Francisco Ferrer; his life, work and martyrdom, with message written ...

His Life and Work. 63
deprived me of all my clothes, underwear and all, from
mv hat to my shoes, and, to the astonishment even of
the employees, since it was the first time they had seen
such a thing, they gave me newly-bought clothes. The
entire outfit cost fourteen francs. Some of it was too
small. I couldn't get the waistcoat to button, while
the trousers were fifteen centimetres too long. The cap
could have done for an Apache Indian. In this disguise
I was sent to the Judge and to prison ! Two policemen
accompanied me in the closed wagon in which I was
taken to prison. The wagon jolted so much and so often
that the policemen w^ondered what was the matter.
Finally they opened a little window to ask the coachmen
why they were going so fast, and where they were going.
The coachmen answered that they had been ordered to
make a wide detour in order not to meet the workmen
who were leaving the factories just then (it was noon).
They had also been ordered to drive the horses at a
swift trot without stopping for anything.
THE FIRST EXAMINATION.
Now, as to my first examination by the Judge, the
Commandant Vicente Llivina y Fernandez. It took place
the evening of the day I was arrested, September ist.
He asked me how I had spent the 24th, 25th and 26th
of July. I replied that on the 24th and 25th I had not
left Mongat, and I told him in detail about my stay in
Barcelona on the 26th (just as I wrote about it to you
in my letter of August 10-12).* I spoke of my surprise
when I learned that a general strike had been declared.
Then he asked me to say if I thought the strike and
revolt had been managed and led by anybody, and, if
* Following is the version of Ferrer's account of the way he
spent the 26th of July as it appears in the prosecutor's report
"He declares that after he was acquitted in the case relating
to Morral's attempt, he was kept under constant and close surveilance
by the police ; which did not trouble him. That he did
not leave Mongat either on July 24th or 25th, or four or five
days before, but that he did leave it on July 26th, at 8 o'clock,
to go to Barcelona, where he had various matters to attend to.
That among other things he wanted to find out how much a
new work would cost him. That then he went to his office in
Barcelona, where he found the engraver awaiting him. That
next he left his office and went to all the other places on foot.
That he entered the Cafe Suisse intending to lunch there, but