Note 42 — Chapter XXVI · Murder As a Governmental Agency

“On page 154 is a record of part of the murders of a body of men in the town of Caoayan, Ilocos Sur Province, who, in July, 1900, calling themselves ‘Sandatahan,’ appointed a chief executioner, assistant executioners and a requisite number of grave-diggers, and then, with set purpose, proceeded to assassinate all persons who manifested reluctance to join them or to contribute to their support or to the support of the insurgents in the hills whom their leader claimed they were serving. They operated secretly at night, the leaders usually selecting their victims one at a time; and when they were secured they were conducted to a lonely beach covered with tall grass where the grave-digger had already dug the requisite number of graves and where the executioners were already assembled. There in the presence of the assembled band, men and women, bound and helpless, were placed upon the brinks of their opened graves, their bodies were run through with swords and bolos and then buried. The band then dispersed, each man going to his own home. These operations were continued with industrious persistency through two months or more until the lengthening row of graves reached, in the language of one of the witnesses, ‘about thirty, more or less.’”42