The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-06-08
SUPREME POWER USED
 BY SPAIN'S POLICE Guardia Civil Best Trained Peace Officers of Any
 Country.
SERENOS NIGHT WATCH
Swift Punishment by Guard for Assailant of
 American.

pest pOlIce Dody III the world. The men are cleanly built, sturdy and intelli- gent, and the average of manliness and ability is ever so much higher than in the regular army, The privates of the force are armed with rife, bayonet and revolver. They wear a uniform of blue with red facings. The hats are peculiar flat oilcloth things not unlike a freman's helmet, except that they are only about three inches high They have diagonal strips of red or white cloth across the front of the hat to indicate rank. The rear of the hat has a little fan-like projection, so that it Is not unlike the accepted way that Panama hat is worn, turned up in front and spreading back. The officers wear sword and revolver They have hats without the oilcloth on. All the men wear capes of blue lined with crimson red. The number of the dis trict is on the collar of the cape in huge script figures. The powers of the police force are great. They are sup posed to bring in their man dead or alive, and no questions asked. Their very great power seems to have a curbing Influence on them, for most rows are settled peacefully without ar rests at the appearance of a member of the guardia Further than that, they \ are the most courteous and obliging of men, and do anything at request.
 An American who was engaged in an engineering work in Madrid at the time of the Spanish-American war tells a story to exemplify the powers of the guardia civil. He employed many Spanish laborers and at the time of the early runors of conflict some of the men got ugly The engineer decided to discharge one particularly offensive man. When he acquainted the laborer with the fact the man drew a knife and after struggle stabbed the American slightly in the thigh. The engineer finally threw him out of the factory. The next day he was visited by member of the guardia civil, who told the American that he had heard of his fight. He asked if the engineer wanted the man arrested. On general principles the American was glad to have the assailant put away so he con- Sented to make complaint.
 A few days afterward he was told by the workingmen that his late assai- ant was dead He was shot trying to escape from the guard" was the ex- plantation. A little more questioning brought out the facts. The guard, Pedro Ramirez, gotehold- of thetassail- ant Tonic Fuentes, the day after the complaint was made. He had gone at once to F'uentes' usual hangout. He ordered F'uentes to come with him and they started from the outskirts of Madrid for the carcel On the way the guard pretended to have great sympa- thy with the accused man and cursed the Yankees, especially the American engineer. Finally he said to Fuentes: T will release you and you may run away. l won't arrst you for a Yankee pig" He let go Fuentes, who stood still. "Run, Tonio," called Ramirez. The delighted ex-prisoner started away and got about 100 feet off. Ram irez then put his rifle to his shoulder and shot Fuentes dead He brought in the body and explained that the prisoner had been trying to escape. Some persons in a field nearby had seen the thing and they could testify that Fuentes had run off, although they were not near enough to hear any conversation Their testimony was not needed anyhow, because the simple word of the guardia civil was enough. 'Why did he do so brutal a thing?' asked the American engineer finally. "Oh, three years before Fuentes stab bed RamireSs brother to death and managed to go free of the jail. It was a good time to get revenge" was the cold answer.
 An American freshly arrived in Se- vile left his hotel to look for the tele- graph office. He had no idea where it was, and at one corner of a square he found two of the guardia. In his feeble Spanish he asked the direction. One or the two said to the other; Wait here until I return and without further words set off to show the American how to get to the telegraph office. The American, with mental picture of po- licemen at home, protested that the guard was giving himself too much trouble. The policeman only smiled. He walked fully mile through wind ing streets to the office and explained to the protesting and abashed Ameri- can that he never could have got there through a simple description of the way. Then at the door he gravely sa- luted, smiled, said "good-day" and walked back. fought I to have offered him a tip?" asked the American of a friend later Decidedly not, was the answer "they are about the only per- sons in all Spain whom the offer of a tip insults" They are for the most part men of education and possessed of more than one language The officers are very well educated. They are by all odds the best physical specimens one sees in Spain.
 Their way of standing around armed to the teeth seems to some persons a ridiculous survival of militarism. They uuell riots quickly with bullets and think nothing of it. The peace is pret- tv well preserved in Spain by day by them. There Is in some cities a body of night watchmen called serenos. They are not of a great deal of value. They 20 about armed with a long pinke with a sharp lance head on one end. They carry lanterns at night Their chief function is to ct in late at night persons returning to their homes. They carry the keys of houses on their posts. Returning home late at night man stands on the sidewalk and claps his hands or calls loudly, "Sereno." The watchman comes hustling around the corner and opens the door of the house or hotel with his key. If 1t is hotel