| Show flagellant FANATICS appalling ceremonies of the penitents penitente Peni tents in new mexico by W V n U to tho the Ill hernia emid 11 DENVER march 24 the hermanas IIer Her penitents penitente Peni tents a fanatical religious be beci ct numbering about 2000 members in the tile territory of ney io who believe in the periodical atonement obain of sin by inflicting on oil chii th ei bodies at a mizing tortures were werd originally within h antho tho roman catholic church but archbishop lamy shocked by the barbarous cruelties cruel ties promulgated a decree banishing them from communion their numbers have greatly thinned since and they now inhabit Verri principally inci pally only four counties in the tile territory territory tory great cure care is taken to prevent the discovery of identity by andall aro are masked while t aney ley conduct ho the annual pen penasco pe ance nanco devotees often travel hundreds of miles to undergo the prescribed tur tor lure ture Los Griegos a small mexican village near albuquerque boasts of a body of the peni penitent tents the fact is known only by the brutal ceremonies taking place there every year this morning the ceremonies were inaugurated by an introductory procession containing contain ine about thirty men and women the process of puri purification flea by torture began at 10 five men inen masked to the wast barefooted and wearing black robes and hoods boods to completely conceal heir their identity were seen to issue from the tile adobe lodge house of the sect led by he the master of ceremonies carrying a veritable cato cat o nin two huge wooden crosses weighing 25 0 pounds each were placed on the naked shoulders of two of the self torturers the sharp edge cutting into the naked flesh caused blood to spurt out and drop to the ground one penitent produced a sharp gad w which he thrust into the flesh of bis his fellow suf sufferers ferem irom time to time while the procession moved up u the street to a wild barbarous ant and gib berous chant in Span ibb halting a applying the rawhide whips mercilessly I 1 essl each blow taking off the skin and L bits is of flesh tho the procession took its way to the tile goal half a mile away during the march not a groan was heard or a word spoken but just before reaching the g goal a 1 adobe hut but an ordeal was encountered to try th tho 0 nerves odthe of the boldest for some somo distance before the door cacti plants had been strewn thickly on the ground and as the barefooted peni tents approached it one hesitated hesitate when instantly half a bozon dorn whips descended on his bare shoulders and with a bound ho lie sprang into the cacti his every step marked with blood As the torture grew more terrible the chant grew louder and arid thongs fell with more vigor reaching the abor of the house they were loat lost of as sentinels guarded the entrance and only broken whips and pools of blood bear witness of what transpired within issuing from the house the tile procession formed reformed re and returned to the house of worship and so the tile horrifying exercises continued one batch of pen peni tenta tents succeeding another until night when a grand possession and chant wound up the exercises for the day du during ing these marches to and from the h house us e of refuge the scene at times was too sickening for description powerful men submitted their bogits to the most merciless flagellation till in some instances the tb e bare muscles bould be seen quivering at sit every blow the whole proceeding was wa a savage attempt to honor the easter easier season hitherto the law has made no attempt to check the wild exercises although abuce once a penitent who threw another bear bearing I 1 ng a cross into the river near san juan and drowned him was lynched by infuriated witnesses |
