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Rh they were to aim. Then the signal was given and the platoon fired. Though one bullet pierced his hand, it failed to touch the heart, and Hidalgo still remained erect in his seat, uttering words of prayer. A second volley was discharged, cutting the cords which secured him. He now fell upon the ground, but life was not yet extinct; and it was only after three more shots were fired, the muskets being held close to his breast, that he breathed his last.

The heads of Hidalgo, Allende, Aldama, and Jimenez were sent to Guanajuato, and suspended in iron cages at the four corners of the alhóndiga. Their bodies were interred in the chapel of the third order of Franciscans in Chihuahua, where they remained till 1823, when, by order of congress, the remains were transferred with the skulls to the cathedral of Mexico, where they were deposited with solemn honors in the chapel of los Reyes, the former burial-place of the viceroys, and later that of the presidents of the republic.