Romantic end of a Philippine martyr

Fake news is not new, it is as old as history. No less than The New York Times of Sept. 22, 1897, carried the article “To avenge her husband; The Widow of Dr. Rizal here to secure aid for Patriots in the Philippines. Her Work in Philadelphia …” In pre-internet times, the historian Gregorio Zaide cited this; today, one can find not just The New York Times article but other United States papers that used the same report without thorough verification. A fake lead that leads to a news story is known to Filipino journalists as “kuryente.” The yarn about Rizal’s widow in Philadelphia has been debunked. This impostor used the name “Marina Comenol Orbi Hozae Rizal.”

After Christmas, I had hours and hours of fun browsing two foreign online libraries that had gone the extra mile by scanning their historical material with optical character recognition or OCR, this way, one just has to punch in a search word and all documents with that word will be pulled up. On Rizal, the most interesting results were newspaper articles from January 1897 reporting on his execution based on dispatches from Hong Kong and Madrid. Surely, there were correspondents in Manila whose names were unfortunately left out when the news was released from Hong Kong.

The French newspaper Le Petit Midi, for example, made reference to Rizal’s demand to marry “in extremis” a woman described as a Canadian. The New York Herald, on Jan. 2, 1897, reported:

“[Special Cable Despatch to the Herald] Manila, via Hong Kong, Jan. 1—An hour before his execution Dr. Rizal was married to a handsome girl, Miss Josephine Bracken, of Irish-Philippine parentage.

“He signed a confession renouncing Masonry and secret societies.

“His widow protests his innocence of the specific charges of rebellion, but the last letter of Dr. Rizal to his brother admits, in terms of pride, having fomented the present state of affairs.”

The New York Herald kept the Philippines in the news following the May 1, 1898, Battle of Manila Bay, the naval victory of George Dewey that is one of the highlights of the Spanish-American War. On May 22, 1898, the New York Herald, carried a long letter to the editor from a certain Z. Volpicelli in Milan explaining the context and relevance of Rizal’s “Mi ultimo adios,” which was printed both in the original Spanish and English translation. What caught my eye, however, was a small article, “Romantic End of a Philippine Martyr,” under “Mi ultimo adios”:

“One of the most romantic incidents in connection with the rising in the Philippines is the history of Dr. Rizal and of the lady who, married to him a few minutes before he was led out to execution, subsequently took the field against the Spaniards.“Mrs. Rizal is an Irish girl, born in Hong Kong. In August 1894, she sailed for Manila, where her father, Mr. Taufer, had gone on medical advice. After staying for six months in Manila, they journeyed to Perin, on the island of Dapitan, where Dr. Rizal was called upon to undertake the treatment of Mr. Taufer’s eyes. Dr. Rizal had frequent opportunities of meeting Miss Taufer, and the friendship this formed deepened into love and ultimately they were engaged. Dr. Rizal was at this time living in banishment.

“On July 28, 1896, the order for Dr. Rizal’s liberty was sent from Manila, on condition that he should go to Cuba for medical service. Dr. Rizal and Miss Taufer immediately left for Manila. On arrival in the harbor there a steam launch came alongside the steamer and a Spanish officer came aboard, and gave instructions that Dr. Rizal should be detained on board. About ten o’clock at night a message was sent on shore from Dr. Rizal that his sweetheart might come on board. She immediately obeyed the summons, and when she met the doctor he told her he had sent for her to say good-bye, that he was going on board the Spanish cruiser Castilla, which was to convey him back to Spain.“On arrival at Barcelona Dr. Rizal was detained by the authorities, who declared place of execution on the Luneta, his wife following behind. At the place of execution she was not permitted to go near him. He behaved with great fortitude all the time, and took off his hat and bade everyone good-bye three times, stating that he forgave all those that had done him evil. The firing party then shot him in the back, and he expired immediately, even shots taking effect.

“A week late Mrs. Rizal set off on foot for the rebel position at Imus, where she first met Emilio Aguinaldo, the rebel leader, and was received with great demonstrations as the widow of a martyr to the cause. She subsequently assumed command of a company and won more than one victory over Spanish troops.”

The story is accurate except for some details. This article marks the beginning of the romanticization of the Rizal-Bracken relationship that exists to our day. This online research proves that there is a lot more to be found on the internet aside from porn, TikTok, and the antics of Small Laude.

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