Richmond planet., 1900-11-03
MANILA. P. l., Sept. ID, 1900.
To Editor of the PLANET,
noa- Sir

To Editor of the PLANET,
Dear Sir.-
Allow me space in one of
your weekly editions of your noble
paper to publish the following deserip-
tion OF the Spanish prisons, the Philip
pine and this country.
A great deal has been been written
and published concerning Manila and
the customs OF the people over here.
Manila is prison itsslf and within
she very walls that make it such are
lub prisons and dungeons where the
light of day has never shone and where
in many an uulucky and miserable Of
fender against Spanish honor has met
death on the rack, death from starva-
tion, death from drawing, death in .
thousand different forms but death in.
yAriably.
Even the houses are built more like
prisons than dwellings, their stout ma.
hogspy doors burdened with enormous
iron shackles, and their windows ele-
waited and barred with the same mater
ial. The whole city bristles with war
like defenses and barriers as il suspic-
ious of everything and every one.
In such q city It is but natural that
one would look for prisons galore, and
they are here, principal among them is
the Presidio de- Manila or Philippine
Penitentiary y situated on the corner Of
San Pedro and Oalle De AliK, this pris-
on connects with the Oarcel de Billibid
and the billibid military prison has
been standing in its present position
for nearly two huL dred years, and wi h
its moss covered walls has probably
witnessed as much suffering and mis-
cry As within ten times its area the
world over.
The records are now in possession of
the United States authorities dated
back to 1903, and il is hard for human
mind to understand why the very walls
Of this hell on earth have not trembled
with indignation ct the torture intiIct.
ed. They have guarded and fallen up
on the Spanish managers in their own
IRE pan.
PRISONERS DISCHARGED.
The Presidio corresponds with our
state prison. In it are incarcerated
prisoners who have been sentenced to
serve two years or more. At present
it contains 756 prisoners, this being q
far less nu-.ber than at any date or its
history, the differeI cs being occasion
ed by pardons given by Uncle Sam.
Several prisoners terms have expired
since the Americans came in charge,
sary to I'LL their places as the Spsniards
oid by iair means or foul.
The building are called barracks
and are numbered. In the different
barracks are confined the various class
es OF criminals. For instance, the first
building contains priscness serving
from to years; the second fion 4 to
8, and so on.
All the prisoners are Fillipinos,
with the exception of two or three
Cinnamon, and the five Spanish officers
who were formerly in charge OF the
prison. three OF the latter are charged
with emDezzling the sum of $l6 233.32
from the funds Of the prison between
the 18th day Of August 1898 and the
1st day of OctJber, 1898. on which lat
ter date the prison was taken possession
OF by the American forces.
Ihe nret steps OF reform contemplat-
ed by the Americans were to free the
miserable culprits who had for years
carried with them the crude shackles
OF the Spanish yoke This was done
on the lst day of October and upward
or SC0 men took their first unfettered
steps for years. One poor old decrepit
native had been thus hampered for
twenty years and he had actually for
gotten how to walk. The last of the
10 Spanish etficers confined here except
ing the Spanish officers before mem
toned had been in the prison for ten
years and a half without even having
been given the p.ivilege of tr al and
without having any official charges Lrs
terred against him. He has a family
IN Porto Rico and left for there on the
Transport Sandia with life long graf
itude for his American rescurers.
The routine which the prisoners have
to undergo is military. All calls are
from bugle and all movements and in
spection executed with military pre-
cision, 1ss call ia at 5 :25 q. M, they
are given breakfast Of rice and native
coffee prepared in an enormous caldrop
by the prisoners cocks, at 8 o. m. they
60 to their work and are kept busy un-