The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, May 6, 1900, Page 7

HE SUNDAY CALL. ich w ter from »y means ted [ ry and a balf ago this fortification en regarded as formid on the plag of a vauban it has stood for some scars made In the in 1762 are still vis- ome that this for! removed, but I think enturies be s would be wunfortunate, and would er see it preserved as the finest monu- ¢ antiquity in our possession. It 2 unigte specimen of medieval The Walled City. s about 4000 feet long The population with- s very dense, is, how- mall portion of the reai whole city, as after a of threc centuries Manila ; districts is now . with a population estimated, one it as high as ink 300,000 would be the A partial census recently en a much lower figure. side the walls are desig- inct names, sinondo, San 2, Qulapo, San Miguel, » and Mailate. Attractive Malate. parts are more modern, and the is generally of the character ed by Sps ds. The most attract- of these is Malate, the southern sub- 1 portion extending along the water being a very desirable location for residences. The houses face upon a broad street, and those on the water side have grounds extending to the bay, with bath- bouses and pavilions, constantly washed by the surf and fanned by the sea breezes. They present very much the appearance of our seagide resorts, with this advant- @ze. that while we can enjoy bathing for on a few weeks, they hing all the year round tiful flowers w have salt-water and the beau- ch flourish in their yards re as fresh and beautiful at one seasog as at another. e In Manila seems to be carried on very much as it is in New York City. The importing and exporting houses have their counting-rooms, offices and store- Bouses, as we see like business carried on th Front and Water streets In New York. We then see blocks of s+8 which re- n he grocery and like business uses on West street; and in Manila, on a and Rosario, are numerous tions and other retail houses and gard us of like the stores of th and Seventh ave- nues. Of co there are no magnificent nts like those on Broadway th street, but there is a in Ma to beautify e st fronts and arrange the windows a tasteful manner. TX.( Massxve Churches. t ure in Manila is large buildings, iigh towers, the nd and imposing. , generally a very ; are and the rs of relig- he priests whom I and are polite The: sho s in the extreme. rooms m ir method and the study M that he would During this rts of the cft ad fifty miles d position Gene x;l Wheeler Assigned: 1 lays 1 was as- the t Brig- MacArthur's division. 1 ¢y with the order, and eral stay at S8an Fernando ke command of the n Antonlo, with my head- itants of these cit- insurgents arrival and t and th the er our was while the American troops closely confronted between those two points. er of the Insurgent line was on a shoft distance north of enemy’s flanks, which ex- 1e miles to the right and left, wn forward or toward the effect being to in a measure more advanced position of north, the On the Firing Line. which the brigade 1 ded took part included the en- gem Sa Rita, September 9 6, the attack capture of the en- s intrenched position at Porac, Sep- ber 28; several warm fights at Angeles, ober 10-20, in some of which the en s force numbered about 3500 men; the ivance on and capture of Bamban, No- vember 11, and the occupation of Tarlac, ovember 13, which ended all organized resistance to our arms in that part of Lu- zon north of Manila. The fights of October 11 and 16 were con- siderable affairs. The attack directly in front was by General Concepeion with ades of General Hizon and Colonel ri, that on the right by General Akino on our left by General Mascardo. nta Rita is quite an old town and is very similar to the other cities or pueblos in Northern Luzon. The church and mon- astery face the public square. Their walls are very massive, some six or eight feet thick, and the buildings, taken all in all, tmposing. The monastery had been va- cated, and the priest and the city authori- s kindly consented to its being occupied two companies of our sidiers. They geemed to desire this, as it enabled us to such perfect protection to the church. The Priests Friendly. While I do pot think that it was neces- sary, Wwe consented to have a sentinel re- main in the church night and day, so as to prevent the possioility of anything con- nected with the aitar being disturbed. The priests and presidents were in frequent communication with me, and our soidiers end the people were on the best of terms. 1 was informed, and no doubt my in- formation was correct, that some ol the jeading men were in frequent communi- cation with General Mascando, who com- manded a brigade at Poras, about seven miles distant. It would have been quite difficult to have proved this ugainst them, and I think that their reason for keeping up this communication was to shield themselves from punishment in case our troops withdrew. I think that they were at heart friendly to the Americans and preferred thelr occupation, but if thelr sympathy with us had been suspected and thelr sympaghy with the Insurgents Lad nts at en t gt aflrc rty miles north Aguinaldo, with the in- i Cabinet, was at’ ame ro thirty-five been questioned they would have been in great nger had the insurgents regained control. Filipinos Desire Peace. My investigation led me to conclude that tue prevafling sentiment, the great desire of the people, was for the restoration of peace, so that they could quietly pursue their avocations; and I am quite con- vinced that when they learn that such will be the case under American rule they will be perfectly satisfled with our con- trol of the lslands. The priest and some of the melmbers of his family were very agreeable and intelligent gentlemen, 1 went with members of my staff to his church and showed all respect possible to their order of service. The music was very sweet, and this I found to be the case in all the other churches visited by me. At the time when I was present only the women partook of communion. They seemed very devout, and nothing in my whole tour in Luzon Impressed me more favorably than the devotion of the women They are devoted to thelr churches, their religion, ‘their children, and all their relatives. trious in the extreme, and 1 ne saw anything that could be said to appr frivolity. Women Ncticeably Modest. The women—that the ladies of the higher class in the cities, especially in intla—are very strict in their etiquette, and among the laboring population there | air of modesty which was It is true they have cus- ent with this, zht be cited as thefr parents They are indv xi is, this view. The women of ss wear long dresses, but e women, wear short dresses, shoulder is almost always ex- , but this being universal excites no on with the peo- les and country » broad, ey rich extending 125 north of Ma With regard to the wor n this Ic . 1 can saw with confidence that the general impression upon our soldiers and officers was very favorable At Santa Rita our sentinels were sta- tioned the main r 1 entering the town, but this did not prevent ingr s "‘n.d made on egress by the people, good evidence that disguised insurgent soldiers passed in and out of the town Enemy’s Attacks at Night. The attacks of the enemy were always at night, and sometimes during the after- noon or evening preceding their attacks we would find the people ‘preparing for safety by digging trenches and by putting up little defenses in their yards, and in some cases, where the ground floor was of earth, the trenches were dug inside the dwelling. 1 assumed that these people had received notification of the proposed attack from friends in the Insurgent camp. At Santa Rita and Guagua these prepar- atlons were sometimes made without be- ing followed by a night attack. On these occasions 1 presume they had been in- formed of the proposed attack, which for some reason or other was not carried out. About 2 o'clock on the morning of Sep- tember 9 quite a formidable attack was made, nearly the entire brigade of General Mascardo was engaged, a small force de- monstrated against San Antonio and an- other small force against Guagua, whila the main body of Infantry and one plece of artillery attacked Santa Rita. We were well prepared and our men were placed in protected positions. and thae citizens also managed to protect them- selves very well. There was a great deal of firing directly into the town, but the only casualties on our side. were the wounding of a Filipino woman, whose arm was broken by a Remington bullet, and who was also struck by a Mauser bullet which tore a gash in her head, and the wounding of a Fillpino boy, though not very serfously. 1 never learned definitely the extent of the enemy's loss, and only know pos!- tively that two of their men were wound- ed. They protected themselves by the use of ditches and the elevations to be found in the rice fields, Colorel Bell, a most excellent officer, was statloned at Bacolor, three miles distant, with 500 men, and I was connected with him by tele- and T had very, graph. 1 had previously notified him to be in readiness, and when the attack com- menced I directed him to move oution the yoad toward Porac, which would throw him directly behind the enemy. He promptly complied, and I moved directly forward, hoping that the enemy would be caught between the two forces, but their retreat was very rapid. Notwithstanding this Colonel Bel suc- ceeded in overtaking and capturing five of the insurgents. One of these prisoners was a commissary sergeant. He wrote a good hand and seemied auite inteliigant He told me his brother had been killed in one of the early fights and that he was heartily tired of the war. He also in- formed me that Mascardo's entire brigade numbered nearly two thousand men, and that about two-thirds of these were armed with guns. I found this statement to be very nearly correct. On September 16 there was another attack, but it was not by as large a force, and the enemy after firing a few volleys retreated with great rapidity, The insurgent troops in the Philippines almost invariably selected .the darkness of night for any attack they desired to make upon towns where American troops were located, and In this character of warfare they geemed to be absolutely in- different as to the injuries they inflicted upon ‘the Filipino women and children nnd . other non-combatants who lived in the places attacked, although in many cases they knew that their own familtes would be directly in range of their fire. It is true that in most instances these people seemed to have some intimation of a proposed assault on the place. Many took adequate measures to shelter them- selves, but the great mass of the people had no other protection than that afford- ed py lying flat on the ground under their houses. This proved to be quite effica- cious, as the fire of the insurgents was always very high and few of their mis- siles took effect. The sleeping apartments of the .people are from nine to twelve feet above the ground, and had they re- mained in them the casualties would have been very great, as many of the heuses were literally riddled with the insurgents’ bullets. A Pathetic Incident. Just after the insurgent attack on Sep- tember 9 I hunted up a wounded Filipino woman and finally found her on the back porch of the dwelling of a native doctor. He stated that he had examined her arm and found that the bone was not frac- ‘ured. He had wrapped the arm in a th torn from an old solled garment, which horrified our surgeons, who regard sleanliness and the use of antiseptic sandages as absolutely essential in the :reatment of wounds. When urged to al- fow us to take her to the hospital she pointed in a most pitiful way to her baby, rnd in answer to our appeals she said: My baby, my baby.” She also spoke of her husband, and after some delay he was found, and the critical condition of his wife explained to him. Dr. Pinkham reported to the native doc- tor that his examination showed the wound to be a serious fracture and in- suced him to join us in urging upon both husband and wife the necessity of skill- ful treatment. The woman yielded to our kind reassurances and was carried on a litter to the hospital and the operation was immedlately commenced by Dr. Pink- bam, assisted by some othee surgeons ynd several attendants. 1 watched the en pleces of bone process and saw s taken from her arm. In the same engagement a Filipino ooy nad been wounded and a woman in a deli- cate condition had been thrown into con- vulsions on account of the fright caused by the insurgent fire, and although our surgeons devoted themselves most assidu- ously to her relief she grew worse and finally dled. The people seemed to realize the superior skill of the Amgrican sur- reons and showed a warm appreciation of theilr kindness, and this effort on our part went far to strengthen the good feel- ing between the Americans and the na- tive: I am glad to say the wounded woman fully recovered. I saw her several times afterward, and notwithstanding her suf- fering 1 found the baby always by her side, and the little one seemed to absorlb all her thoughts. This is a good illustra- tion of the characteristic devotion of Fill- pino women to their children. The familles were generally very large. I took pains to ask many of the men what was the largest number of children In any of the families of which they knew. They generally answered sixteen, eighteen or twenty. When asked the average number they usually replied eight, nine or. ten. The Penalties of War. ‘When the insurrection commenced some of the leading Filipino generals deter- mined to thoroughly devastate the coum- try and to burn the cities they were com- pelled to abandon, while the population ‘was to be driven northward, =o as to be kept separated from the Americans by the insurgent forces. On February 15, 1899, ten days after the firing of the first gun of insurrection, Antonio Luna, the jnsur- gent general in chief, published the fol- lowing order, which was printed in both Spanish and* Tagalo and conspicuously ‘posted: “HEADQUARTERS OF THE MILI- TARY OPERATIONS AGAINST MANTLA. “I, Antonio Luna, general in chief of op- erations, ordain and command from this date forward, first, the following will be executed by shooting without court-mar- tial: “A. Sples and those who give news of us to the enemy. “B. Those who commit robberfes and those who violate women. “Second. All towns which may be aban- doned by our forces will be burned down. “No one deplores war more thag I do. I detest it. But we have an Inallenable right to defend our soil from falling into the hands of the fresh rulers who desire to appropriate it, slaughtering our men, women and children. “For this reason we are in duty bound as Filipinos to sacrifice everything for.our independence, however great may be the eacrifices which the fatherland requires of is. “General headquarters at Polo, Feb- ruary 15, 1899, A. LUNA. “The General in Chief of Operations.” The Rule of Fire and Sword. This order directing the burning of the towns rendered the inhabitants homeless, and thb allusions to Americans as slaugh- tering men, women and children was one of the many methods used by the insur- gent leaders t~ alarm the people and make it easy for them to be driven in advance of the retreating Filipino army. Notwithstanding that General Luna was commander in chief, some of the insur- gent officials advised against this policy, and insisted that the houses should be un- disturbed and the citizens permitted to remain. Where this was done, and the Filipino families remained in the citles oc- cupied by our troops, they secmed to be very grateful for the protection they re- ceived; but it is difficult to describe or even to imagine the suffering and distress of those families who fled upon the ap- preach of the Americans. our troops dvanced northward these unfortunate natives were compelled to continue their retreat. each movement separating them farther and farther from the beloved spot wrere they had enjoyed the comforts and pleasures of home. This hardship wa very great, because the love of far home and Its surroundings Is one of the strongest features in Filipino character. Sometimes the more fortunate of these exiles succeeded in securing sheiter houses. Some possessed carabao car in with a rounded cover made of a kind ot matting, under which entire families would crowd together during the night The others could procure nothing bettec than temporary arborsy and man d to be contented with the meager shelter af- forded them by the foliage of the trees, which while'shielding them from the heat of the sun afforded no protection from the 1ains and heavy dews. Many thousands had been living in this way for months, retreating before the backward movement of the insurgents. Privation, suffering, sickness ond fre- quently death had been their portion. Af- ter the defeat of the insurgents at Bam- tan, the evacuation of Tarlac and the treaking up of the insurgent government, these poor people found themsecives face to face with the American soldiers, tnd they soon learned how they had been de- ceived by the Filipino leaaers as to our character and intentions. Trey had been led to believe that Amer- icans were brutal, inhuman robbe: whe had cume to oppress them, but they foand In<(?ltl Kind and generous n'u. «tors, full »f sympathy for them and read ax- i possible to relieve their suf Praise for Our Soldiers. And here 1 want to say one word re- garding the American soldiers in the Philippines as 1 saw them. The troops under my immediate command were the Ninth and Twelfth Regular Infantry. Both of these regiments were officered by earnest, devoted and chivalrous gentle- men, and the soldiers were men selected from the best type of that class of Amer- jcans who earn their Iltving by daily labor. with quite a sprinkling of men of high education, some of them being graduates of our best colieges. These officers and soldiers had marched ond fought and occupled city after city, and I do not recall an instance where their treatment of the natives was other ‘than humane and kind in all respects. In my order to these troops bidding them fare- well,at a time when thelr service and good conduct were fresh in my mind, 1 ex- pressed my appreciation of them in these words: “You have always been prompt to the moment in taking positions in line of bat- tle. Your marches have been rapid and well conducted, and your treatment of and bearing toward the Filipino people has been of a character which could well be taken as a model and example by all sol- diers placed under similar conditions.” This was certainly true regarding these soldiers, and 1 think that any wrongs, accounts of which have appeared in American newspapers, were perpetrated during the early days of our occupation and largely by hangers-on, employes or camp followers, who are found with al] armies. In all my association with real _soldiers which, while in the military ser- vice,” was close and constant, 1 learned that no hearts are inore tender than those found in the breasts of those good and bfave men who voluntarily give thelr ser- vices for the defense and honor of their country, and this is true whether they be privates in the ranks or wear insignia of officers. It was this character of Americans who met vast hordes of men, women and chil- dren that, after the dispersement of the insurgent government, commenced their slow and painful return to the homes ‘which months before they had been forced by their own people to abandon. Sad Return of the Fugitives. ‘We met thousands of these poor, suffer- ing people. They seemed to be traveling in parties of all sizes from five or six up to seventy or eighty. They were generally badly clothed, and the women—especially the elder ones—appeared to be weak and emaciated. Many members of the same s:rty carried bamboo poles with a white g attached, and frequently a. little child was sent in advance with a white hand- kerchief waving from the top of a pole, very much like the reeds used for fishing poles In America, The difficulties encountered by these people in working their way homeward were very great. A typleal picture of this character is one I recall as I was traveling from Pa an the railroad, to the pueblo o Ignacio, in foothills of the mounta t the west. We had me ties during the day down. We were pa could with difficulty llage was o dense bscur. o always ¢ the sun. road so wet and b that a he would < ply t mire at every s niddle >t a stretch of this kind of jungle that of some sev- enty men, and children. Some of wer: )ggling along supported by two men seemed to be able to walk more very short distance without stopping rest. Thelr carts were almost at a stand- still, some of them to the s. Thelr progress ar T learne from t had been day traveling two night in the 4 bave describe Innocent Sufferers of War. Some of t howed by their faces ane their gar 1t they had be tomed to and very probabl uxuries of lif 4 not but hope that these poor peaple were not > whose homes had n burned by tr gent leaders, but I feared for th as in our advance north w und in some localities thls ast ha n very gemeral. We naturaliy entertained intense feelings against the insurgent officers and soldiers who rose arms agalust us at the very time we loing all in our power for their ben h\n no American heart could have other than the for these poor, innoc This was the firs these people with usual in such white handkerc warmest compassion nt sufferers. meeting of most of merican soldiers. As . some dozen or more fs or white garments ol some kind were being waved in the alr. We did all possible to reassure them and assisted them so far as was in our power, for which they seemed very grateful. As I was riding by a woman with a child in her arms, the little thing with a bright, appealing face, stretched out its hands to me, and the mother came up beside my horse, while the child caught me affece the arm. n generally appear to be véry The chil bright. Very frequently when we passed them on the roads little tots, not more than 4 or 5 rs of age, would call out in a cleaf, distinct voice, the only English words they - od morning, good morning.” and they did not seem to share in the apprehension of their elders, which in all ¢ was very great until after they had bee in actual contact with America; 1dfers. tives Flee in Terror. Soon after driving the enemy from Tar- lac I went on an expedition to the edge of the mountain ranges to the west of the railroad. The roads were regarded as impassable, the obstacles being swift water courses and almost continuous rice fields, with water and mud from twelve to thirty inches in depth Beyond these water courses and almost impassable paths and flelds the natives had established a military post at San Miguel de Camiling, and General Maca- bulos, with a thousand armed insurgents, was reported to be in command. In my journey to this place I passed through several considerable towns or barrios. In most cases all the people fled, so that when we entered the town not a living soul could be found. As we were not ex- pected on this road nor from the direction from which we came, our approach was always a surprise, and the condition of their houses showed they had no time for the slightest preparation. Iu some of the towns a few very old men or women were left, but they either knelt or crouched down, saying, “We a only poor old men,” or “‘poor old women. This alarm of the inhabitants was espe- cially manifested when I approached the town of San Miguel de Camiling. It is a well lald out city of about 6000 Inhabit- ants, with nelghboring barrios contain- ing about the same number of people. Before reaching the town and at a point about a mile distant from it, we were compelled to swim our horses across a deep lagoon, which detained the great body of our men: I rode to the edge of the city myself and there saw the great mass of men, women and children crowding through the streets in their efforts to escape. Reassuring tke People. In front of one of the first houses an old man was kneeling and muttering some words to me while he held up a handker- chief tied in the shape of a bag and filled with money. No doubt he had been told that we would rob and kill him, and he hoped by giving up his money to save his lite. We did all in our power to reassure him and others who were in the same frightened condition, and we succeeded in catching up to a few of the flying people and tried to reassure them also. Some Spanish prisoners escaped and ecame in to us, and finally by means of a Chinaman we sent word out and persuad- ed the priests and a few others to return, The more I saw of these people the more thoroughly I was convinced that when we have an opportunity to meet them with kind words and give them the protection of our Government their devotion to us and to American rule will be earnest and sincere. They are naturally a dgcile and peace- loving people? and their desire seems to be to pursue quietly their accustomed avoca- tions and to enjoy the happiness of domes- tic life. It is true the Ladrones and a few othérs are turbulent and lawless, but they are so few as to be only exceptions in & vast population of 11,000,000,