Twice ToldLos brujos de Chiloé, 1908: the closing pages, with the first-instance sentence and the four convicts
- Language
- Spanish
- Reading
- transcribed from the page image
- Translation
- ours
- Retrieved
- 10 October 2026
Spelling as printed (“i” for “y”, “jente”, “sijilo”). Line breaks are not kept; page breaks are marked. Italics in the original (on “adivinacion”, “hechicerias”, “estafarlos” and the name Recta Provincia) are not marked. The OCR text of this PDF had errors on every page, so every word below was checked against the page image.
[p. 37] Última declaracion i sentencia del Juez.
Ignacio Millalonco, Secretario de Domingo Coñuecar, declaró ante el juez que en la casa de éste había visto reunidas hasta 60 personas i al Rei Juan Pedro Chiguai, todos al rededor de una mesa «i no cuidó de observar lo que estarian haciendo».
Segun la sentencia de 2 de Marzo de 1881, del juez Beytia, en el juicio de brujos se ha seguido esta causa por el delito de asociacion ilícita contra los comprometidos en la sociedad de los brujos, que estos llaman Recta Provincia. De las declaraciones i de la lectura de los papeles encontrados resulta que esa institucion existe desde tiempos remotos i cuenta con un
[p. 38] número excesivo de afiliados, todos los que a su incorporacion se les confiere un empleo u ocupacion que aceptan bajo la obligacion de sijilo i obediencia.
Por los nombres de los lugares para que han sido nombrados se sabe que han hecho una sub-division territorial bajo nombres i linderos que ellos conocen.
Este cuerpo de empleados tan numeroso como el de sus afiliados, lo forman un Rei i Reina, (Jefes Supremos), Presidentes i Vice, Intendentes, Secretarios, Comandantes, Reparadores i Médicos.
Estos ademas del poder misto i omnímodo que representan, cuentan con el sobrenatural de la adivinacion, con el que tambien los creen investidos los sencillos habitantes de las pequeñas poblaciones donde habitualmente cometen sus hechicerias, hasta haber así obtenido el que aquellos ocurran a su presencia en demanda de saber quiénes son los autores de sus enfermedades o muertes que les ocurren en sus familias, solicitando a la vez un castigo.
De aquí procede la facilidad que tienen para conseguir estafarlos, cobrándoles honorarios por notificaciones, sentencias, etc., a fin de atraerlos i hacerlos servir como ajentes de la institucion.
[p. 39] Mateo Coñuecar, de 70 años, no sabe leer ni escribir; hace 30 años que se incorporó en dicha institucion sirviendo primero como consejero i despues como Rei de Santiago (Tenaun) oyó demandas i recibió honorarios, fué condenado a tres años de prision.
Aurora Quinchem, de 40 años, confiesa ser Reina de «arriba» de la Recta Provincia; tuvo reuniones en su casa, se abstuvo de dar sentencias de muerte; condenada a 541 dias de prision.
Cristino Quinchem, 61 años, Vice-Presidente de arriba de la Recta Provincia; condenado a 541 dias de prision.
Domingo Coñuecar, 54 años, Reparador sobre la tierra, la misma sentencia.
La Recta Provincia, o sea la institucion de los brujos, habia existido en Chiloé desde tiempos antiquísimos; era tolerada porque se ignoraban sus malas tendencias i se le creía mas bien una institucion piadosa con fines humanitarios.
Pero las investigaciones prolijas hechas por el activo Juez, vinieron a demostrar, ante las autoridades i el pueblo asombrado, el cúmulo de maldades i crímenes cometidos por la famosa asociacion.
[p. 40] La sentencia dictada por el juzgado i la condenacion de los reos que aparecian mas culpables, trajo por consecuencia la desaparicion de los demas brujos.
Sin embargo, despues de algun tiempo, cuando creyeron que todo se habia olvidado, principiaron a dar señales de vida en otros lugares e islas de aquellas rejiones.
Pero nunca, al ménos, no se ha oido decir, han vuelto a asociarse i a nombrar jefes como en la Recta Provincia.
Han llevado hasta hoi una vida oscura i lánguida, pero siempre preocupados de hacer sus estafas i crímenes por medio de procedimientos secretos i vulgares.
Los brujos existirán siempre, mientras existan los indios supersticiosos i el bajo pueblo sin educacion.
Nota de los editores.—No se ha escapado a nosotros, las innumerables faltas de construccion i estilo de que adolece la redaccion del proceso, que no hemos correjido, para que quede fiel al orijinal.
Translation
Ours. The pamphlet’s disparaging closing lines are translated as they stand, since the text is the thing being examined.
[p. 37] Last statement and the judge’s sentence.
Ignacio Millalonco, secretary to Domingo Coñuecar, told the judge that in Coñuecar’s house he had seen up to 60 people gathered, and the King, Juan Pedro Chiguai, all around a table, “and he did not take care to watch what they were doing”.
According to the sentence of 2 March 1881 by the judge Beytia, in the trial of the brujos this case was brought for the crime of illicit association against those implicated in the society of the brujos, which they call the Recta Provincia. From the statements and from reading the papers that were found, it turns out that this institution has existed since remote times and has an excessive number of members,
[p. 38] each of whom, on joining, is given an office or occupation that they accept under an obligation of secrecy and obedience.
From the names of the places they were appointed to, it is known that they have made a division of territory under names and boundaries that they know.
This body of officials, as large as its membership, is made up of a King and Queen (supreme heads), Presidents and Vice-Presidents, Intendants, Secretaries, Commanders, Reparadores and Doctors.
Besides the mixed and all-embracing power these hold, they have the supernatural power of divination, with which the simple inhabitants of the small settlements where they usually practise their sorcery also believe them to be endowed, until they have won it that people come to them to ask who is responsible for the illnesses or deaths that strike their families, and ask at the same time for a punishment.
That is where the ease comes from with which they manage to swindle them, charging fees for notifications, sentences and so on, in order to draw them in and make them serve as agents of the institution.
[p. 39] Mateo Coñuecar, 70, cannot read or write; he joined the institution 30 years ago, serving first as a counsellor and then as King of Santiago (Tenaun); he heard complaints and received fees; he was sentenced to three years in prison.
Aurora Quinchem, 40, admits to being Queen of “arriba” (“above”) in the Recta Provincia; she held meetings in her house and refrained from passing death sentences; sentenced to 541 days in prison.
Cristino Quinchem, 61, Vice-President of “arriba” in the Recta Provincia; sentenced to 541 days in prison.
Domingo Coñuecar, 54, Reparador on the land, the same sentence.
The Recta Provincia, that is, the institution of the brujos, had existed in Chiloé since the most ancient times; it was tolerated because its bad tendencies were not known and it was thought to be rather a pious institution with humane aims.
But the thorough investigations by the energetic judge showed, before the authorities and the astonished public, the heap of wickedness and crimes committed by the famous association.
[p. 40] The sentence passed by the court, and the conviction of the accused who appeared the most guilty, brought about the disappearance of the rest of the brujos.
Even so, after some time, when they thought everything had been forgotten, they began to show signs of life in other places and islands of those regions.
But, at least, it has never been heard that they have joined together again and named chiefs as in the Recta Provincia.
To this day they have led an obscure and languid life, but always busy making their swindles and crimes by secret and vulgar methods.
The brujos will always exist, as long as there are superstitious Indians and an uneducated lower class.
Editors’ note. The innumerable faults of construction and style in the wording of the case have not escaped us; we have not corrected them, so that it stays faithful to the original.
Notes
What it is. The last four pages of a 40-page pamphlet printed in Santiago in 1908 by the firm of Ponce Hermanos, which the preface says reproduces the declarations of a “verdadero espediente” kept in the court of Ancud. No author or editor is named. The summary on these pages is the pamphlet’s own, not the court’s: the editors quote or paraphrase the first-instance sentence, name four convicts, and add their own comment.
What to notice. It dates the sentence to 2 March 1881 (Osorio 1960, p. 124, says 2 February). It lists four convicts with two different sentences; Catepillan (2019, note 29) names nine, and says all were sentenced to three years. It does not say that the Court of Appeals of Concepción overturned the sentence. It ends by blaming “Indians” and “the lower class” for the persistence of sorcery, which is the editors’ view and not a finding of the court.
How far to trust it. As a statement of what the first-instance sentence said, we read it next to two other quotations of the sentence (Romo, Diccionario, quoting the Gaceta de los Tribunales; Catepillan 2019), which agree on the wording about illicit association and the list of offices. The conviction figures and the closing paragraphs are the editors’ own words.
Readings we are unsure of: none; the page images are clear. “Quinchem” is the pamphlet’s spelling; Osorio 1960 and Catepillan print “Quinchén” and “Quinchen”.