Post by Pip Wilson on Oct 24, 2003 9:52:02 GMT -5
October 25, 1593 On the evening of October 24, a soldier, Gil Perez, appeared suddenly in a confused state in the Plaza Mayor (the principal square) of Mexico City, wearing the uniform of a Philippine regiment. He claimed that moments before finding himself in Mexico he had been on sentry duty in Manila at the governor’s palace. He admitted that while he was aware that he was no longer in the Phillipines, he had no idea where he was or how he had gotten there. He said the governor, Don Gomez Perez Dasmarinas, had been assassinated. When it was explained to him that he was now in Mexico City, Perez refused to believe it saying that he had received his orders on the morning of October 25 in Manila and that it was therefore impossible for him to be in Mexico City on the evening of the 24th.
The authorities placed Perez in jail, as a deserter and for the possibility that he may have been in the service of Satan. The Most Holy Tribunal of the Inquisition questioned the soldier, but all he could say in his defence was that he had travelled from Manila to Mexico “in less time than it takes a cock to crow”.
Two months later, news from the Philippines arrived by ship from Manila, confirming the fact of the literal axing on October 23 of Dasmarinas in a mutiny of Chinese rowers, as well as other points of the mysterious soldier’s fantastic story. Witnesses confirmed that Gil Perez had indeed been on duty in Manila just before arriving in Mexico. Furthermore, one of the passengers on the ship recognized Perez and swore that he had seen him in the Philippines on October 23. Gil Perez eventually returned to the Philippines and took up his former position as a palace guard, living thenceforth an apparently uneventful life.
Source: Wilson's Almanac www.wilsonsalmanac.com
[The only source I have found for this curious tale is various websites that offer no citations earlier than Encounter Cases from ‘Flying Saucer Review’, Bowen, Charles (ed.), Signet Book, New American Library, 1977]
The authorities placed Perez in jail, as a deserter and for the possibility that he may have been in the service of Satan. The Most Holy Tribunal of the Inquisition questioned the soldier, but all he could say in his defence was that he had travelled from Manila to Mexico “in less time than it takes a cock to crow”.
Two months later, news from the Philippines arrived by ship from Manila, confirming the fact of the literal axing on October 23 of Dasmarinas in a mutiny of Chinese rowers, as well as other points of the mysterious soldier’s fantastic story. Witnesses confirmed that Gil Perez had indeed been on duty in Manila just before arriving in Mexico. Furthermore, one of the passengers on the ship recognized Perez and swore that he had seen him in the Philippines on October 23. Gil Perez eventually returned to the Philippines and took up his former position as a palace guard, living thenceforth an apparently uneventful life.
Source: Wilson's Almanac www.wilsonsalmanac.com
[The only source I have found for this curious tale is various websites that offer no citations earlier than Encounter Cases from ‘Flying Saucer Review’, Bowen, Charles (ed.), Signet Book, New American Library, 1977]
