Prisoners in charge of the _guardia civil_ were always tied
elbow to elbow. They knew full well that resistance or flight was
an invitation to their guards to kill them, and that this invitation
was likely to be promptly accepted.
In the investigation of crime the members of this organization arrested
persons on suspicion and compelled them to make revelations, true or
false. Eye-witnesses to the commission of crime were not needed in
the Spanish courts of that day. The confession of an accused person
secured his conviction, even though not made in the presence of a
judge. Indirect and hearsay evidence were accepted, and such things
as writs of habeas corpus and the plea of double jeopardy were unknown
in Spanish procedure.
The _guardia civil_ could rearrest individuals and again charge them
with crimes of which they had already been acquitted. I have been
assured by reliable Filipino witnesses that it was common during the
latter days of Spanish sovereignty for persons who had made themselves
obnoxious to the government to be invited by non-commissioned
officers to take a walk, which was followed either by their complete
disappearance or by the subsequent discovery of their dead bodies.
It naturally resulted that the members of the _guardia civil_ were
regarded with detestation and terror by the people, but their power
was so absolute that protest rarely became public.
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