The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-12-05
MANILA'S OLD FORTIFICATIONS
INTERESTING DESCRIPTION OF
THEM BY AN IDAHO SOLDIER.
Spanish Arsenal = Execution Pen
Old Artillery On the Wall 200
Years old-The Penitentiary.
81. Louis Globe-Democrat.l


about the Notifications of old Manila.
A fortified town is not to be seen in
every part of the world, and this mass
i've old wall, with it's moss-covered
sides, its broad terraces, gloomy tur-
rets and frowning battlements, carry
man right back to the middle ages.
The broad moat that surrounds it is
crossed in two places by winding stone
driveways, which lead on, through
arched entrances, into the city. Just
outside of each entrance is a short
drawbridge, which can be hoisted up
by a horizontal capstan within.
should judge by the size of the cap
stan that about ten men could hoist
the drawbridge. From these entrances
there are flights of winding stone steps
leading up through narrow tuTrets to
the top OF the wall. Nothing viii con-
vey such an impression of the great
age of the wall as the worn places in
these stone steps, made by countless
footsteps-the rock being worn away an
inch in places.
A person can walk leisurely around
the top of the wall, and make the cir
cuit-in about two hours. The open view
in every direction shows what a splen-
did Fertilization it is. For 200 yards
in every direction the ground is open
and exposed to the fire from the top
of the wall, and any enemy that could
charge across the open would only fall
into the moat and founder in the
mud and water, 100 yards from the
wall. However, no army would at
tempt such thing, as the city could
be starved out.
The terraces are all grass grown, and
in places lawn slopes from the top of
the wall down to a level with the city.
Moss, vines and bushes grow every
where, the wall being completely hid
den in places. Batteries OF cid smooth
bore cannon are stationed on all sides,
some of them bearing the brand Sc
villa" and others Barcelona 1855" 1t
is hard for a stranger to ascertain the
exact age of the wall, but as near as
I can learn it has been finished over
200 years. There are numerous rooms
and cells in the lower part, but there
are places fifteen or twenty feet thick
in solid masonry, and rising a sheer
thirty feet above the moat. The only
thing 1 have ever seen like it in the
states is Kennetts castle, down below
st. Louis, and well-known to all river
men. Magnify that about 1000 diam
eterS and you have old Manila.
The city inside the wall is old, too.
One crumbling old ruin, which has once
been a magnificent structure, the ma
tives say was built in 1130-lOng before
the SpaniaTds came. This is hard to
believe, as they have no knowledge of
architecture today. The Spanish ar
senal is well worth seeing, for there are
slowed away thousands of Mauser
rifles, swords, sabres and accoutre-
ments. Their blades are all branded
a RI
ours. Their sabres can easily be bent
into a complete circle, and the Amer
lean in charge tells us that one of them
will cut an American sabre right in
two
Just outside the wall is the Magellan
statue, erected in honor of the bold
navigator who discovered these islands.
Just across the rnoat is the execution
pen, where. for generations, the enc
mics of Spain have met their doom. 1t
is stone inclosure, built long and mar
row, like a shooting gallery, and at
one end the prisoners have been stood
up, three at a time, with their faces
to the wall and shot in the back. There
are three large spots in the end wall
where countless bullets have gouged
out the stone to the depth of an inch.
Many shots have struck six feet higher
than a mans head-which shows that
it was Spanish firing. A large double
door opens out on to a driveway, where
the bodies were loaded on to wagons,
and no one knows how many loads
have been hauled away from the dismal
gates.
Not all the victims were killed in this
place, as public executions often took
place on the Luneta, a place resembling
an open park stretching along the
beach. 1t was the custom to have daily
executions here in the evening, the
priests and senoritas coming out in
their carriages to witness the ceremo-
MES. Englishmen living here say that,
after the novelty of shooting the pris-
oners wore off, the Spaniards had a
habit of walking up and thrusting a
bayonet through them. 1t seems rather
inconsistent that the same people who
enjoyed this so much should object to
American soldiers bathing in the surf
The Manila penitentiary is a large
affair, containing at present about 1000
convicts, 500 having been released by
the Americans. Among those released
was q Philippine sailor. who could talk
English, and had an American coat-of-
arms tattOoed on his arm. He had been
in for two years, and there was no rec
ord of a charge against him; but the
Spanish officials had often told him
that $40 would get him out.
The Spanish officials still manage
the place, and are well behaved
now. There is one who has a signal
reputation for cruelty. One day he
turned q big dog loose on a native
prisoner, who was badly chewed w
before American soldiers could pull the
dog off. The Spaniards here are evil
IDENTIFY well behaved, as none of them
are in the pen. l went all through the
place and saw nothing but Philippine
prisoners, except three sailors from the
Morgan City, who got six MONTH Tor
taking government property. They say
they have nothing to do and plenty OF
any work to do, and it is well known
that that makes the most severe prison
in the world. / saw one man making
finger rings out of buffalo horns, and
bought one with a pearl set for 10 cents
The Spanish keepers claimed to show
us everything, but we were unable ia
find any instruments of punishment OF
execution, not even a whipping-pos
They keep all such things well hidden
and the only thing 1 have seen in that
/ line is an old pair of stocks with the
holes worn smooth b numerous an
kles.
There are no insurgents remaining in
( the city now. The few that were here
were ordered to leave, and they
marched out one night, to the number
/ of about 1900, making the most inn
/ pressive sight have seen since the
| day of the battle. We had strict or
ders to make no demonstration, but
as the dusky ranks marched by, under
/ the glare of electric lights, some OF
them boys of Ia shouting give Amer
/ icano," the cheers would occasionally
burst from our men in spite of orders
A man almost feels like plying these
insurgents, when he realizes that they
are up in arms against tyranny, and
! that, whatever the outcome, they are
sure to get the short end. No matter
how faulty they are, they certainly
! have inst n1rnnnds to- be 1n in arms