Page:Vol 5 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/557

Rh scourging the land. It was thus that the chiefs, or caciques, Manuel Antonio Ay, Cecilio Chí, and Antonio Pat, as well as many others, acquired experience in warfare and the use of fire-arms. They had taken part in an emeute which the government allowed to go unpunished. It was probably this impunity that stimulated them to plan a conspiracy to deluge the country with blood, and to sow devastation throughout its length and breadth. They found a ready coöperator in the notorious murderer, Bonifacio Novelo of Valladolid. The first meeting to treat of the insurrection on behalf of the independence of their race was in the rancho Xihum, about sixteen leagues from Tihosuco, and as many from Valladolid. Ayand Chí attended it, but there is no certainty that Pat did. Their plan became known to the government. Ay was arrested and executed at Valladolid on July 26th. Chí and Pat were not captured, but many others fell into the government's hands and were harshly dealt with as conspirators against the white race.

Chí struck the first blow, falling upon the town of Tepich on the 30th of July, when the inhabitants were asleep, and pitilessly murdering all the mestizos and mulattoes. Only a few women were for the time spared, to satisfy their lust. One man escaped, however, who carried the tidings to Tihosuco.

The rebellion soon spread through the south and east. Several bloody encounters took place, in which the white men and their allies were victorious, but no decisive results were gained. The measures of the government against the natives were severe; indeed, they formed an inhuman system of persecution, which only helped to swell the ranks of the insurgents, and to increase their animosity.

I have no space to enter into details. The insurrection became so general that the whites and mixed