mmissioned
or non-commissioned officers. Central offices were located in district
capitals; company headquarters were stationed in provincial capitals,
and detachments were sent to places where they were deemed to be
necessary.

Under ordinary conditions they rendered service as patrols of two men
each, but for the purpose of attacking large bands of outlaws one or
several companies were employed as occasion required.

The _guardia civil_ had jurisdiction over all sorts of violations of
laws and municipal ordinances. They made reports upon which were based
the appointments of municipal officers, the granting of licenses to
carry firearms, and the determination of the loyalty or the disloyalty
of individuals.

They were vested with extraordinary powers. Offences against them
were tried by courts-martial, and were construed as offences against
sentinels on duty. Penalties were therefore extremely severe.

Officers of the _guardia civil_ on leave could by their own initiative
assume a status of duty with the full powers and responsibilities
that go with command. This is contrary to American practice, under
which only dire emergency justifies an officer in assuming an official
status unless he is duly assigned thereto by competent authority.

The _guardia civil_ could arrest on suspicion, and while the Spanish
Government did not directly authorize or sanction the use of force to
extort confessions, it was not scrupulous in the matter of accepting
confessions so obtained as evidence of crime, nor was it quick to
punish members of the _guardia civil_ charged with mistreatment
of prisoners.

Reports made by the _guardia civil_ were not questioned, but were
accepted without support even in cases of the killing of prisoners
alleged to have attempted to escape, or of men evading arrest.

This method of eliminating without trial citizens deemed to be
undesirable was applied with especial frequency in the suppression
of active brigandage, and latterly during the revolution against
Spain. Prisoners in charge of the _guardia civil_ were always tied
elbow to elbow. They knew full well that resistance or flight was
an invitation to their guards to kill them, and that this invitation
was likely to be promptly accepted.

In the investigation of crime the members of this organization arrested
persons on suspicion and compelled them to make revelations, true or
false. Eye-witnesses to the commission of crime were not needed in
t