Page:The "Trial" of Ferrer - A Clerical Judicial Murder (IA 2916970.0001.001.umich.edu).pdf/9

 publish a proclamation declaring the town under martial law. On the same day that the strike began similar events occurred in several neighboring towns. On the 27th, the trouble increased; barricades were erected all over the town, and the troops which had been brought in took a passive attitude, while the people cheered the soldiers but observed an icy silence towards the officers. Most of the troops re- mained in the barracks, the officers not daring to come out. It was at this time that the burning of the convents began. This was not in the program of the strike, but came as an explosion of popular feeling against the re- ligious orders who were living at the expense of the poorer classes. It seems that the striking elements did not take any part in the looting of the churches and convents," but, on the contrary, prevented it whenever they could; how- ever, such occasions are always festival days for the criminal clements of the slums and they could not be prevented everywhere from looting and pillaging. On the 28th the situation remained about the same, but from that day on the rovolutionists began to lose ground, due to the arrival of new troops from other parts of Spain, but especially due to the lack of direction The and leadership among the revolutionary elements. insurrection had been an explosion of popular discontent against the poliey pursued by the Government, but the movement had not been properly organized beforehand, and when the crisis arrived there were no chiefs to take the situation in hand. By the first of August, quiet was letter of a Spanish corregpondent published in the Daily People of very clearly exposed. i Forty-nine is the total num- ber of churches and convents. burned on that day, as given by "L'Humanite" (August 12-18, 1909), from which paper most of the detalls here glven are taken. of the insurrection, and partic- ularly of the popular outburat agalnst the religious communlties,
 * The reader is referred to the