Richmond planet., 1900-11-03

! til IL 80 when they assemble for din
| ner OF soup, rice and sugar. They are
then locked up until p. IN. when they
again resume work until $3.50 D, m
when they are inspected and parade ,
! standing at parade rest ss the strains
Of the Star Spangled Banner echoes be-
| tween the walls, and as "Oid Glory
glides TO its sunset rest
| The prisoners have their own band
and good one too. Tn y al g allowed
hours each day to practice.
INGENUITY OF THE PRISONERS.
A visit to the Presidio will surprise
one as TO the ingenuity displayed in
the various workshops in the manutac-
ture OF almost every thing conceivable.
They make trunks, vslises acd bask-
ketS, chairs tastefully carved, silver.
ware OF all kinds, statuary OF clay and
| plaster paris. in fact it would be hope
less to enumerate the lsbors of the
prison,
They run frat class laundry taking
ing in clothes at the rate OF 81 per hun.
dred pieces, and the clothes are not
pounded as many an American has as
certaiLed it te be the custom. through
his apparel becoming decided y thin and
! somewhat broken by texture.
AT present the prison is overw helm
ed with work, all available men being
put to work on a large order for bsm-
boo cots from the government. They
are turning out from seventy five to
eighty OF these cots day, and the cots
| are delivered to their different destina-
| tions by the prisoners themselves un-
! der guard, In this way many of the
prisoners have seen their first sight OF
the outside world in years.
Carcel de Bilibid contains $50 pris-
oners, mostly natives, but fe n China
men. The prison is sim liar to our work
house, in plain confinement all prison.
ers here are serving terms leas than
two years. At present this prison is
not as much AmericaAized as the Pres
idio de Manila, and no work is being
done, then the prisoners are all SEN
fenced to hard labor however and will
| be put to work as soon as il becomes
prsctible to begin this branch Of in.
tuition.
The saddest and most gruesome pris-
on have yet visited ID the Bilibid mil
itary prison / found 1872 merican sol
diers incarcerated foc crimes against
their oath or service to the q. 8. It is
here that al soldiers are imprisoned
for failure to obey important orders or
for insults to officers or the flag.
Their routine duties are much the
same as in the quarters. but they are
| closely guarded and d Iring the time of
their sentence they are not permitted
TO see or talk to any one; they can
| write but one letter each month which
has to be read by the Off ser in charge
before mailing; all letters addressed
| TO a prison er must also be read and IL
it is from the mans immediate rela-
tves and contains more than ordinary
gossip it is returned to the sender.
All persons are here admitted in
what is called the second class, their
clothing is brown and in the second
class the prisoners are labeled with
large letter put on the back of his coat
and the same letter on the front OF the
trodser leg and on the back of the 9th
er. The color of the letter is changed
to white or blue as the conduct of the
prisoner places him in the LIST or 3gd
class.
BRUTAL TORTURE OF ooNvICrs.
As to the past disgraces, these prIs.
oDers have been to Spain. nore too
much can be written nor can one de-
scribe the horror of their tortures.
One old prisoner told me that il was
! the custom OF the Spanish soldiers to
| amuse themselves by torturing the
prisoners rs. They would ask for o num-
Der OF them when time hung heavy
and take them to the court yard where
they were tortured in every way that
corrupt Spanish mind could conceive
OF. Their shinboDes are scrAped with
q baVonet, pins are driven in the fing-
ers under the nails, their eye balls are
scraped with sand paper, they were
suspended by their toes or thumbs,
their shoulders we're disIocated by op-
posing sides each pulling the prisoners
arms at the end OF rope in opposite
directions until Spain's noble sons?
are tired of their sport.
Executions were performed on Ma.
nila's fashionable drive, the Lunetta.
On the 2Oth day of December, 1898
l seventy. seven prisoners were shot as q
matter Of discipline according to the