Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/242

226 While this was being done, from those arrested the previous day between sixty and seventy were drawn for examination. These were sent to Flon, who had occupied the alhóndiga, and who was in structed to pass sentence upon them. Twenty-three were sentenced to death, among whom were the intendente Gomez, the unfortunate Rafael Dávalos, under whose directions the insurgents' cannon had been constructed, and three military officers who had espoused the revolutionary cause. The examinations were of the briefest, and the executions immediate, the place being within the walls of the alhóndiga. The description of the scene as given by Manuel Gomez Pedraza, an eye-witness, is harrowing. After the sentence of death had been passed by the conde de la Cadena, the condemned were hurriedly shrived by a priest in one of the storerooms, then led to the door way which had been bricked up by Riaña, and there blindfolded and shot. As victim after victim fell, their dead bodies being dragged aside to make room for their companions, the pavement became covered with fragments of skulls, scattered brains, entrails, and blood. By this human debris, progress was impeded, and before the horrible work was done the floor had to be cleared of its slippery and loathsome covering. The gallows came into play next.