Who should then show up but Raul, a Bataan veteran and son of a real guerrillero in Ermita. He described his guerilla group as "leaderless," "disorganized," and prepared to put civilian lives in jeopardy. Armed with tommy guns alone, some 300 wanted to "foolishly" storm the solidly entrenched Japanese position at St. Paul's. So he left, slipped by a Japanese sentry, crossed the river by banca and reached Santa Mesa at 1115. He said the Japanese killed all the political prisoners in the Masonic Temple and St. Paul's last Saturday.

Ermita: Elena Apartments were dynamited last night. The Japanese kicked out the occupants of the Michel Apartments and moved four 250-pound bombs in. They intend to blow up the Syquia Apartments too — that's three out of the best four or five in Manila. The populace there is still calm — waiting for an outcome.

I found it hard to categorize reports into true, probable, possible, or impossible. One of the Ygoa boys, for example, just told me the Elena Apartments are still standing. I traced another rumor all the way from impossible to true then back to impossible again so I've placed it in a fifth category: "No one really knows."

. . .

Summary of the afternoon developments: The fire that began early afternoon has developed into the largest one by a wide margin. Charlie Garriz says it began at the Banahaw Restaurant on Carriedo. Spotters on the tower atop the Barreto Residence in Manga Avenue say it spread through Villalobos and possibly Echague, Ayala and even Arlegui and Tanduay. It's the biggest fire I've seen yet, though still not on the scale of Berkeley, 1924. Reports say the Japanese set off incendiaries as they retreated. It's a hot, dry afternoon with a breeze to boot and no water in the area.

Japanese artillery is the second disaster after the fires. Heavy batteries probably around Pandacan have been lobbing shells into northern Manila. A couple of minutes ago, one or two cannons behind a blown-up bridge very near us opened up completely unchallenged. They ignored the planes circling over the targets of their shells, just as the planes didn't bother trying to locate the source of the firing. Every shot sets our house a-shaking, and we can hear each shell above us fly all the way to its destination.

Two catastrophes still in the hearsay category: Dynamiting of the Philippine Cold Stores^† and Centro Escolar with the loss of life of many Filipinos. It's said that all Gastambide and possibly the Mary Chiles Hospital burned.

The reaction of the populace is magnificent. They realize that things are not going as planned, that Manila is in the very throes of a death agony, and that the Americans are still not here in strength. Only a few wondered why the Americans hadn't fired back.

. . .

^† At the foot of the Quezon Bridge, opposite the Quinta Market

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