Cristan del Carmen.

This man was confined in the Carcel De Bilibid, the “common prison,” May 4th, 1898, and his offense was that he was “suspected of being an American!” For this heinous crime he was neither tried nor sentenced.

Julian Soriano.

In this case the prisoner was confined in Bilibid, March 25th, 1895, after having been in prison one year in his province on suspicion of being implicated in the killing of a civil guard at a place colled Balauga.  He was tried by a sergeant of the civil guard, who caused him to be tortured in order to wring a confession from him.  This torture was inflicted by means of a thin rope or cord, tied very tightly around the muscles of the arm above the elbow (cutting into the flesh deeply), and left there in some instances for thirty days.  In some cases the men were also hung up, the weight of the body being sustained by the cords around the arms.  Several of the prisoners have deep scars on their arms caused by the torture.  This man was never sentenced.

Leon Bueno.

The charge against this man was that he had stolen a pig, and he was confined in Bilibid, March 21st, 1893, after being tried and sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment.  He had already served over five years when released Sept. 3, 1898.

Jose Castillo.

This man was confined in Bilibid Carcel, December loth, 1894, charged with “insulting the armed forces of Spain.”  His version of the reason for his imprisonment is as follows:  His cousin and a lieutenant in the guardia civile were very close friends, and the said cousin, wishing to present a cow to the lieutenant, applied to the prisoner for one, which was given to him.  Later on the cousin thought he would like to present his friend with another cow, so applied to the prisoner for cow No. 2, and was this time refused.  In order to take vengeance on the prisoner, the cousin denounced him to the civil guard lieutenant as a “bandit,” and he was arrested and imprisoned as above.  The prisoner was sixty years of age.

Anastacio de Mesa.

The story of this prisoner seems to be particularly sad.  He was a chorister or sacristan in a Roman Catholic church, with several others, and was arrested, with his companions, by the civil guard, charged with “sacrilege.”  The truth of the matter, however, seems to be as follows:  The prisoner had a sweetheart with whom a lieutenant of the civil guard, named de Vega, appears to have been infatuated.  After imprisoning Anastacio de Mesa and his companions upon the above charge, which seems to be without foundation entirely, de Vega took the girl, and compelled her by force and against her will to live with him as his mistress.  The girl soon died, her end, no doubt, being hastened by the brutal cruelty of de Vega.  These young men, hardly more than boys, were imprisoned on August 3, 1895, after having been tried by court martial, but not sentenced.  They have now been liberated.  It should be stated that de Vega himself constituted the “court martial” before which these boys were tried.