Daily Yellowstone journal., 1886-11-16

scairolds and rubbish where the catlie-
dral was building. came forth every Fri
day night procession OF mon';-,ike H.
ures, wearing sackcloth robes and black
Capuchn hoods that covered their faces.
These faces were decaying and part
fieshless, for these were no less than the
victims of Don Juan Manuel. arisen from
their graves. Those clothed in the habits
of friars marched to the cathedral grave
yard with thick tapiers in their hands,
and chanting, in tones that seemed to
issue from the tomb, the prayer for the
dead. They carried an empty coffin,
and. bearing it to the street of Don Juan
Manuel, they brought it back thence,
holding a man, bound hand and foot.
There was a gallows in the atrium OF
the cathedral, and they put within 1t the
neck Of the man, extinguished the
tapers, and chanted the "Miserere.'
Every week this was repeated, and they
who chanced to see that awful process
sion returned home sickening OF fever,
and within few days died.-Manuel
Payne.
II was many years before the partial
truth was known of what appeared to
be only tale. Then Don Jose
Gomez de la Cortina published
work entitled ia Gale de Don Juan
Manuel from which the following brief
statement is condensed:
Don Juan Manuel de Solorzano was
a renowned Spanish gentleman, native
Of Burgos, who came to America in the
suite of the Viceroy Don Diego Fernan-
dez de Cordoba, marquis of Guadalcazar.
Don Juan Manuel was on most friendly
terms with the yiceroy of his day,
and he was sent on divers mis-
sions to Spain. About 1886 he
married Dona Mariana Laguna,
only child and heiress of rich miner of
Zacatecas. After receipt in Mexico OF
the uprising in CATALONIA, the viceroy be-
came the victim of the Audiencia, which
body long had sought to depose him, and
Don Juan Manuel was involved in the
disaster and reduced to prison by order
of the alcade, Don Francisco Velez de
Pereira. Don Juan Manuel took his re-
verse calmly and was patiently awaiting
in prison change of fortune, when he
was advised that the alcalde visited his
wife oftener than was required by mere
politeness. Through the influence Of a
rich and powerful friend, fellow-pris-
oner, Don Juan Manuel was afforded ia
cilities for leaving the prison secretly at
night, to investigate the truth Of these
reports and the behavior of his wife.
Several nights Don Juan Manuel availed
himself of this privilege. and on one of
them he killed the alcalde. The Audi
encia dared not declare the murder Of
their chief. owing to the cause which
led to it, as it appears that the alcalde
made the wife's frailty the price of lib
erty for Don Juan Manuel. Thus the
viceroy redoubled his efforts to save Don
Juan Manuel, and they were confident
of success. when suddenly. one morning
in October, 1841. his body was discovered
hanging in the public gallows-testi-
mony to the dark and mysterious policy
of the times. The street where Don
Juan Manuel lived. where he had built
nearly all the houses, and where he slew
the alcalde, was then known as Gale
Nueva, or New Street. Now it bears his
name"
The first part of this paper is by Man
uel Payne. a noted Mexican historian.
It is from "El Libro Rojo," compiled by
General Riva Palacio, now Minister to
Spain. a book full of the historical,
bloody deeds of the Inquision in Mexico.
y. II. Adds in The Argonaut.