Twice ToldThe prosecutor's Vista Fiscal on the Chiloé brujos, and Espech's note on the appeal (copied 1882, printed 1960)
- Language
- Spanish
- Reading
- transcribed from the page image
- Translation
- ours
- Retrieved
- 10 October 2026
Spelling as printed in 1960. Line breaks are not kept; page breaks are marked. Bold type in the journal (on “brujos”, “reparadores”, “curanderos”, “Recta Provincia”, “sociedad ilícita”) is not marked. The extract takes the first two paragraphs of the Vista Fiscal (p. 154), the paragraph on Mateo Coñuecar (pp. 155 to 156), the closing paragraph and Espech’s note (p. 156). The transcription is by the journal’s editor from the copy that Ramón Espech made of the Ancud file; “fojas” are folios of the court file.
[p. 154] Vista Fiscal
El proceso que se ha seguido por Us. para averiguar y descubrir cuáles son las tendencias de los que se titulan brujos en esta provincia y aplicar la lei a sus infractores, manifiestan claramente que es una asociación secreta, compuesta en la generalidad de indígenas, y que tiene por objeto castigar a los que hacen mal, arreglado a sus leyes que nos son enteramente desconocidas, pero que la pena común y más general es la de muerte. Para hacer efectivas las penas, tienen sus cabildos (como los nombran ellos) o corporaciones y éstas nombran sus jefes para tal o cual parte con el título de reparadores, debiendo existir un rei de la Recta Provincia (con ésto comprenden a todos los lugares en que existen miembros de esta ilícita sociedad) que está a cargo de la administración principal. Tienen además sus curanderos para aplicar remedios a alguna persona enferma y cobrar sus derechos por la curación. Esto es lo más inhumano y terrible de esta sociedad de hechiceros, estafa, etc., se valen de venenos que es la medicina más común para castigar a los que se muestran rebeldes a obedecer o pertenecer a la brujería, o para efectuar una venganza que cualquiera solicita, con tal que den alguna recompensa en dinero u otros artículos de valor.
Hacen creer también a los ignorantes que los que pertenecen a la sociedad pueden transformarse en seres irracionales que pueden hacer muchos males a los que se resisten obedecer a sus jefes. En este voluminoso proceso en que han figurado cerca de cien individuos, unos miembros de la asociación y otros sabedores de su existencia, aparecen nueve a diez de los que se han hecho acreedores a mayor pena porque efectivamente son criminales o reos de delito. De estos ocho existen actualmente en la cárcel de esta ciudad, uno en el Hospital y el otro, Pedro María Chiguai, que no se ha podido encontrar pero que debe quedar por ahora anotado para seguirle su proceso tan pronto como se encuentre.
[p. 155] Por lo que hace a Mateo Coñuecar debo decir a US. que éste es el más criminal de todos. Además que casi todos éstos que pertenecían a esa
[p. 156] sociedad lo condenan como el jefe principal para dar sentencias de muerte y administrar los venenos. El mismo en su confesión de fojas 42 confiesa estos títulos, luego es acreedor a las mismas penas que Domingo Coñuecar. Pero como coincide su declaración con la de Aro que lo acusa de envenenamiento y con la del agraviado don Fabián Cárdenas, se desprende que él fue el autor de la muerte de los dos hijos de éste. Hay más todavía: en careo que tuvo con Raicagüin a fojas 174 vta. confiesa de lleno que él fue el que dió muerte a las dos mujeres de que habla en su declaración de fojas 42. Por estar convicto y confeso de haber causado y dado la muerte a varios debe condenársele con la misma pena de muerte que señala en su grado máximo el art. 391 del C. P., por haber concurrido la circunstancia 3ª del mismo artículo.
En conclusión, me permito indicar a US., si lo tiene a bien, oficiar a los jueces de 1ª instancia para que éstos a su vez lo hagan a los jueces de subdelegación de su departamento, a fin de que tengan una estricta vigilancia con la raza indígena, que es la que está más embaucada en esta sociedad secreta e ilícita, sobre todo con los machis o curanderos que no hacen otra cosa que aplicar yerbas venenosas u otros remedios que no saben el alcance a los efectos que produce. De este modo creo que desaparecerán muchos crímenes y los ignorantes no caerán en el engaño o estafa. José N. González.
Nota: La sentencia de 1ª instancia condenó a éstos, a algunas de las penas pedidas por el fiscal; pero la sentencia de 2ª instancia los absolvió. No copié estas piezas porque se registran en la Gaceta de los Tribunales y porque no conducen a nuestro objeto: averiguar el origen e historia de los brujos.— (Firmado): Espech.
Translation
Ours.
[p. 154] Prosecutor’s opinion
The case that Your Honour has followed in order to find out what the tendencies are of those who call themselves brujos in this province, and to apply the law to those who break it, shows clearly that it is a secret association, made up in general of Indigenous people, whose aim is to punish those who do harm, according to its own laws, which are entirely unknown to us, but whose common and most general penalty is death. To carry out the penalties they have their councils (as they call them) or corporations, and these name their chiefs for one place or another with the title of reparadores; there must be a king of the Recta Provincia (by which they mean all the places where members of this unlawful society exist) who is in charge of the main administration. They also have their healers, who give remedies to a sick person and charge their fees for the cure. This is the most inhuman and terrible side of this society of sorcerers; swindling and so on; they use poisons, which is the commonest medicine, to punish those who show themselves unwilling to obey or to belong to the sorcery, or to carry out a revenge that anyone asks for, provided they are given some reward in money or other valuables.
They also make the ignorant believe that those who belong to the society can turn into animals that can do a great deal of harm to those who refuse to obey their chiefs. In this bulky case, in which about a hundred people have figured, some of them members of the association and others who knew of its existence, nine or ten emerge as deserving a heavier penalty because they really are criminals or guilty of an offence. Of these, eight are at present in the jail of this city, one in the hospital, and the other, Pedro María Chiguai, could not be found, but must be noted for now so that his case can be pursued as soon as he is found.
[p. 155] As for Mateo Coñuecar, I must tell Your Honour that he is the most criminal of all. Besides, almost all of those who belonged to that
[p. 156] society condemn him as the chief figure for passing death sentences and administering the poisons. He himself confesses these titles in his statement at folio 42, so he deserves the same penalties as Domingo Coñuecar. But since his statement agrees with Aro’s, who accuses him of poisoning, and with that of the wronged party, Fabián Cárdenas, it follows that he was the author of the death of the latter’s two children. There is more: in the confrontation he had with Raicagüin at folio 174 verso he fully confesses that he was the one who put the two women to death that he mentions in his statement at folio 42. Since he is proved guilty and has confessed to having caused and inflicted the death of several people, he must be sentenced to the same death penalty that article 391 of the Penal Code sets in its highest degree, since the third circumstance of the same article applies.
In conclusion, I take the liberty of suggesting to Your Honour, if you see fit, that you write to the first-instance judges so that they in turn write to the subdelegation judges of their departments, so that they keep strict watch over the Indigenous people, who are the ones most deceived in this secret and unlawful society, above all over the machis or healers, who do nothing but apply poisonous herbs or other remedies whose effects they do not know the extent of. In this way I believe many crimes will disappear and the ignorant will not fall into the deception or swindle. José N. González.
Note: The first-instance sentence sentenced these men to some of the penalties the prosecutor asked for; but the second-instance sentence acquitted them. I did not copy those pieces because they are recorded in the Gaceta de los Tribunales and because they do not serve our purpose: to find out the origin and history of the brujos. (Signed): Espech.
Notes
What it is. The prosecutor’s opinion (Vista Fiscal) that closed the 1880 investigation in Ancud, signed by José N. González, as copied by Ramón Espech and printed by Cipriano Osorio in the Anales chilenos de historia de la medicina, 1960. Romo’s Diccionario quotes the first paragraph from the Gaceta de los Tribunales (Santiago, 1881, pp. 455 to 456) and the wording matches. The note at the end is Espech’s own, written when he copied the file for Vicuña Mackenna (Catepillan 2019 dates the copy to 1882).
What to notice. The prosecutor says nearly a hundred people “figured” in the file and that nine or ten deserved a heavier penalty. For Mateo Coñuecar he asks for death. Espech’s note says the first-instance judge gave some of the penalties asked for, and that the appeal court then acquitted everyone. The 1908 pamphlet printed the first-instance summary and does not mention the acquittal.
How far to trust it. The prosecutor’s text is an accusation, not a finding. The Vista Fiscal calls the Indigenous people “ignorantes” and “embaucada”; those are the prosecutor’s views. “Cerca de cien” is his own count of people who “figured” in the file, not of people charged. The Espech note is one line, written by someone who did not copy the sentences; the acquittal also appears in Catepillan (2019, note 32), citing the Gaceta de los Tribunales of 11 June 1881.
Readings we are unsure of: none; the page images are clear. “Raicagüin” is the journal’s spelling; the declarations print it “Raicahuin” and “Raicagüin”.