A PRIEST MURDERED FOR HIS BELIGION.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 79, 2 April 1881, Page 4

A PRIEST MURDERED FOR HIS BELIGION.

The colony of British Honduras, in Central America, is in, a state of excitement over the capture and snooting, !>y order of President Batjb», of the Republic of Guatemala, of the Jesuit priest, the Rev Father Gilliet, By the laws of Guatemala, all Jesuits have been banished from the Republic, and should any be caught in the Republic they invariably meet their doom by being shot behind the prison walls or out on the phza, a place reserved for the execution of noted criminals, io full view of the entire populace. It appears tfc«aJ Father Gilliett visited Guatemala for hie h?altb, and not as a clergyman. Nevertheless, he bad scarcely set foot ia Livingstone when, being recognised, by the commandant, ho, w«8 arrested, ironed, ani thrown into & dungeon to await orders from the; capital, Guatemala City. On tbe receipt of the telegram ordering hie being brought on to tbe capital for trial, he was divested of nearly all bis clothing, and was forced to walk barefooted a diatance of nearly 100 miles over the mountains, his captors usiog mules as & means of transportation. Arriving after, three days he was tried and sentenced to be shot. The newe of his sentence reaching the ears of th? people in British Hondurac, ao-J he being a man of extraordinary elrquer c^ and learning, and one whom every one honored sna" respected, the Governor of Boiizß whs waited upon by thousands of persons of every creed and belief, and asked to demand the surrender of the priest into his hands. This was done, but) all to no avail, for President Bnrjjoe had passed judgment, and nothing remained but tbe execution of the] sentence. Oa Monday morning, 17th January, Father Gilliot was token ,out!of prison, under, a jieayy guard, and rbarlched to the plaza, where they were j lined by two regiments of soldiers ; his coffin was brought and placed before 1 him ; the, soldiers formed a hollow, square, broken at one cross-street, opposite wbian, was posted & firing party. Behind the- soldiers were the people of the; city, looking on awestruck and silent. ' The signal for the shooting wasj given by three short rolls on & drub heavily mufil>d, and bardly bad ihejeound of the third roll diad away, when, with on instantaneous report, twebty carbines sent forth their leaden missiles on an errand of death, and Father Gillaet fell forward on bis coffin, pierced by seventeen balls, a mass of lifeless flesh and blood. Immediately the flhrill blast of a bugle w&a heard, ordering the formation of marching line, and.j leaving a detail of eight men to perform the burying, the soldiers, marching to the tune of a lively quicksteps re-antered the Larracks and were dismissed.