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Show fCdptain Bro wnell's I pathcr Lambert Goes After the Self.confessed Murderer of I Father Augustine de la Pena. I . , I 1 rantBin Brownell's attempt to justl- ' tr hia j.art in the death of Father iieustin.'. the victim of the famous - at-r 1 'uve" Torture, has called forth j (V folnwi:m scathing rebuke from the tfw Ih'' Nvv York Freeman's Journal in tne lt number of that We have received a marked copy of :i Bui-'linei"" ,vt) N,ws staining a xport statement of ex-Captain Brown-5 Brown-5 describing the part he took in the jnirrtT of Father Augustine in the p-Hlippine. Burlington is the home of I this self-confessed priest murderer, ' vi,n lias rushed into print with a view i ('vindicating himself. Brownell's mor-gj mor-gj make-up may he judged by the total I abfeni.P ,.f the slightest indication in lis i statement of regret for the heinous r'jmt, ),e committed. Indeed, u.e fel-c fel-c is so utterly devoid of all moral I pnthnent that he writes as if he were convinced that he is deserving of praise for having tortured to death a Catholic I cl-'rgynian who fell into his hands. Hi d.Mise ia' ht" tnu's fun,mariwd: AU : fi pino priests were traitors wtio sympathized sym-pathized "it h their fellow countrymen i vh't'wf re resisting foreign invasion and 1 -rnquest. Father Augustine was one of LVse traitors, and, therefore, he only p,t what he deserved when he was : dno to death by the water cure. i Such is the thesis Brownell develops vith astounding shamelessness. it suits his purpose to try and make. t Bpi-ar that if he had not been so active : n his role of. priest-hunter things I would have gone badly in that part of ; Up Philippines where he v.as stationed. ,- fUs us that a force under his cmi-r cmi-r maud captured and destroyed a town. Presumably the torch, as i-i many f inula r eases, was applied to the town : I'tT a'l resistance had ceased. "This I tx;ditirn," writes Brownell, "was cn-T cn-T ttrly successful and a. complete fw I pris" to the enemy, and so aroused tr. I lu.-urcetit leaders in the district that in ! th early morn of Dec. 22, 1SJ!. about I E::;n o'clock, my garrison was dopr-I dopr-I 6-fIy attacked by a force consisting of Ipra-iii-ally all the insurgents in the district." dis-trict." This statement is made as a fvi nf prelude to a description of the I' fi t the h., n! priests played in arous-I arous-I irg ih insurgents. It does not occur I tpKnoxneil that neither Filipinos nor ; m"n el any nationality would require r.'j' h h rousing to make them take ven-I ven-I p-nnct- for the wanton barbarity of de- f:myin? a town after the inhabitants I Ui cejise.i hchting. Suppose an in-! in-! v.-nlinc irmy sli.uild burn down Bur-. Bur-. lingten, would it require much exhor-f exhor-f fction on th- part of the local clergy I t Rur tip Urowneirs neighbjrs to re- v-:if" s'j.li a barbarous act? Brown-I: Brown-I: ti: woni.i have us believe that human n.:;u'-. ,.: me i-'ihpino sort is so radi-f radi-f c , 'i m the Burlington f band or' human nature that the Fili-f Fili-f 1 i 'heir homes go up in II taroke woiii.i not have struck a blow at Am-n.-an garrison if they had not I u;e- to do so by the wicked ;, Padre wii,. .-. machinal ions the lynx- . I ( 1 I il s quick to discover. I i!-i-lo,-k Hoimes was the veriest tyro lr tk as compared with B' . v n..n it was a juestion of fer- r " - on- in,, evil designs of the j . k- i ).;,.r... )(.,(. is how he pats ilr ! ii lik for having foiled i investigation of the t -n.' a i tack showed conclu- ' !.'. n.itid that the padre of 'he u ; ommunication with the 1 u id was aware of the 1 ) made." After his f: !T with the wicked padre i k : ; ius eyes on all padres, C 1 v w-re a bad lot who ;, pj.rei-iate the blessings i J- A-'-:i- :vi!ization as illustrated t " ! : - in itives of it as Brown- 1 Uoanng Jake. 1 - 1 i:!.ii:n- and murderer tells j -n .oai.-n , p.Kio, he was trans- t , " 1 ' !istri-t where he com-j.. com-j.. 1 iiious Tims with which i r be associated. He -hat as soon as he as-j as-j 1 ' "'"i'.;i:!'t of the new district he i t) -1 a system of priest persecu- t 11 !- how he puts it: "Acting ,n 1 " r i in had as to the at-t at-t 1" 1'i'ue at Saj-a. 1 soon dis- t & ' ' 'he padt-p at Banate was a ii - E ' ' " ';m:iar manner." Brownell 11 " d himself judge and jury . v r,1" s "t h!1 ( atholic priests and he ! tvi"j "loifd to give them short i t. " vh shown subsequently by n-'.d.T r,; j-ther Augustine. ttr.,"X!nj: U1 ,n" flr-st Part of his state-trs state-trs " "'i''''1 te minds of the read--acamsi ;,n Catholic Filipino priests, cif.WnPl1 I''"''prds to treat) of the spe-th'- ',M,C' ff having murdered Fa-; crin1f. U.rustine in cold b!ood- Th Uso i of ;h'; nv'iiderP(3 rrjest vas guilty ' f t(' flrHl" Uarnir,S a fellow priest tr,g . Mfe,y in fl'&ht, and. second, be-k be-k th liVlyfJ of an Insurgent. Here rgl3. ,!rn,vnp11 formulatesthese Hate p: "'antime the padre at Ba-o',.(ai,ha('1 Ba-o',.(ai,ha('1 Murillo, fled, and I dis- Au that hf" had hePn warned by sustine de la Ptna, a 'priest of 1 ' I Molo, and had been directed to escape to the lines of the enemy in the field. This Padre Augustine was held to be acting as head of the church on the island,- and a relative of 'the insurgent chief, Quinti Salas, who operated in the region of my district." From this it would appear Father Augustine became a marked man because be-cause acting in the capacity of ecclesiastical ecclesi-astical superior he had warned a priest against a priest hunter, and also because be-cause he had a cousin fighting for the liberty pf his native land. For these heinous crimes .he was kidnaped, and, to quote from Brownell's statement, "was delivered into my hands on board of the gunboat Caragua on Nov. 23, 1900." Brownell, whose stupidity is on a par with his inhuman creulty, states that Father Augustine signed an extorted I confession of guilt, and, to impart to the confession an official character, he j adds: "Cpy of which is hereto attached at-tached and marked 'A.' " This looks very convincing, doesn't it? But wait a moment. Hear Brownell out. We' quote from his sta Cement once more: "If I recall correctly, I held daily conversation with him (Father Augustine) Augus-tine) for a period of three or four days, endeavoring in every possible way to influence him to surrender the papers and money in his possession without compulsion, promising him fair treatment treat-ment on the part of the government. He became .constantly more and more insolent, and began to suspect that I would not use force, so that he finally denied everything in the statement he had -previously made, said that he did pot understand what it was, that it was written in English and he was told to sign it, and h thought it was a letter let-ter to be used to inform, his friends where he was. He gradually became so insolent that it became necessary to adopt a firm course of action w ith him. and he was given a limited time in which to decide whether he would surrender sur-render the money and papers demanded without compulsion, or whether he would compel me to resort to the latter method. The time given him having expired without result, he was brought into niy presence and that of other officers offi-cers and enlisted men and told that he would be blindfolded and "the water cure administered until he acceded to my request." Note the use of 'the word insolent in the above extract. Here we have a man of education and of refinement kidnaped kid-naped and induced by false representation representa-tion to sign a confession written In a language of which he did not understand under-stand a word. His righteous indignation indigna-tion at such shameful treatment is characterized as insolence by a military mili-tary understrapper who, without a blush of shame or a pang of remorse, proceeds to state that he tortured his unfortunate victim. L,et us in imagination imag-ination stand in that torture chamber. What do v see? A Catholic priest slowly done to death by a refinement of cruelty which could not be improved 1 upon by the most savage Indian that ever went on the warpath. Picture to ourselves the thief torturer, a man holding a commission in the American army," standing by his action and urging hiin to save himself by complying comply-ing with the wishes of his torturers. The moral depravity of Brownell is shown in the way in which he describes de-scribes this terrible scene, without manifesting the least compunction of ' conscience. . Listen to him: "The water cure was administered. I being constantly con-stantly near him and advising him at every stage that the moment he admitted admit-ted what I knew to be true and delivered deliv-ered the goods I knew to be in his possession, pos-session, harsh measures would cease."-Here cease."-Here is a picture that must make every brave man who has worn the uniform of an American soldier indignant at the thought that it could be prostituted to such uses by a shoulder-strapped mur- But let us hear the rest of the sickening sick-ening storv as told by Brownell. After a time Father Augustine made signs that he wished to speak. "I I,Tnediatc-ly I,Tnediatc-ly commanded," says Brownell, that he be allowed to sit up." When the tortured priest recovered sufficiently to speak he informed his chief torturer that the money in his possession belonged be-longed to the church and that he held it in trust for the pope. What answer was made to this statement? The-priest-hunting, priest-hating Brownell flung this brutal joke at his dying victim- "He still insisted that it. (the money) belonged to the pope of Rome and, being assured that for the time j being General Hughes was pope in the islands and that he would be obl.ged to deliver the money into his hands, the cure was continued." Once more the cruel torture of the water cure was applied. A ter some time the half-dead priest reived temporary tem-porary relief from the agony that was to end in death. Here is how Brownell refers to this short respite: "I allowed him, as he was in a very excited and j desperate mental condition to i retire to his quarters and rest." We j have a measure of Brownell's own mental caliber when he informs us, as j if it were necessary to do so, that n person who had been submitted to the . most excruciating pain was "in a very-excited very-excited and desperate mental condition." condi-tion." In a short time Father Augustine Augus-tine was again led to the stake. His savage tormentors were not done with him as yet, and would not be through with him until the vital spark should leave his body. Brownell coolly writes: "I directed that he again be led to the room in which thy water cure had been previously administered, which was the kitchen of my quarters." Again the torture and again the refusal re-fusal of the priest to turn traitor to his country and to his people. A brave man would have appreciated this in Father Augustine. But Brownell was a savage, pure and simple, dressed in the uniform of an American officer. The declaration of Father Augustine is thus reported by Brownell: "Said he had better be dead than living, anyway, any-way, and hoped he would die before morning." This declaration, we say, touohed not the callous heart of the priest-hunter. And now for the final scene, as described de-scribed by the murderer himself: "I hoped up to the last moment that j he would weaken before it became j I necessary to use any force whatever, j but continued the preparations, and finally ordered that the cure bo again administered to him, and stepped into an adjoining room for a moment with instructions that the cure should be given, but the moment he would disclose dis-close the name of the town only it should be stopped. In a very short time, probably not to exceed a minute min-ute and a half, I was warned by a dis turbance in the room where the prisoner pris-oner was that something was wrong, and upon entering the room the man was dead. "I immediately sent for the post surgeon, sur-geon, and within five minutes the exact ex-act time I cannot give the post surgeon sur-geon arrived and notified me that the man was dead." The deed was done. Father Augustine was at last free from his torturers. A crime which, thank God, had no precedent prece-dent in American history had been consummated. con-summated. The self-confessed peipetrator of this crime walks the streets of Burlington Ti free man, although the mark of Cain is stamped upon his forehead. Till he I is brought to justice the United States government will be a partaker in nis guilt. For the sake of the fair name of the country Murderer Brownell should not be permitted to go scot free. |