The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-11-08
spAIN'S CONVICT MINES.
,,,,,1ppINE PITS WHERE MEN BE
COME MANIACs.

one to Five Years the Limit
uuman Endurance in These
.,r. Chansbers-50,O0o Native
,,.rcbants who MysteriousIy Dis
ae.red-Then Came Dewey.
-,..,, New York Commercial Advertiser.
rbsra was bit of grim justice in the
,-,.f arnouncement which was printed in
=. lop,rcial of Madrid at recent date
,b. prisoners confined in several of
w. snanish convict mines in the Philip
..,ss had risen in their might, massaered
,.,r gyards and escaped to the lines of
~, ,rsurgent chieftain Aguinaldo. And
tbis token hangs a tale of dark in
.,,,, and medieval barbarity that
..,rcf1 finds a parallel in history. II is
,,,rioi,s instance Of the far-reaching re
.,s of spanish official surveillance that
although from time to time during the
Ias, half century the civilized world has
~, made acquainted with the existence
- This relic of barbarism that reports
hove been of such vague and missionary
character as to be lightly CLOSED over
by thai whimsical disinterestedness with
which humanity views things at a dis
,.,ca The manifold horrors of Russia's
a,.etois system has been held up TO the
,.-atb and protest of an Christendom the
,srrors of Siberia and the fearful lot of
those who incur the dispieasure of the
Great White Car has become household
yaA fr,H hoe
existence: vet by some freakish . chance
Of fortune Spain's similar iniquity in the
philippines has hitherto been buried in
safeguard of obscurity and oblivion, in
which discreet repose it has been disturb
cd hut at spasmodic and infrequent inter-
walls.
ar3 land pirate, one Roderigo de Fuente,
initiating the ideal methods of spreading
the garb of civilization which has ever
marked he growth of Spanish colonization
of new territory of carrying on the prose-
lyting mission by fire and sword, rapine
and pillage, IN an deliberately designed re-
mort of the great glOries which he had won
for the arms of Spain drew the attention of
his government TO the mineral richness of
The country and likewise the desirability of
working these valuable mines by convicts
or those social and political malefactors
whose presence was not desired at home.
The end was not difficult TO foresee. The
crafty Roderigo had builded better than he
knew. Immediately the welcome practical
blty of the scheme impressed itself on the
official at home De Fuente was Installed
as the first penal governor of the settle
nent and in the following year the first
sbipoad of criminals arrived. In this man
ner we're the convict settlements inaugn-
/, let. CHI ana
long-ccntinued narration of bloody horror,
as foul and crime reeking a blot as exists
on all the fair escutcheon of civilization.
An English traveller writing some ten
years ago of journey through the Phil
ionines, says Il no longer have fear of
he'll; have just made a visit to the penal
mines in the Philippines. The comparison
is od!ous only toRthe latter, for it would
be impossible for the most vivid word
painting or the most subtle skill of the
artist to depict this, the acme, the con-
census of all the misery and horror that
can have IN existence ia this world" And
YET praeh the Spaniards of honor and
humanity!
According to the official records of the
government there. are altogether twenty
two of these settlements in the Philippines,
most of which are located on the two
southernmost island of the group-Leyte
and Min-danao-Which in their COMPARE
tive isolation from the outside world ana
the meagre knowledge concerning them
have offered a fertile field for the past
and continued existence of this barbarous
parctice If one, by any possible distor-
ton of the imagination, could imagine
system of misrue and horror ten times
as great as that which has marked Span
ish dominion since the moment Of its in
oeptOn on this western continent, even
then ne would have but a slight insight
inlo the situation as it has an accurate
and certified existence. And if an omnis-
Gent eye could peer over the Philippines
and tnlo each and every heart never
could there be any installing of the fer
vent prayers that the cruel blight of Span
lsh rule should cease; that the reign of
terror thar has lowered over this, one
Of the fairest regions on all Gods foot
STOOL should be forever broken by the
1l'orous arm of Dewey. IT, with no other
result than that the Spanish penal settle
rents in the Philippines should cease TO
exist war has not been without its rec
onpense.
At Tabay, in the northeastern corner of
Mndanao the largest of the convict set
tdnenJs during the last twenty-five years
there have been at no time less than 5000
uniortunates condemned to a living death.
" the total number sent from spain every
Eear sometimes reaching as high as 500.
there has hardly ever been a time when
the criminal portion of this number equal-
ell over one-third of the sum total of those
deported Tabay is essentially a colony
io' disinctively Spanish criminals; those
OF Muve birth are quartered for the most
part on the barren island of Leyte to the
north The vigilance of the governing Off
'idis has hitherto prevented an investiga-
ZION Of these latter, but with the spectacle
OF awful barbarity with which those of
tAcir own kind are treated, one cannot
PONDER over the lot of the unfortunate
hauVe malefactors without a mingled
SHudder Of gloom and horror.
The country in the vicinity of Tabay is
rugged and mountainous, and abounds in
eHdenees of mineral richness. The, value
81 iaese deposits was early recognized by
spain and they have since served as the
Quiet of convict spirit. No distinction is
made for age, sex or condition. The pris-
ohers. so soon as they are landed, are as
signed to a distinctive number and hud-