The priest called in two officers of the Civil Guard, who
arrested the young printer, frightened a confession out of him, and
that night, in company with the friar, searched the printing-office,
finding secreted there several lithographic plates for printing
receipts and certificates of membership in the Katipunan, with a
number of documents giving some account of the plot.
Then the Spanish population went wild. General Ramon Blanco was
governor and seems to have been about the only person who kept his
head at all. He tried to prevent giving so irresponsible a movement a
fictitious importance, but was utterly powerless to stay the clamor
for blood which at once arose, loudest on the part of those alleged
ministers of the gentle Christ. The gates of the old Walled City,
long fallen into disuse, were cleaned and put in order, martial law
was declared, and wholesale arrests made. Many of the prisoners were
confined in Fort Santiago, one batch being crowded into a dungeon
for which the only ventilation was a grated opening at the top, and
one night a sergeant of the guard carelessly spread his sleeping-mat
over this, so the next morning some fifty-five asphyxiated corpses
were hauled away.
Pages:
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83