The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-08-10
B0M.BA.Rj:1ED.
Insurgents Rain Shot and Shell
on Manila.
Anxious to Capture Tt Before
Peace is Arranged.
A PANIC Is CREATED.
Spaniards Believed American
Army Was on Them.
Determined to Hold Out Until
Peace is Declared.

Copyright, 1898, by Associated Press)
Manila, Aug. 4, via Hong Kong, Aug.
10.-The rumor is current here that the
insurgents, fearful that peace will be
concluded between Washington and
Madrid, and that the Americans will
withdraw from the Philippines, are con-
sequently the more strenuous in their
desires and efforts to capture Manila.
Sunday night there was a heavy bonn
bardment. with heavy modern shells.
1t is generally believed in the city that
the Americans assisted, and the papers
publish lists of Americans alleged to
have been killed, including some names
of rank.
There is also a report that half the
Americans have succumbed to fever,
and this misstatement, with others like
it, encourages the Spaniards to main
tain their suicidal resistance.
On Sunday many shots entered the
town. Several reached the citadel itself
and it is reported that some ladies were
killed. There was a frightfuI panic in
side the walls, women and children
shrieking and praying in their terror
the whole night through. One shot
caused twenty casualties at the Luneta
battery; another exploded at the Ma
late barracks, killing five. The troops
turned out just in time to save Malate
fort and the magazine. The insurgents
shOwered large and small shots with
such precision that the garrison believed
the whole American army and fleet
were concentrating their fire. Many
Spaniards had previously resolved to
cease fighting the moment the Ameri-
cans began, but the insurgents have
Subsided and the forts have been rein
forced from a barracks There has been
little fighting in other directions. The
total Spanish losses are probably a
hundred, but many houses have been
seriously damaged.
On Monday evening there was a fur
iOus fusillade in every direction. Tele-
phonic inquiries were sent out from
headquarters to various OutpOStS. No
answer was received from Ell PacO and
accordingly a squad of hOrsemen
hastened thither. In the darkness and
storm the sentries fired and wounded
two. Probably in the panic they imag-
ined that the hOrSemen were Ameri-
cans.
A few such nights would drive the
Spaniards inside the citadel and then
there would be the CHASTITY prospect Of
prolonged devastation and a slaughter
with the inevitable destruction of the
town and it's inhabitants unless the
Americans hastened to close in.
On Sunday 1,50O houses at TOndo were
burned and the flames driven by a
strong gale, threatened the whole of
Manila; but they were finally eX-
T1nRQlSn6Q, mainly lLIOuSu lAAG Gt1Ol -
of the fire brigade organized by the
British merchants at Manila
The British consul here died yesterday,
but his remains cannot be buried in the
Protestant cemetery on account of the in
SurgentS.
For four days a typhoon has ragged. The
suburbs have been flooded, the trenches
swamped and the sand bags dissolved
Disease is aging. Mere infants 13 years
of age are enliSting. They become Of
ncerS and fight in the trenches. The news
papers applaud what they should condemn
as crime
the French consul. who is the dean of the
foreign representatives, took the 1nit1a-
tive in unofficial ''feelers' looking to an
armistice, pending peace, but the Amerl-
cans are not authorized to accept any
thing except surrender, and the Spaniards
will never surrender. The latter nope 10
endure until peace is declared between
Washington and Madrid. The hardsh1ps
of the situation are chiefly pressing upon
the natives and the foreigners; the Off
cials and the military can mOnopollze the
food supplies and though quarter of a
million of the population StarVe, the tacr
goes practically unheeded.
The ten thousand Spaniards in Manila
are confident of their safety. They be-
lieve that the strong walls Of the city Will
resist for three months, and they are re-
men and children. finally to sell their lives
dearly in wreaking their hatred upon the
English. the Americans and the FLIP nos.
The SpaniardS are busy making nltral-
Ieuses This correspondent has seen ma
tivas eating rats and mice, and it is re-
ported that they are stealing food and
numbering.