The times., 1900-12-25
COMMISSIONED TO KILL
The Authority Under Which Mur-
derous FilipinOs Acted.
Record of the Court-MartiaI I'm the
Castro - Detailed to Secretly Ex-
terminate Americans - Both As
sassins Found Guilty and Hanged.

The record of the court martial o
Gregorio de Castro. Filipino insurgent
charged with numbering Leun Sui China
I man; Peter Cooper, private in Compan.
G. Thlrty-eighth Infantry, and Mariana
Rojas, native, was received at the Wal
Department yesterday. The accused wa
captain of flying" company of insur.
gents, and the following order was fount
upon him when captured:
BY virtue of the authority vested IL
me by the highest military authority Of
the province. 1 appoint Mr. Gregorio de
Castro, captain of flying company. de-
tailed exclusively to the secret extermina-
! tion of the American cavalry and infantry
For this l ask and supplicate all the au-
thorities, both civil and military. that he
be recognized as such, and that they fur
nish the necessary forces in case he asks
for aid
Given in the barracks OF the flying
forces Bantangas, the 2Sth OF February.
1900"
The record OF the court martial shows
that Castro. acting under this order, di-
rected the murder of the persons killed.
liz hdS Ol tuTee OF
fences. but General Macarthur disap-
proved the findings on the charge of mur-
dering the Chinamap. Referring to the
murder of the Chinar ian, he says:
1T appears that the murdered man met
his death at the hands of Marcelo de
Castro but no proof exists further than
that the assassin belonged to the band
commanded by the accused, that he had
guilty knowledge of. or was privy to. the
perpetration Of the crime. That the court
was influenced in it's finding upon this
specification by the nature of the commits
sion under which the accused was serving
may be inferred.
1T may with justice be said that any
man who will serve under as piratical a
commission as that held by the accused is
deserving of death at sight, not as a man.
but as monster in human shape His
paltGy defence of holding the office of a
secret assassin was that it was given in
Spanish, and that he could not read that
language. Still guarded by the enligst-
ened and just laws of the nation under
which he has been tried, the accused must
be held not guilty of the first specifca-
tion- Had he been tried for a violation
of the laws of war, for holding and con-
ducting war under his commission OF as
sassina.ion. he would then have had prior
notice of the nature of the defence he was
called upon to make, and il convicted, the
fairness and justice thereof would not, as
now, be open to question. The finding
upon this specification is therefore disap-
proved"
The evidence in support of the charge
of numbering Rojas is direct, mistaken.
and conclusive that the accused and one
other man called their victim from his
house and for the reason, as they de-
clared 1t, that because he had that Jay
released. he must, therefore. be an Ameri-
can spy. shot deceased with a rife and
thereby caused his almost instant DEATH
THE sentence which was approved by
the department commander on September
II, 1900. although deemed Inadequate, is
confirmed and will be duly executed at
the Preside de Manila. to which place
the prisoner Will be sent under proper
guard
Marcelo de Castro was also charged
with numbering Sui. the Chinaman. and
General Macarthur says: The motive for
the murder is clearly shown. The accused |
was a member and 'teniente of one Of the |
bands OF guerrilla marauders infesting the
The murdered man had been a |
prisoner in the hands Of the insurgents |
and afterward, up to the day of his death, |
had, in discovering their hiding places and |
identifying various ones of their num- |
ber. rendered open and valuable assist |
ance to the United States troops"
Both Castros were sentenced to be hang |
ed and were executed by direction of |
General Macarthur