims, whilst streams of gore ran down the waterways, and trickled out at the scuppers, staining the white sides of the launch with crimson streaks.

His blood-thirst a.s.suaged, his vengeance partly accomplished, and his spirit comforted by his desperate deed, the murderer probably paused for a time, and began to consider how he could conceal his crime. No sign of movement anywhere. Apparently the dull sounds of the blows had fallen on no mortal ear. Presently, taking up one of his working ropes, he mounted the jetty, and walked to the sh.o.r.e, where there lay a pile of stone ballast. It was white granite, discharged from a sailing-ship that had come from Hong Kong in ballast, and it had been purchased for the Varadero. Selecting a suitable piece, he carried it to the end of the jetty, and lowered it by the rope into the launch. Then, descending, he firmly lashed the two bodies together, and fastened the stone to them. Then he drew the bodies to the side, preparatory to launching them overboard. Now an incident occurred. It is thought that one of the two men was not quite dead, notwithstanding his dreadful wounds, and that recovering consciousness, and perceiving what awaited him, seized the rail in his death-grasp, and resisted the attempt to throw him over.

The patron must once again have had recourse to his murderous bolo, bringing it down on the clenched hand, for a deep cut was found on the rail with blood driven into the pores of the wood by that savage blow. The tendons severed, the hand unclasped, and next moment the bodies slid over the rail and down underneath the keel of the launch in some four fathoms of water. Throwing the steel coal-breaker after them, the patron's next task was to wash away the traces of his crime, and this he did fairly well so that nothing was noticed, till, suspicion being aroused, a careful scrutiny was made, with the result already mentioned. It is not known whether the boy knew anything of the tragedy performed so near him, for he was never questioned, having apparently disappeared off the face of the earth as soon as the bodies were found. What the patron did afterwards can only be conjectured. Guilty of two atrocious murders, and of savage mutilation of the slain, could he have composed himself to a quiet and dreamless slumber? Or was his imagination fired to further revenge by dream-pictures of his once-loved mistress in the arms of her youthful lovers? All that is known is that he presented himself to the foreman early on the Tuesday morning, and reported the absence of the two men without showing on his dark visage the slightest sign of trouble or emotion.

We left the patron a prisoner on the launch. Now it became necessary to give him in charge to the judicial authorities, for it was getting late in the afternoon. They did not show any undue eagerness to receive him. The judge first applied to explained that he was only acting temporarily, that the judge had departed, having been transferred to another place, and that the new judge had not yet arrived, therefore he much regretted he could not take up the case. An appeal was then made to the Gobernador-Politico-Militar, who most courteously explained that a civil court was established in the province with full jurisdiction, both criminal and civil, so that he could not interfere. It was now nearly sunset, and the prisoner had been on the launch all day. The resident engineer then called on the Commandante of Canacao--a naval officer who had a few marines at his disposal--and obtained as a personal favour that the prisoner should be temporarily secured in the guard-room. The next day the resident engineer proceeded to Cavite, and, accompanied by Dr. Juan Perez, visited the princ.i.p.al authorities, and eventually succeeded in getting the prisoner lodged in jail, and a charge of murder entered against him. The bodies of the victims were never exhumed for examination. The resident engineer made a declaration, which was taken down in writing, and on one of his busiest days he was peremptorily summoned to appear before the judge, and solemnly ratify his testimony.

About three days after Juan de la Cruz was lodged in Cavite jail, the dead body of the San Roque damsel, gashed by savage blows of the fatal bolo, was left by the ebb on the sands of Paranaque, a village just across the little Bay of Bacoor opposite to San Roque. She had paid with her life for her frailty as many another woman has done in every clime. From the appearance of the body it was thought it had been several days in the water.

No legal evidence was forthcoming to fix the crime on any one, although few of those who knew the story harboured a doubt that the a.s.sa.s.sin of the two brothers was the murderer of the girl also.

Juan de la Cruz remained in prison, and from time to time, but with increasing intervals, the resident engineer, the foreman and others were cited by the judge, interrogated, then cited again to ratify their declarations.

The espediente, a pile of stamped paper, grew thicker and thicker, but the trial seemed no nearer. Month after month rolled on, the Varadero was finished, ships were drawn up, repaired and launched, Juan continued in prison.

The resident engineer departed to other climes, and was soon expending his energy in building the great harbour at La Guayra. I was the means of obtaining an order for six gun-boats for the Varadero Company. They were built, launched, tried and delivered, and steamed away to overawe the piratical Moros. Still Juan continued in prison. Judges came and judges went, but the trial came no nearer. Year after year a judge of the Audiencia came in state to inspect the prisoners, and year after year Juan was set down as awaiting his trial.

In December, 1892, I left the Philippines for Cuba and Juan de la Cruz was still in Cavite jail.

Dr. Juan Perez, the surgeon who had examined the corpses, died, having wrongly diagnosed his own case, and Dr. Hugo Perez, a half caste, was appointed in his stead. Gustav Brown, the foreman, wearied of the monotony of ship repairing, became possessed by a longing to resume his nomadic life amongst the palm-clad islands of the Pacific. He purchased a schooner and embarked with his wife and family. First running down to Singapore to take in trade-goods for bartering with the natives, he sailed away for the Carolines where his wife's home lay. He never reached them; for, soon after leaving Singapore, he came to a b.l.o.o.d.y end at the hands of his Chinese crew, who killed and decapitated him.

The insurrection broke out in Cavite Province, Colonel Mattone's column was defeated by the insurgents with great slaughter. Dr. Hugo Perez, the successor of Dr. Juan Perez, was suspected of sympathising with the rebels, and, needless to say, he soon came to a b.l.o.o.d.y end. He did not have to wait long for his trial.

In 1896, Mr. George Gilchrist, the engineer at the Varadero, who was not in the Philippines when the murders were committed, was cited by the judge, and asked if he could identify the prisoner ten years after his arrest! Two years more pa.s.sed, and in April, 1898, Mr. Gilchrist returned to Scotland for a well-earned holiday. When he left Canacao, Juan de la Cruz was still in prison awaiting his trial.

He may have escaped when the rebels occupied Cavite after Admiral Dewey's victory over the Spanish Squadron in the Bay of Bacoor.

For the murderer no pity need be felt, he certainly had nothing to gain and all to lose by a trial. A double murder, premeditated, accompanied by acts of great barbarity, and committed at night, const.i.tutes by the Penal Code a capital offence with three aggravating circ.u.mstances which would forbid all hope of clemency.

But what can be thought of courts so remiss in their duty? How many innocent prisoners have waited years for their trial? How many have died in prison?

Piratical Outrage in Luzon.

At Laguimanoc, a port and village in the Province of Tayabas, there resided an Englishman, Mr. H. G. Brown, who had been many years in the Philippines. By the exercise of untiring industry, by braving the malaria of the primeval forests, and by his never-failing tact in dealing with the officials of the Woods and Forests on the one hand, and with the semi-barbarous and entirely lawless wood-cutters on the other, he had built up an extensive business in cutting timber in the state forests of Southern Luzon and the adjacent islands. He was owner of several sailing vessels, had a well-appointed saw-mill, and a comfortable residence at Languimanoc. He employed large numbers of wood-cutters; all under advances of pay, who were scattered about the Provinces of Tayabas, and Camarines Norte over a considerable area.

His business was so considerable that he paid the Government fully $30,000 per year as royalty on timber which was mostly shipped to Hong Kong and Shanghai.

In order to facilitate a business so profitable to them the Government placed a Custom House official at Atimonan, in the Bay of Lamon on the Pacific coast, to clear and despatch his timber vessels loaded at Atimonan, Gumacas, Lopez, Alabat Island, or other places. To show how little Mr. Brown spared himself, I may mention that not even the dreaded jungle-fever of Mindoro prevented him from personally superintending the loading of several vessels at different ports of that pestilential island. In persistence and pluck he was a worthy predecessor of Professor D. C. Worcester, who years afterwards showed his Anglo-Saxon determination in the same fearsome spot.

One day in December of 1884, Mr. Brown being absent in Hong Kong, and his manager, Mr. Anderson, busy on the Pacific coast, looking after the loading of a vessel, the out-door superintendent, a Swede named Alfred Olsen, was in charge of the house, office, and saw-mill at Laguimanoc, and was attending to the loading of the Tartar, one of Mr. Brown's ships which was anch.o.r.ed in the bay taking in timber for China. She had a native crew who occasionally of an evening, when ash.o.r.e to enjoy themselves, got up a disturbance with the villagers. On board this vessel there were, as is usual, two Carabineros or Custom House guards to prevent smuggling.

Although no one in the village suspected it, two large canoes full of armed men were lying concealed behind a point in Capuluan Cove on the opposite side of the Bay. At eight o'clock in the evening, it being quite dark, they came across, and in perfect order, according to a pre-arranged plan advanced in silence on the village. The a.s.sailants numbered twenty-eight men, and were variously armed with lances, bolos and daggers. Only the leader bore a revolver. A guard was left on the canoes, four of the gang were stationed at the door of Mr. Brown's house, and others at strategic points, whilst the main body attacked the Tribunal close by which was also the estanco where there was some Government money, postage stamps and stamped paper. At all Tribunales there are a couple of cuadrilleros, or village constables on guard, armed usually with lance and bolo. These men did their duty and manfully resisted the pirates. In the combat which ensued, the sergeant of the Cuadrilleros was killed and some on both sides were wounded, but the pirates got the best of the fight, and plundered the estanco.

In the meantime, Olsen, having heard the uproar, may have thought that the crew of the Tartar were again making a disturbance. At all events he left the house unarmed and unsuspicious, thus walking into the trap laid for him. The Tagals have a great respect for fire-arms, more especially for the revolvers and repeating rifles of the foreigner, thus they did not venture to enter the house, but the moment Olsen stepped out into the darkness and before he could see round about him, he was attacked by two men on each side, who plunged their daggers into his body, piercing his lungs. Bleeding profusely and vomiting blood he rushed back into the house towards his bedroom to get his revolver which was under the bed. His a.s.sailants, however, followed him into the room and butchered him before he could grasp it. At least the revolver was afterwards found in its case with the perfect impress of his blood-stained hand upon the oaken lid. A native boy named Pablo, about eight years old, was in the house at the time, and in his terror squeezed himself into a narrow s.p.a.ce behind the door and escaped discovery, although he was an eye-witness of the crime.

By this time the alarm had spread all over the little village, and the noise was heard on board the Tartar. The two Carabineros, taking their Remingtons and cartridge boxes, had themselves paddled on sh.o.r.e, and marching up the stairs which led to the rocky eminence on which the village stands, bravely advanced against the pirates although out-numbered by more than ten to one. They fired their rifles, but the gang rushed upon them and in a moment they were cut down, and according to Tagal custom, their bellies were ripped open. The pirates having now overcome all opposition and having plundered the estanco, and the inevitable Chinaman's shop, transferred their attention to Mr. Brown's house, which they ransacked, taking the contents of the safe, a collection of gold and silver coins, seven Martini-Henry rifles with ammunition, and two revolvers, as well as any other things they deemed of value. They burst open the desks, drawers, and wardrobes, cutting and hacking the furniture with their bolos in wanton mischief. Then embarking their spoil, they sailed away with the land breeze.

Information had been sent off to the nearest post of the Guardia Civil, and on its receipt, an officer with a force of that corps instantly set off and captured one party of the pirates red-handed as they beached their canoe. Within a week twenty-six had been captured and one shot dead whilst escaping. There only remained the leader. He, as it was afterwards discovered, was concealed in a secluded wood a few miles from Sariaya, and one night he was speared by the Captain of Cuadrilleros of that town, who is said to have had valid reasons for getting him out of the way.

This band of pirates were a mixed lot; some of them were princ.i.p.ales or members of the town council of Sariaya, a picturesque little place on the southern slope of Mount Banajao, and some from San Juan de Boc-boc; others were ordinary inhabitants, a few were outlaws from the San Juan mountains, and four or five were fishermen whom the gang had met on their pa.s.sage by sea and had invited to accompany them. This custom of Convites is explained in Chapter XXV. Of course the fishermen, when interrogated, declared they had been pressed into the service, but in fact very few natives have the moral courage to decline so pleasing an entertainment, as it appeals to a feeling deeply seated in their hearts, the love of rapine, only to be restrained by the heavy hand of a military police "who do not hesitate to shoot." The provincial doctor arrived next morning with the judge who was to take the depositions of the villagers and draw up the sumario. Olsen was dead, the sergeant of Cuadrilleros also and one of the Carabineros, but strange to say, in spite of a dozen ghastly wounds, the other one was still alive, though his bowels were protruding, having fallen out through the gash which it is the Tagal custom to finish off with.

When the provincial doctor saw him, he said, "Nothing can possibly be done for him," and departed. So, abandoned to his own resources, he replaced the bowels himself, and getting one of the villagers to bind him up, he eventually recovered. He was seen by Mr. Brown a year or two later, and is probably alive now. This seems extraordinary, but a similar case occurred to a man who had worked under me. An English bricklayer named John Heath had been employed building furnaces and kilns in Manila, and having completed his work, took to farming and rented some gra.s.s meadows (sacate lands) at Mandaloyan. One night he and another Englishman staying with him were attacked in his house by a party of Tagals with drawn bolos. The visitor, although wounded, leaped from the window and escaped, but Heath was cut down, then lifted on to the window sill, hacked about, and finally, according to Tagal custom, ripped open and left for dead. Yet this man also entirely recovered, and after a year seemed as strong as ever, although he was advised not to exert his strength. This outrage was clearly agrarian, and was, I feel sure, committed by those who had previously rented these lands and had been turned out. No one was ever punished for it.

To return to the gang of pirates; two had been killed, the rest were in prison. Year after year pa.s.sed, still they remained in prison; judges came, stayed their term, were promoted and went, but still these men were never sentenced.

In 1889, I visited Laguimanoc to make a plan and valuation of the property, as the business was about to be taken over by a Limited Liability Company, established in Hong Kong. This was five years after the date of the murders, some of the prisoners had died in prison, the others were awaiting their sentence. But I found that the Government had established a sergeant's post of the Guardia Civil in the village, which effectually prevented a repet.i.tion of the outrage.

A year later I again visited Laguimanoc, but the trial of the prisoners was no further advanced. No less than nine of them died in prison, still no sentence was p.r.o.nounced. Even for a Philippine Court this was extraordinary, for the gang had committed the unpardonable crime "Resistencia a fuerza armada" (Resistance to an armed force), and could have been tried by Court-martial and summarily shot. They had also dared to lay their profane hands on the sacred money-box containing a portion of the "Real Haber" (Government money), so that it was not only a question of murder and robbery of private people. But the Civil Court, negligent, slothful, and corrupt, could not be got to convict, and a few years ago, Mr. Brown having left the islands, the surviving prisoners were pardoned by the Queen Regent on the occasion of the young King's birthday.

The contrast between the military and civil elements in this case is very strong.

The military element performed its duties thoroughly well, under great difficulties, and promptly arrested the malefactors. In my experience this has been always the case, and I draw from it the conclusion that military Government is essential to the pacification of the Philippines and that authority must be backed up by a native force of constabulary under American officers who must be young and active.

Such offences as piracy or gang-robbery should never come before a Civil Court, but should be promptly settled by court-martial before which no technicalities or legal subtleties need be taken into account.

A firm, nay, a heavy hand over the Philippines is the most merciful in the long run.

I am sorry to have to relate that the Company which took over Mr. Brown's business did not long prosper. Whilst he remained at the head of it, all went well, but as soon as he left to take a much-needed rest, it began to fail. The personality of the individual is everything in most Spanish countries and especially in the Philippines. No manager could be found who could keep on terms with the officials, control the wild wood-cutters or risk jungle-fever by entering the forests to personally inspect the work.

The organization decayed and the business went to pieces. Let intending investors take note.