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to the true faith that had taken place recently in Lima. The captain then proceeded forthwith to interrogate him, receiving the willing cooperation of the accused. Questioned as to his identity, he replied that his name was Gumercindo Tello, the son of Doña Gumercindo Tello, a native of Moquegua and now deceased, and of an unknown father, and that he too had probably been born in Moquegua, some twenty-five to twenty-eight years ago. With respect to this doubt as to his exact age, he explained that soon after he had been born his mother had handed him over to an orphans’ home for boys run in the aforementioned city by the papist sect, in whose aberrations, he said, he had been educated and from which he had happily freed himself at the age of fifteen or eighteen. He indicated that he had remained at the orphanage until that age, at which time the institution burned to the ground in a huge fire, in which all the records were destroyed as well; it was for this reason that he was not at all certain exactly how old he was. He explained that the fire had been a providential event in his life, since it had been on that occasion that he had met a pair of wise men journeying on foot from Chile to Lima, opening the eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf to the truths of philosophy. He said further that he had come to Lima with this pair of wise men, whose names he declined to reveal, claiming that it was enough to know that they existed and there was no need to label them. He then stated that from then on he had divided his time between working as a mechanic (a trade that he had learned in the orphanage) and spreading knowledge of the truth. He said he had lived in Breña, in Vitarte, in Los Barrios Altos, and had moved to La Victoria eight months before because he had found employment in the “El Inti” Garage and Welding Shop, which was located a fair distance from his former domicile.

The accused admitted that during this period he had lived in the building at Number 12, Avenida Luna Pizarro, as a tenant. He also admitted that he was acquainted with the Huanca Salaverría family, to whom, he said, he had proposed enlightening discussions and excellent reading matter on several occasions, to no avail however since they, like the other tenants of the building, were badly intoxicated by Roman heresies. Confronted with the name of his alleged victim, little Sarita Huanca Salaverría, he said he remembered her and intimated that, given the tender age of the person in question, he had not lost hope of setting her on the right path some day. Apprised at that point of the details of the charge that had been brought against him, Gumercindo Tello manifested great surprise, emphatically denying the accusation and then a moment later (feigning a mental disturbance with an eye to establishing the grounds for his future defense?) bursting into joyous laughter and saying that this was God’s way of putting him to the test in order to measure his faith and his spirit of sacrifice. He added that now he understood why he had not been called up for military service, an occasion that he had been awaiting impatiently so as to preach by example, refusing to wear a uniform and swear allegiance to the flag, these being attributes of Satan. Captain G. C. Enrique Soto then asked him if that meant he was against Peru, to which the accused replied that that wasn’t what he was talking about at all, that he was referring only to matters having to do with religion. And he thereupon proceeded to explain to Captain Soto and the guards, in fervent tones, that Christ was not God but His Witness and that the papists were lying when they maintained that he had been crucified since what had really happened was that he’d been nailed to a tree and that the Bible proved it. In this regard he counseled them to read The Watchtower, a bimonthly that for the price of two soles shed light on this subject and other aspects of culture and provided wholesome entertainment. Captain Soto shut him up, pointing out to him that it was forbidden to advertise commercial products within