Kansas City daily journal., 1896-12-23
SPAIN In VERY HARD LINES.
ENTIRE COLONY OF THE PHILIP
PINES is IN REVOLT.
True Situation Concealed by the
Spanish-A Reported "Victory"
That Was in Reality n Dis
nstrous Defeat.

London, Dec. ga Madrid dispatch to
the Daily Mail, says: ,..In order to insure
the success of the next loan, the govern
ment is .strainihg every nerve to conceal
the true situation in the Philippines. The
whole colony. is in revolt and scattered
bodies of Spanish. troops have been
hemmed in by the rebels. 1t is rumored
that a certain proportion of German re-
serve officefs are IN the insurgent ranks"
! San Francisco, Dec. 22.-Private advices
from Manila, Philippine islands, reached
here to-day and are verified by an account
that appears in the Hong Kong Press, re-
ceived per Belgic. this morning. The news
contained in the communication deals with
the attack of the Spanish on the Noveleta
isthmus, and the attempt of the Spanish to
dislodge the insurgents in Cavite and Viejo.
At the end of the campaign, which lasted
until the 18th of November, the Spanish au-
thorities sent out dispatches reporting that
the attack had been successful, and that
the rebel loss was very heavy. The Span
ish claimed to have lost about So killed and
100 wounded. 1t is now learned that the
great victory that the Castillians predicted
ended in ignominious defeat. The rebels
held Noyeleta against warships and troops.
The Spaniards retired, after suffering
heavy loss.
The Spanish forces under General Rios
were divided into two brigades of 1000 men
each, supported by the Spanish gunboats
in the bay. The insurgents numbered about
1900, but they were strongly intrenched
in Cavite and Noveleta. At the head of the
Noveleta peninsula, the ground was honey
combed with rifle pits, and the town de-
Tended from assault by -arthworks. plant
~, I,.ip
of heavy artillery.
Rios attacked the first line of redoubts
at Noveleta, and the rebels fell back to the
main line of Defense mile in the rear of
the picket line. The Spanish had their
plans well arranged. They placed the
cruiser Castillo close in shore and their
guns covered the attacks of the royal
troops. The cruisers shells reached the
outside defenses of the rebels, but had lit
tie effect on the defenses of the city. The
fight started at o'clock on Sunday, No
vember s, and by l o'clock in the after
noon the insurgents outer works had been
evacuated.
Then general attack followed Rios
throwing the main body of his first brigade
against the rebel entertainments. The
gunboats opened fire on the enemy but
owing to bad gunnery, failed to cause any
damage to the defenses. The Cardelia, tine
closest to Cavite, was fully six miles from
-
owing to the extreme elevation given the
ships cannon.
When Rios men reached the insurgents
works a terrible fire was opened on them
They marched forward resolutely until the
rifle pits commenced to belch forth fire
moving down the front ranks. The column
faltered, then retreated slowly under heavy
fire.
The Spanish troops were in the open and
subjected to the full effect of the fire. Had
the rebels gunnery been good Rios could
have been slaughtered.
The morning of the 9Th the Spanish were
bach in their campaign and had repaired
the remanants of the first brigade The
second brigade had suffered very little
The steamer Isabel /, and small trans
port were used to fetch the wounded TO
port from the peninsula. At least 500
wounded We're brought from the battle
field
Wednesday. November II. Rio prepared
Emil headed a second attack on Noveleta
He threw his entire army against the re-
dCuEts and was routed with heavy loss in
the first attack. The GunbOats failed to
aid the troops to any extent. their shots
falling short The Spanish did not attempt
to renew the action. but waited until the
morning of the l4th when a weak effort
was made to flank the rebels the failure
of which ended the fighting for the time
being.