Evening star., 1896-10-23
SPANS ATROCITIES IN THE EAST.
Her HfdeOuS Ways of Shedding Blood
in the Philippines.

1eF h1NeOuH ways OF ShSNHtnE blood
In the Philippines.
From the New York Sun
SAN FRANCISCO, October 19-The Hong
Kong newspapers which arrived today con-
tain full reports of the revolution in the
Philippine Islands. Most of the details
come through private letters. as the Span
ish authorities examine all regular mali
and exercise the strctest press censorship.
The horrors that are described in these
letters have not been equaled since the In
dian mutiny. The natives, usually lazy and
&c od-natured have sworn blood brother
hood against the Spanish and the priests,
ard the worst massacres are feared. The
cause of the revolt is partly the increase OF
the poll tax imposed on the natives and
partly the conduct of the priests, who con-
tlol the government and dictate what meas
ures shall be made laws. The natives had
long planned the outbreak, and it would
have been successful from the start but
for treachery. Now they are in much the
same position as the Cuban revolutionists.
They cannot take Manila without artillery,
but they have possession of Cavite which
is only six and a half miles distant, and
they have seized the Mauser rifles which
they found in the Cavite arsenal.
The warfare thus far has been of the
guerrilla kind, and it has been marked by
hideous cruelties on both sides. The Span
ish recently captured several native leaders
near Cavite, and, after torturing them, dis
emboweled them and hung the bleeding
bodies, still warm, over the city gate The
-.ictims had surrendered under promise of
fair treatment-SeiZed a Spanish lieutenan:
who was travelling to Manila with his fam
lily. They crucified the man, and then.
while he hung dying, they assaulted his
wife and tWelve-year-old daughter, mock
ing him, and declaring that all the Span
iards on the island would be treated in the
same way. Such reprisals have been fire.
nd r,riQhnoro folrn
The Spaniards recently had a batch of 169
prisoners whom they flung into a small
dungeon under the walls of San Sebastian
One account says that's hfty-four perished
of foul air and were taken out in the morn
Ing. Another report says the authorities
were ignorant of the fact that the tide
cverfowed part of the dungeon at mid
night, and that the fiftp-four dead were
those who had been drowned by the rising
waters. -
The most formidable feature of the revolt
is that many of the native troops are de-
serting and that even Manila could not be
held should the insurgents storm the city
under a capable leader.
The natural sympathfe5sof the native SOL
6iers have been shown repeatedly. One day
regiment of natives on parade were ask
ed If they would fight forithe Spanish gov
ernment and their ready reply was that
they would, but that they would Certainly
not kill one of their fellow countrymen.
On another occasion; q Spanish captain
anu Six OI inc native SOluieTS were turned
out to quell disturbance. Five Of the ma
tives were killed, and the sixth then turn
ed, stabbed his officer to death and .toined
the rebel forces.
The timidity of the Spanish officer. tn
enter Cavite under these circumstances
gave the rebel forces q chance to gather in
large numbers in the province and to get
formidably armed and thoroughly organ
lied. When all was ready they swooped
down upon the convent Of linus, q few
miles from Cavite, and murdered all the
friars who could not escape.
Tho government still refrained from send
ing troops into the province. but four Span-
ish men-of-war bombarded for several iays
linus and other places where the movement
Of the rebel forces could be detected and
the bombardment was still going on at the
date of, the last advioes. The shells feIl
short. and rebels continued to hold their
position.