534
THE GREEN BAG
him they would profit by it; being pressed for explanation, Mora stated that it was to kill General Barillas; that as a reward he, Morales, would be paid for a saloon of his which had been destroyed some years before by troops operating under General Barillas; that he finally accepted the propo sition and prepared to sail for Mexico, in company with Mora. The forced examination of the accused then proceeds : Presidente: But you came here with the object of killing him? Morales: Yes, sir, because Mora said to me, "Let's kill him." Bernado Mora said to me every little while, " When are you going to do this?" I was afraid to commit the murder, but Mora was always telling me to do it; he was always after me, and every time said that these things were done in a minute. I did not wish to kill him, how ever much Mora urged me to do it. Many days passed and I did not wish to kill him; but I could not leave Mexico because I had no money, and then Bernado told me that if I did not kill him I could not return to Guatemala. Presidente: Good. Now let us come to the seventh of April. You have already told of all the vacillations you had when you would meet General Barillas at the Zocalo; you met him at different times, and Bernado was urging you to kill him, but you did not do so for fear that they would put you in prison — is that not so? Morales: Yes, sir. Presidente: Now what happened on the seventh of April? Morales: I was sleeping in my room when Bernado came and waked me. I went to the Z6calo, then into the street del Reloj. There I saw General Barillas coming along the street. When I saw General Barillas coming I did not know what to do, nor how to go about committing the murder, and I let him pass; afterwards I turned back and stopped in front of him, and I said to him : "Good evening, General "; I saluted him
and told him that he should pay me for the cantina, as I had no money to return to my country and I said " Si no me paga, me pago con Vd." (If you do not pay me, I will pay myself with you.) I drew the dagger and gave him cuts. Presidente: How many cuts did you give him? Morales: I believe two. Presidente: There were three, and one of them was in the shoulder — is it not so? Morales: No, sir. Presidente: By the autopsy of the body it is shown that General Barillas had three wounds, one of them in the shoulder, which was a very serious one. So you say that when you saw the general coming, you decided to kill him, after having vacil lated many times, not wishing to do it; you let him pass, then came back, went forward, saluted him, claimed the money for the cantina his troops had destroyed, and you then killed him because he did not pay — is that so? Morales: No, sir, not for that, but because I — the truth is — I much feared Bernado, that he would kill me. Presidente: There are some witnesses who say that you did not speak to the General; that he was going in the direction of the street del Reloj; that you grasped the dagger, placed yourself in front of him, and gave him three wounds. Morales: Yes, sir, but I spoke. It will be noted that no witnesses had as yet testified to any of these details; but the Judge Presidente, with the record of the instruction lying open before him and familiar with its contents, made use of it and its more or less "hearsay" evidences, to interrogate and contradict the involun tary witness against himself. Presidente: These facts you cannot now deny, because you have just confessed them. However, it has cost much work, enormous work, for you to confess the truth. During the process (of instruction) you have made many entirely different and contradictory
