The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-11-08

colhpuhctlon than II 1t were a dog. 1t is a
signtleant fact that never do those who
are permitted to breathe free air and see
sunshine ever return 20 the life of hor-
rors which they have left.
In the smaller mines the condition of the
prisoners IS to certain extent ameliorat-
ea' IL Is here that The most trivial male
factors are placed, and they come up ev-
cry day and sleep in miserable dwellings
OF mud and straw overnight. Even they
are never allowed to catch a glimpse of
sunshine, but do not come up until dark
ness has set in, and to their life of druid
gerry they are hurried before sunrise
once day food is lowered to them in
basket barely sufficient to keep body and
soul together. But one favorl is granted
70 them, that when they die they shall
be granted Christian burial
IL IS IN the large mines, however, that
the brutal savagery and relentless ferocity
OF the Spanish taslkmaker finds play AS
many as 500 human beings are confined an
a sitting dungeon hundreds of feet below
the surface, crowded together like rats
IN pen. Fully half of Them are insane
and these monsters, i'm their brutal might.
struggling for natures first law, beat the
weaker under foot and trample them to
death for the mere pittance of food sent
down each day. Hapless the rash officials
VINO dares 20 go down into their midst;
a
madhouse of inhuman beings; his lot is
often to be literally torn 10 pieces by the
Infatuated mob. But what feafui ven
geance is wreaked! The food supply is
stopped for days, for week; from the
enormous pesthole comes bowls of despair
bitter anguish, the unearthly yefs of
starving madmen, and a little later scores
of mangled and crushed bodies are raised
TO the surface and buried. And so the
n tyof H. -.
day, from month to month, from year to
year, the enormous destinations ever sur
feited to overlooking by the inexorable
grist mill of Spanish justice" a perpetual
black hole of Calcutta that never has an
ending. Pestilenee adds to the horrors
of the situation A virulent disease breaks
out in certain section of the mine, the
miserable beings who have contracted it
are isolated from their fellows and pro-
vided with a small amount of food are
sealed up so that no way of escape offers
itself in an abandoned shaft. The past
is buried with them; their inevitable end
ing can be better surmised than described;
they are never heard of again.
Until the last ten years, when the condi-
ton of affairs has in a measure suffered
change, the awful horror of the Philip
pine mines was the dread bugaboo that
faced every person, whatever his rank
had incurred the political enmity of a SUI
perior. There was always the inevitable
ending, a trumped-up charge, a secret
trial before the mock representatives of
law and equality; the unfortunate &C.
cused would be missed by his friends.
Slowly would they shrug their should sfs
and not their heads in silence; the pat
ent reason was obvious. Twenty-Five
years ago when a revulsion of popular
feeling in Spain caused the government
to make a pretense OF investigation into
the abuses complained of, it is claimed
by a Spanish statistician that over 5000
persons had been incarcerated and tor
tured to death in the mines of Mnda-
mao alone within a space of thirty years,
against whom no other offense was charg-
ed than some privately circulated politi-
cal offense. This ebullition had the effect
of summarily ending the abuse of power
by persons in high Office at home, but the
unfortunate inhabitants of the Philippines
were forced to bear the load with re-
doubled severity. s =
Between 1910 and 1860 Manila and other
of the large cities on the Luzon group
were the residences of native merchants,
who, by thrift and industry had in many
cases amassed considerable fortunes by
bartering with the natives of the small
islands surrounding. After the latter date
one by one they began to mysteriously
disappear. The meaning was apparent. Ii
was notorious that Spanish officials, into
whose hands were placed the administra-
ton of the island, who left Spain poor,
were enabled TO return in a few years
burdened with enormous wealth, while the
race of opulent native traders and mer-
chants visibly decreased until 1t is an ex-
tremely rare occurrence to-day to find in
all the Philippines a person of native birth
possessed of even moderate means. Even
the poor were not spared. The soldiers
initiated the example of their superiors
in small way, the frightful abuse spread
on all sides till the ordinarily peaceably
disposed natives were driven to despera-
don, and the final and bitter struggle for
existence was commenced.
From the year 1910 until the present
time il is estimated that no less than $1,000
of these miserable beings were thus dis
posed of. AS an instance of the injustice
of this practice, the case may be taken
of a native merchant of Manila which in
the year 1898 caused a turmoil that babe
fair to antedate Spanish loss of sovereign
ty over the island by five years. This ma
tive. by name Tolito; had amassed a for
tune of $4,000 and had married Spanish
woman. by whom he had two children An
official in the Spanish service, becoming
enamored Of the wife-fnding that his pas
sion was reciprocated-ahd viewing with
eager eye the wealth or the husband,
found occasion to insult the latter and was
promptly felled to the ground. Where
upon the unfortunate merchant was ar
rested, and by false testimony of the faith
less wife convicted of revolutionary con-
spiracy and sentenced to the mines. For
tunately he had several years before, pro-
fitting by the examples of his fellows, TAX
en- out papers as a British subject, a pro-
test was made TO the consul of that coun-
DIT . to karN
one of many similar cases which have,
however. never ended as fortunately,
sickening record that. pals description.
DOCTORS WAYS IN THE PAST.