The Hawaiian gazette., 1899-07-21

u. .. A.
(From a photo taken at Iloilo. p. ID
on earth this takes the bakery. 1t takes
an age to get anything here from Ma
Mia, and our mail is always couple
of weeks late. We expect to receive
orders to leave for home any day now
Company l. seems to be ordered to
to the other while the other companies
stay In camp or march five or six miles
and back again.
you know, Of course, that we are
here to protect the peaceful natives and
those who want good government from
the raids and murders Of the renegade
priest and outlaw named IgnaciO Pa
pei. So whenever word comes to head
quarters that he il around any little
village or sugar plantation we are
dispatched there Immediately. The 9TH
er night word came to us. that Ignacio
was going to raid town called Castel-
Llama, fifteen miles from here So the
Captain picked out twenty of us and
sent US there Immediately to meet
him. We made the fifteen miles across
swamps and rivers in exactly four
hours on foot and reached there at 8
o'clock in the evening. We stayed
there fifteen days and during that time
saw something that l have always
wanted to see and something that
seems SO much more cruel and blood
thirsty than war. You can stand and
shoot down an opposing soldier be-
cause he has his gun pointed and you
shoot to save your life, but to see an
execution Of three men looks pretty
cold-blOoded and you must have pref
~ strong nerves to stand 1t without
.hinching. so. ,4sa .. " 49,.
"You know the United States Gov
eminent here has enlisted about 100
natives as police, and they are gov
erned and ruled by man named Gen.
eral Ramos, a half-caste Spaniard.
Well, these native soldiers are red hot
after this band Of outlaws led by Igna-
clio. and in one of their raids against
him they captured three of his men.
They were tried and found guilty Of
being outlaws and assassins and SEN
fenced to be shot. General Ramos had
told us that he would let us know when
the execution was to take place. So
one morning he sent us word to come
up to his headquarters, as the execu-
ton was to take place then.
THE day was a beautiful one. II
was like our ideal days in Honolulu.
The sun shone bright and gentle
wind was blowing, and everywhere
could be seen that quiet and peace.
that tends to make life a pleasure in
the tropics. We marched up to the
headquarters and waited a few mo-
ments. Then General Ramos came
down and picked out from among his
soldiers the best shots and made them
into the firing squad. Directly after
wards the three men came down tied
together and abreast Of each other.
They were dressed in dirty working
clothes, for according to a custom
among the natives that when man Is
sentenced to die he sends his best
clothes and so forth To his nearest rel
alive or friend-just the opposite to
our ideas among criminals. | honestly
affirm that, although the men were
trife pale about the face, they were
az cool as though they were on their
way home The crowd around them
was much more affected, and many a
boy In our squad was as white as
ghost. As for myself, felt very
squeamish. The three men were
marched to their positions and the FIR
ing squad took their places about thir-
~ feet To the rear Of them, THEY al
ways shoot their victims In the back
In this country,) | watched the Vie
tins as they took their places, and
one 0f them, with all the GOODNESS n
person could possibly have, reached
down and pulled NJ mis- pants 80 as 10
enable him 10 kneel better, the same
~ ! or any one would do " We were
afraid of ereasing ~ bagging our pants
NJ ths knees, Immediately on kneeling
they crossed aud reerossed themselves
AND said their prayers, having pre-