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