"For two long hours we were detained in the middle of the street
under the rays of a burning sun and to the scandal of the immense
crowd which had been gathered together to witness the denouement of
the tragedy. The priests had hardly come into the presence of Villa
when Fathers Isidro and Florentino were called out for the purpose of
having heaped upon them a flood of insults and affronts. Father Isidro
was ordered by Villa to interview Sr. Sabas Orros, who, Villa supposed,
would wreak his revenge blindly upon him, but he was greatly mistaken,
as said gentleman treated the priest with great respect; the tyrant
remained talking to Father Florentino in the reception room of the
headquarters building, and when it appeared that such talk would come
to blows, the elder of the Americans left one of the rooms toward
the reception room, and the scene suddenly changing, Villa arose
and addressing the priest said: 'I am pleased to introduce to you
an American Brigadier-General, Mr. N.' The latter returned a cordial
greeting in Spanish to the priest who made a courteous acknowledgment;
after this exchange of courtesies, Villa resumed his defamatory work,
pouring out a string of absurdities and infamous insults upon the
friars, going so far as to say in so many words: 'from the bishop down
you are all thieves and depraved' he added another word which it would
be shameful to write down, and so he went on from one abyss to another
without regard to reputations or the respect due to venerated persons.
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