LUKBAN
“… He had two Sibley tents; and they put the ninety natives in the two Sibley tents, which only held about sixteen soldiers; they could not lie down; they had to stand up. There was not room enough to lie down. They stayed there for two or three days. In the morning Captain Connell would line the natives up, and would issue to them bolos for the purpose of cutting down the underbrush … There were about ninety, aged from forty-five to thirteen. They had these bolos, and they were placed in the line, and had to cut down the underbrush and different stuff, and they stayed there right in the heat of the sun, with about twelve soldiers standing over them; and they were confined in the Sibley tents, about forty-five natives in each tent. The weather was damp, and of course it was the rainy season at that time; and it was very unpleasant all right for the natives, and they started to complain about it. They even wanted a little matting to put on the inside of the tent to keep them from the dampness, but he would not allow that at all. [ 41 ]
“ After about four days of this treatment the men were allowed to go home and appear in the morning; and they did so, though they worked reluctantly all the while. This went on till about a week before the massacre, when the native chief of police brought seventy-five men from the mountains, who were confined for a week in the Sibley tents; and, though“ it rained move or less during the day,”“ no matting at all was given” to them. They complained to the soldiers;“ they were afraid to make complaints to the officers,” but were not relieved.
When asked what kind of man Capt. Connell was, Gibbs answered:
He did not seem to treat them right in one respect. While the natives were cleaning up the town, he sent out men from the company to destroy all the rice and fish and everything in the line of food that they possibly could. He thought they were taking them to the insurrectos in the mountains.
This rice was stored in about the same way as we store hay in the barn, perhaps fifteen or twenty bushels in some places. The work of cleaning up the town in the
95
Capt. Thomas Connell