taken to Zacatula. Morelos entered Chilapa unresisted. The parish priest, Rodriguez Bello, a stanch royalist, for whose head a reward had been offered, had disappeared. The vicar came out to intercede for the inhabitants. Morelos received him affably, but deemed it necessary to punish the people who had taken so prominent a part in the imprisonment of the subdelegado Montezuma. He accordingly allowed his troops to sack the town, and caused the prisoners to be decimated, despatching the rest to Zacatula, among whom was the giant Martin Salmeron. Three months later he had the giant brought back and mustered into his guard of honor, and issued an order of general amnesty.[1] This triumph of the revolutionists produced a deep impression in government circles, and gave renewed encouragement to the friends of independence. The secret clubs bestirred themselves. Calleja's friends charged the loss of the Chilapa region to the viceroy's failure to have Morelos pursued after his flight from Cuautla, which might have been done, they said, had there been a force at Tixtla or Chilapa.
Meanwhile the independents were planning for new expeditions. Victoriano Maldonado resolved to take Ometepec with the force he had on the Metlatonoc hill. It was not a difficult undertaking, as Caldelas had gone with his forces to the siege of Huajuapan. Páris, hearing of Maldonado's movement, left Ayutla, where he did not feel safe, and went to Ometepec before Maldonado approached the place. This change of base on Páris' part opened the way for Morelos to occupy that portion of the country to
- ↑ Salmeron was born near Chilapa in April 1774. When 22 years of age he was presented to the viceroy, and at that time, according to the Gaz. de Mex. of Nov. 11, 1796, his weight was 270 Ibs., and his height 'dos varas y tres cuartas y dos pulgadas,' equal to 7 ft 7 ½ in. Humboldt saw Salmeron and says that his true height was 2.224 metres, or 7 ft 3½ in. Essai Pol., i. 88. After serving some time in Morelos' guard, he was taken ill, and returned to his birthplace, Chilapa, where he died in 1813. Nicolás Bravo's letter of Feb. 21, 1850, in Alaman, Hist. Méj., iii. 248, app. no. 5, 27; Negrete, Méj. Siglo XIX., v. 287-90.
