Page:Vol 3 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/267

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REVOLT AT TLASCALA.

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Although the saramullos took part in the pillage of the stalls, if not in setting fire to the viceroy's palace, they for the most part escaped punishment, the principal victims being natives. The first execution took place on the 11th of June. Three Indians, taken in the act of setting fire to the palace,^[1] were shot in the plaza under the gallows, erected in place of the one destroyed; and in the afternoon their hands were cut off, and some nailed to the gallows, and others to the door-posts of the palace. Between this date and the twenty-first of the following August thirty-six Indians of both sexes and a few mestizos were publicly whipped, and eleven natives and one mestizo were hanged. A Spaniard who took part in the riot, and died of his wounds in hospital, was exposed on the gibbet. The last one put to death was a lame Indian, who was believed to have been the captain of the rioters.^[2]

A few days later news was received in the capital of an Indian revolt at Tlascala.^[3] The outbreak had taken place on the previous Saturday, that being the usual market-day, on which the inhabitants of the surrounding country repaired to the city to purchase

↑ Four were captured, but one had died on the night of the 10th, either from poison self-administered or from ill-treatment. Sigüenza y Góngora, Carta, MS., 78, says he committed suicide, but Robles, Diario, ii. 98, states 'pero uno se mató antes con veneno, segun se dijo entonces, y parece que del maltrato que le dieron.'
↑ Robles, Diario, ii. 98-106. Sigüenza y Góngora, Carta, MS., 78, writing August 30th of this year, says that besides the three who were shot, five or six were hanged and one burned; and that a few days afterward many were whipped, while others were detained in prison awaiting trial. In the Carta de un Religioso, it is stated that the four Indians captured at the palace were executed on Monday the 9th, and mention is made of the other executions. Cavo, Tres Siglos, ii. 82, says that eight of the populace who were found to have been implicated in the outbreak were executed, and many others condemned to be whipped. He is indorsed by Rivera, Gob. Mex., i. 275. The statements of Robles are to be preferred in this instance, as he gives from day to day the more important events of this period. Various decrees were issued relating to the conduct of the natives. On June 10th they were forbidden under penalty of death to collect on the streets in groups of more than five; two days later all those residing in the Spanish quarter were ordered to remove to the native wards, but this ordinance does not appear to have been obeyed until the 15th, when it was repeated.
↑ On the 16th of June, during the absence of the governor and principal lords of Tlascala, who had repaired to the capital to tender their services.

[1] Four were captured, but one had died on the night of the 10th, either from poison self-administered or from ill-treatment. Sigüenza y Góngora, Carta, MS., 78, says he committed suicide, but Robles, Diario, ii. 98, states 'pero uno se mató antes con veneno, segun se dijo entonces, y parece que del maltrato que le dieron.'

[2] Robles, Diario, ii. 98-106. Sigüenza y Góngora, Carta, MS., 78, writing August 30th of this year, says that besides the three who were shot, five or six were hanged and one burned; and that a few days afterward many were whipped, while others were detained in prison awaiting trial. In the Carta de un Religioso, it is stated that the four Indians captured at the palace were executed on Monday the 9th, and mention is made of the other executions. Cavo, Tres Siglos, ii. 82, says that eight of the populace who were found to have been implicated in the outbreak were executed, and many others condemned to be whipped. He is indorsed by Rivera, Gob. Mex., i. 275. The statements of Robles are to be preferred in this instance, as he gives from day to day the more important events of this period. Various decrees were issued relating to the conduct of the natives. On June 10th they were forbidden under penalty of death to collect on the streets in groups of more than five; two days later all those residing in the Spanish quarter were ordered to remove to the native wards, but this ordinance does not appear to have been obeyed until the 15th, when it was repeated.

[3] On the 16th of June, during the absence of the governor and principal lords of Tlascala, who had repaired to the capital to tender their services.

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