The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 20, 1899, Page 1

. The Tall VOLUME LXXXVII-NO. 2 0. SAN FRANCISCO, \"EbNESDAY. DECEMBER 20, 1899. GENERAL LAWTON THE VICTIM OF A FILIPINO BULLET Almost at the Moment the American Troops Rush Into San Mateo Their Gallant Leader Is Shot Dead. iereberebebetete PP . N - — PP e i A e Tee Pugsuit o GEROMIMO- Qot oo MANILA, Dec luring a bru 20, a Lawton left his wi to San ) the Transv ma teer fo me to (z I v esday he marche over the litter to assist in the dressing, a bullet passed through Lawton'sheart, killing himinstantly. headquarters that no one can talk. inderstand vet that it is possible her hushand is dead. The fight 1, several officers being among the killed and The fe Mrs was a heavy one. ling 1s so @ at ILawton seems 1 wounded with th X ia and vton is now being brought in dead over boggy tr: it to A courier estimates thirty woun P e - THE LATE GEN.HENRY W LA/TON Monda e enemy at San Mateo. he enemy would fight. You raise oranges. T Y ADVANCE ON SANTA CRUZ >0 oG-t | | WASHINGTON, Dec. 19.— Admiral Dewey, speaking of the late General Lawton, said: “I knew him and loved him. He was the bravest of the brave.” It is interesting to know in this connection the high opinion held by Lawton of Dewey. They were the warmest personal friends, and the great admiral had no more ardent admirer than the great general. In Manila public ad- miration constantly coupled their names and they were beau ideals of the army and navy fighting men. @+O+0+04040+ 0O +0+0+40+0+0+40 many a tear fell from the e:\'l's of men who had long followed the intrepid Lawton. The entire command was stricken with grief | as though each man had spffered la personal loss. Owing to the condition of the country, which is impassable so far vehicles are concerned, the remains could not be brought to Manila to- 8 L04040+0+0+0+ 0+ 0 +D+0+0+0+ rO+04040404040+ 0+ 04040 as Lawton and the children ¢ in a Government resi- ence formerly occupied by a | Spanish general. San Mateo lies between a high | | mountain behind and a broad, shallow stream in front, with wide sandbars. which the insur-| | gent trenches and the buildings | The Americans were ]‘"nmycllcrl to ford the river under fire. It g in the rice fields and volleying | across preparatory to passing the stream that General Lawton was shot. All except the officers were A staff officer was wounded about the same time, | and one other officer and seven | men were wounded. i After three hours' shooting the Filipinos were dispersed into the | mountains. Colonel Lockett | took command when General| Lawton fell. ymmand. s while they were I behind cover. e | . gt S SRS N SR S S SDD UP DU USSP y.—General Lawton was shot and instantly killed and home in a pouring rain with a small guard to meet the troops in a He remarked to his wife that when he lay in a driving, furious rain and met the enemy at San Mateo. Lieutenant Breckenridge was shot. Lawton dismounted to help carry himin a litter. AT BL CAN=Y MOURNING OVER THE ; | BRAVE OFTiGEw'S LOSS| WASHINGTON, Dec. 19.—The War De- | partment to-night received the following official confirmation of the killing of Gen- eral Lawton near San Mateo. Luzon: WILL NOW MOBILIZE THE TEN THOUSAND MOUNTED INFANTRY Force Asked byrgu_l’lie-r to Be Quickly Recruited From Volunteers and Called the “Imperial Yeomanry.” ONDON, a. m.—The Government has at last consented to mobilize a force which General Buller is credited with' having demanded all along as essential to success in South Africa, namely, 10,000 mounted infan- try. This morning the War Of- fice issued an order to the that the Government had de to raise for South Afri mounted infantry force to called “Imperial Yeomanry and to be recrnited from manry, volunteers and possessing the requisite qualifi- cations. Enlistment will be for one vear, or during the contin- uance of the war. The men must be between 20 and 33 years of age and of equal physique to the ordinary cavalry Offi- cers and men are to provide their own horses and to wear neutral tint cloth shooting jackets, not necessarily uniform, felt hats, breeches and gaiters. All must be good riders and marksmen. The same order invites every volunteer regiment that is linked with a regular battalion serving at the front to supply a full com- | pany, which will take the place of the mounted infantry of the regi- ment. These arrangements pected to result in a considerable force. The enrolled strength of the yeomanry forces, which originated in the troublesome period of the revolution, is now Dec. 20, 4:45 veo- civilians soldier. are ex- R . Gt PPt ededededededsdedededeieied e be@ . D T R Lieutenant General Sir Charles Warren, Commanding the Fifth Division. General Warren's division is now arriving at Port Elizabeth, and will ap- proach the Orange River by the Midland Railroad line via Graaff Reinet and iwpoort Junction to Norvals Pont. This was the route intended by the carller plans of the campaign for General 8ir F. C. Clery's division, until the necessities of the situation in Natal caused the latter's command to be sent on to Durban. General Warren's ndvance will be a strong support to General Gatacre, whose forces are now resting near Queenstown, on the Eastern Rali- road, and wiil enable General French, who Is awaiting him at Naauwpoort, to assume the offensive. General Warren has had experience in South Afri- can warfare in the Kaffir campalgns of 1875-79 and in the operations In Be- got through here he would vol- “MANILA, Dec. 19.—General D R RCaR SR roriecebeb e e . ® + o try northeast of Manila, was killed stantly at 9:3) vesterday morning. a great loss to us and his country. “OTIS. The President’s first intimation of | 1088 of General Lawton was given him the Assoclated Press the department. General Lawton last ht with | Lockett tieth and Twenty-seventh Infantry un cavalry Lawton, while engaged In driving the insurgents from the San Mateo section of the coun- in- It 1s the by The dispatch was the commission when the information of General Lawton's death was conveyed to started from Manila under Captain and the battalions of the Twen- der Lieutenant Colonel Sargent for the pur- pose of capturing San Mateo, where Ger- onimo was said to have 300 insurgents. AN Jec. 19.—Ge San Mz -as attacked at 8 g 2 . . | “FORT WAYNE, Ind., Dec. 15.—Griet Is ANILA, Dec. 19 ren- ~ San ] fateo was attac kc('] at 8, town, carrying the litter on their general and gentune in this cit eral Henry Lawton has|o'clock, and a three hours’ fight | shoulders, the staff preceding | announcement of General Henry Lawton's T . {5 T g | death at 8an Mateo. General Lawton was been shot ar I at | ensued. This resulted in but few | with the colors, and a cavalry es- |living in Fort Wayne with his parents, casunalties rican si c sl ’ 4 was a student at the outbreak of the San Mateo. He was s & in| Sestiaicsion ghe Samenican """i cort following. The troops filed | “enin. He enlisted in the Ninth In- § g apart from the death of General bareh 4z a Volunteers, and later became lieu- front of his troops, Ly caded through the building e enlonel of the Thirticth Indiana the breast and died immediately it here Mon- General Lawton returned frcm Datur- expedition day night, having his northern day to. lead through Mariquina Valley, which | has been an insurgent stronghold | throughout the war. The valley | has several times been but never held by the Americans General Geronimo was supposed | to have there the last organized force north of Manila, and Gen- eral Otis wished to garrison Ma- operations an invaded | [ The night was one of A ter riquina. the worst of the season. rific rain had begun and is still | continuiag. | Accompanied by his staff and Troop I, Fourth Cavalry, Gen- eral Lawton set out at 9 o'clock | in advance of the main consisting of the Eleventh Cav- alry and one battalion each of the | Twentieth and ~ Twenty-seventh Infantry, which started from La Loma at midnight. With a small escort he led the way through an | almost pathless country a dis-| tance of fifteen miles hills | force, | over | and through canebrake and deep | mud, the horses climbing the| rocks and sliding down the hill. | mingled with the rifle volleys. | 1 Before daybreak the command had reached the head of the valley. | but he only alrymen forded the river to the Lawton, but the attack was dif- ficult because of the natural de-| fenses of the town. General Lawton was walking along the firing line within 300 vards of a small sharpshooter’s trench, conspicuous in the big white helmet he always wore and | a light yellow rain coat. He was also easily distinguishable be- | The sharpshooters directed several close shots, which clipped | the grass near by. His staff of-| ficer called General Lawton’s at- | tention to the danger he was in, laughed with his usual contempt for bullets. Suddenly he exclaimed, “I am | shot!” clasped his hands in a des- perate effort to stand erect and fell into the arms of a staff officer. Orderlies rushed across the field for surgeons, who dashed up im- mediately, but their efforts were useless. The body was taken to a clump of bushes and laid on a| stretcher, the familiar white hel- | met covering the face of the dead general. Almost at this moment the | cheers of the American troops | rushing into San Mateo were OROLOROLIG HOLOUILIO% OUWOLAOLD & After the fight six stalwart cav- w | ®OmORSRON Soverio O OO OO SR ONOROROOROROROROe ONONOR 0% g =3 g |cause of his commanding stature. |3 DROLOL IR0 UGOR 0RO %O here the body was laid, and Continued on Second Page. DENBY AND MILES PAY TRIBUTE TO BRAVE LAWTON CALL HEADQUARTERS, WELLINGTON HOTPL, WASHINGTON, Dec. 19.—1 have heard with Inexpressible sorrow of the death of General Lawton. 1 feel it more because he was an Indianan, and 1 know how deeply Indiana will grieve for her most distinguished son. He was the bravest of the brave. From the age of 19 he was a soldler. He rose from the ranks. He belonged to the Thirteenth Indfana Regiment, which covered itself with glory durlng our own war. I knew him well in the Philippines. I vainly rea- soned with him as to his constant exposure in battle. He told me at that time that he had been in 165 fights. At Zapote Bridge he did as he always did. He stood in the most exposed place that could be found. At one of the bridges two insurgent guns were stationed on the other end of the bridge at a measured distance from Lawton of thirty-four yards. We had a gun on our end of the bridge. He stood there exposed to the fire of artillery and of sharpshooters and of the iInfantry of the ememy. Wheaton stood be- slde him. The Fllipinos had gone to church the night before and had regis- tered an oath that no American should ever cross the bridge, which the Span- lards had never been able to do. Our men loaded their guns into a boat and pushed it across the river, swimming, and charged the enemy on the flank and drove them from their trenches, and Lawton crossed the bridge. This was only one example of the personal herolsm which he displayed every day. He was an ideal soldier, as careful and prudent of everybody but himself as he was brave. His loss will be terrible to his family, con- sisting of his wife and four children now in Manila. It Is the most de- ;1urnhle event that could have happened to our army. D. CHARLES DENBY. ton, Major General Miles WASHINGTON, Deac. 18.—Tn speaking to-night on the late General Law- commanding the army, said: “I have just been advised of the receipt of a dispatch from General Otls, announcing that while driving the insurgents near San Mateo, General Lawton was instant- Iy killed. His death is a great loss to the army and the country. He was a very fine officer. He had a splendid record for courage and Judgment In the civil war. He entered the service at the age of 1S as a private soldler and at the close of the war, when he was 22, he had the rank of lieutenant colonel, and was a brevet colonel. During that conflict he participated in many engagements and battles, displaying great bravery and frequently distinguishing himself. Upon the conclusion of the war he entered the regu- lar army service and took part in several-Indian campalgns on the frontier. 1 selected bim for the command of one of the principal columns in pursuit of Geronimo, and he followed the Indians constantly for three months, cov- ering more than a thousand miles and did more to wear them Jown than any one of the other commands. He was engaged in the severest part of the firing before Santiago, where he showed excellent, judgment and good generalship, and he has done the principal fighting in the Philippines. He was & man of great energy, enterprising and fearless in action—a thorough soldler. He was a very kind-hearted gentleman and noble man. He could suffer injustices, but I never knew him to do an unjust act to any one.” RRONORONAS ORORORORC LOROROLION FNOLORON KOO0 RO LGOW TR RORO U0 RGO 0RO NONG R 10,433. Their services have never | before been called for in war. | | The Lord Mayor of London, Alfred Newton, is equipping a force of a thousand volunteers among the city corps. raising and i IRANE “\ o 11 | sent to the White House while the Cabi- | 7] S s His wife answered, “No, honey; you will | net meeting was in progress and was re- | I'I"le large city firms are contrib have done. all you can for your |[eceived wi ions of sorrow and re- | uting the necessary expenses. P . | eret. d at the War Depart- [ Bk 3 | ment tions had been received Colonel Sir Charles Howard gt cecho S 4 { 1ast night from the President to prepare | \7: Is and across swollen rivers. e v ion s cnlasion 15 & Beis: FVncent, conun;?nd:mt of the| dier general in the regular army to fill | Oueen’s Westminster Volun-| one of the existing vacancies and the ad- | = i Bending |Jutant gencral's clerks were at work on | teers, has also offered to raise a | marksmen. | Rudyard Kipling addressed a meeting at Rottingdean ° last | evening, called for the purpose| | of forming a volunteer company. The Queen has announced her |intention of entertaining at Windsor Castle, December 26, | the wives and children of soldiers | | serving in South Africa who re- side in that neighborhood. Tea will be served, her Majesty prob- | ably presiding in person, and a | Christmas tree, twenty-five feet high, will hang with gifts. The British second class cruiser Isis will convey General Lord Kitchener from Egypt to| the Cape. She has been ordered to steam at sixteen knots. Special reports regarding the fighting at the Tugela River are still filtering through, but all the | newspapers complain that these | are severely censored, and it is istill impossible to get any accu- | rate idea of the battle. From the |latest accounts, however, it ap- | pears that General Buller was in | personal command. A correspondent of the Asso-| | ciated Press at Chieveley Camp | says the Boers excuse themselves| for firing on the stretcher- bearers by asserting that two squads of the Connaught| Rangers took cover under civilian bearers of the Red Cross, and that this act drew the Boer fire, three being killed and several wounded. Much anxiety is caused by the | fact that the War Office has not yet received a full list of the casualties at Tugela River. The Standard hints editorially | | regiment of a thousand picked | chunaland in 80, the Boers to occu, that of the rank and file, so that they off by the enemy a matter of much surprise in military B R R R R R SRCHT SRR S the best of « : gets on the scene. & L e R S e S MMOWM’ 4 Q PARIS, Dec. 20.—The Her- © 9 ald’s European . edition pub- 6 lishes the following: A Berlin 4 g news agency here has reports © + from Washington that the + © American Government in- 9 + tends to invite the European © o powers to propose mediation 6 6 to England. 6 + > B+0+040+4040+ 0+0+0+040+0+40 this morning that if Portugal continues to allow supplies of war material and foreign volun- teers to reach -the Transvaal through Delagoa Bay England will have something to say in the matter. Statements are published from Boer sources in Brussels and Berlin that President Kruger is willing to conclude peace on the basis of the status quo, but that otherwise he will call apon the Boers in Cape Colony to join in proclaiming the independence of the Cape territories of Great Britain. FIRST DETAILED STORY OF BULLER'S DEFEAT [Special Cable to the New York Herald. Copy- 599, by James Gordon Bennett. Re- on of this dispatch is prohibited. All rights reserved in the United States and Great Britain.] LONDON, Dec. 2.—The Daily Tele- graph publishes this dispatch from its special correspondent: Camp, three miles north of Chiaveley, Friday, Dec. The action which was fought to-day between the British forces and the Boers was a very severely con- tested affair. The losses on both sides were heavy. General Buller, who commanded, was repeatedly under deadly fire. Surgeon Major Hughes of his staff was killed, while Lieutenant Hon. F. H. 8. Roberts was fatally wounded. Other officers had narrow escapes, their horses being shot under them. The object of General Buller's advance was to force a passage of the Tugela, carry the Boers' intrenchments and open up the road to Ladysmith across the ridges. General Hart's brigade, compris- ing the First Battalion of the Connaught Rangers, the First Battalion of the Royal Inniskillen Fusileers, the First Battallon ! of the Border Regiment and the First Battalion of the Royal Dublin Fusileers, was sent to ford what is known as the Bridle Drift, situated west of Doornkop and again in 1386-37, when he frustrated the efforts of v that country, though without any collision of arms. His reputation as an organizer is of the highest, and was much enhanced by his service as chief commissioner of the metropolitan police force of London. He was the originator of the plan of having his officers assimilate their dress to In view of all his experience and qualifications it has been charge of one of the first divisions that sailed for the Cape. ipport in his brigade commanders, Generals Woodgate and Coke expected that matters will assume a hetter aspect for England when ould not be distingu hed and picked circles that he was not sent down in He will have ."0000’0'0000’0-&06000’050903‘0$0i09000~’ PP OIOIOEIOIOIBOEIOEIOITOIOELIOEPOELOETOEIOE IS oot eiesbetetesese | Sprult. General Hildyard's brigade sisting of the Second Rattallon of Devonshire Regiment, the talion of the Queen's Royal West Surrey con- Regiment, the Second Battallon of the West Yorkshire Regiment and the Sec- ond Battalion of the East Surrey Regi- ment, was directed to proceed to Colenso and cross the river near the iron bridge. General Lyttelton's brigade, which was composed of the cond Battallon of Cameronians, the Third Battalion o¢ King's Royal Rifle Corps, the First Bat- talion of the Durham Light Infantry and the First Battalion of the Rifie Brigade, was ordered to support either Hildyard or Hart. as occasion might arise, whils General Barton’s union Fusileers Brigade, ng of the S 1 Battalion of Royal Fusileers, the First Battalion » Royal Welsh Fusileers, the Second Battalion of the Royal Scots F' and the Second Battalion of the Royal Irish Fusileers, proceeded to the east of the railway toward Mount Dangwine to protect the British flank and threaten that of the enemy. The British cavalry and fleld guns wera stationed on either wing. The naval guns were posted In a central position on the west side of the rallway, while Colonel Long, with his artillery, went to the east side of the rallway on the right of the Infantry. General Hildyard was sent ahead, the Queen's Royal and West Sur- reys on the right and the Devons on tha left of his front, while General Hart pushed on the Inniskillens, Connaught Rangers and Dublin Fusileers. Our front | extended for a distance of about six miles. The Boers had evidently fully extended thelr line. Their extreme mobility gave them great advantage. Guns were booming around Ladysmith when ours broke the silence round Co- lenso by shelling the foothills north of tha | Tugela River and Fort Wylle, which stands upon the ridge nearest the bridgs With skill and labor the Boers had bullt calls and forts and had dug s trenches on the road, commanding every line of approach from Estcourt | ceessiva un- | lenso. The country s bare and gen | dulating, similar, indeed, to our own. Our troops, therefore, had to advance to Tu- | gela without any cover. The battle commenced before & o'clock in the morning, but the Boers made no reply to the heavy cannonade which our | bluejackets directed upon them. Few of the enemy were visible, They lay hidden | behind their hill works, but on our in- | fantry and batteries and cavalry nearing Colenso a sharp musketry fire was opened on them by the Boers from houses on the behind w river bank, ich many of the enemy ha B aled for hours. It was twenty minutes after 6 when the | : fire on our fleld ry on the east Their cannon included a Cruezot -pounder, Krupps and Hotch- kiss, the latter a machine gun, which while being discharged gives forth a vil- lainous and unnerving rat-tat-tat, a sort of voluminous postman’s knock. The en- emy’'s shells were soon splashing in all di- rections, but our indomitable infantry in the face of the fusillade, which really was | one continuous roar of shot and shell, fought gallantly on and gained Colenso. Colonel Long rushed in Dbatteries in of the railway.