THE ROAD TO JAIL ties must always bear in mind the possi bility of a concerted attempt to escape. In the fall of 1903, the regular Judge of the Court of First Instance of the province of Albay was Hon. Adam C. Carson, now one of the Justices of the Supreme Court of the Philippine Islands. The criminal docket resulting from the surrender of Ola's outfit was too large for one judge to dispose of properly within a reasonable time. There fore, pursuant to his custom in like cases, Governor Taft determined to send another judge of First Instance to Albay to assist the regular incumbent by holding Part II of the Court of First Instance, while the latter held Part I of the same Court. It fell to the lot of the writer to hold Part II. Of course we. did not go through a trial with each of these 500 or 600 people. The counsel for the government, who was a man of rare ability in handling natives, having come out to the islands as a Captain of Volunteers in 1898, and remained there continuously up to the time now spoken of, determined just as a Grand Jury would, which ones should be indicted and which should not be indicted. He immediately recommended to the Court the release of those classified in the latter category, his recommendations for the release of people being always at once acted upon favorably. This disposed of quite a number within a short time. There was then in force a "vagrancy law" which made vagrancypunishable with one year at hard labor upon the public works of the Province — a department of involuntary servitude known in some of the United States as the "chain gang." Quite a number of Ola's followers had simply strayed off to the hills out of curiosity to see what the "Gen eral's " command was doing, and, after talking with some of its members, had joined it for a short while. Such people as these were allowed to plead guilty to vagrancy, sentenced to twelve months on the public works, and forthwith sent to the ' ' chain gang." _ This eliminated several score
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from among the prisoners in the jail, thereby greatly reducing the danger of an epidemic. A number of the prisoners who it was clear had played a considerable, though not a leading part, in the operations of this band of brigands, and who freely admitted it, were allowed to plead guilty to sedition, and given ten years each. This may seem to some of the readers of the GREEN BAG rather severe, but Ola's band had been very active in its depredations for about a year, swooping down from the mountains upon the people of the lowlands from time to time, pillaging, killing and burning. It was necessary to discourage in that prov ince, a repetition of such things. The more serious offenders were, of course, tried under the Brigandage Law. Of these four were sentenced to death in Part I of the Court of First Instance and eight in Part II. In all these twelve cases there was conclusive evidence that the defendants had, during the period of their member ship in the outlaw band, committed either murder, arson, rape, or some other heinous crime. I especially recall that two of those I sentenced to death were charged with burying an American alive and proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. They were duly executed after the Supreme Court had reviewed and affirmed the decision of the Court below. It became necessary for Judge Carson to leave Albay before I did. He had been recommissioned as District Judge for an other district, whither he was to go by way of Manila. He decided to go on a special Coast Guard boat which had been sent down from Manila to Legaspi to bring up to the Central Penitentiary at Manila those of the Ola band whose cases had been at that time disposed of by final conviction. On the night Judge Carson left Albay theAmericans and Europeans in the province gave him a banquet. During the course of it I noticed a man whom I seemed' to have seen about the jail theretofore helping the head -waiter in getting the banquet
