The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1898-08-08
THE LADRONES CAPTURE
Described by the Officer Who Fig
ured in the Exploit.
THE AFFAIR WAS BLOODLESs.

Prepare ANY TreaCherOuS Tricks.
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i"'u9 |"'Fieu AW"S'
Wheeling. Aur s.-Tbe details of the
bloodless caDture of the princinal Of
the Iadrone Islands reached wheeling
Yesterday I'm a letter to Hon. An ,,st1s
Pollek from the naval officer who fig
ured in the leading role Of the evnIoit
Lieutenant William Rraunersreutber
executive officer of tho cruiser Charles
ton. The letter is as follows.
I'VE have inst carried ont our ordars
TO capture the snanIsb autboritios a.
the capital of tba Tadrona TeIends
Apana. was aaIected nv tho captair
TO undertake this tob and given 1Go
men to land with as a starter. I went
ashore to have a talk with the governor
about affairs. and the result was that
did not lose even a single man. The
matter was all settled in one day. and
we are carrying with us "a soldiers
(Spanish) and six officers, besides a lot
OF Mauser rifles and nearly 10000
rounds Of ammunition l had the
whole to handle and did it up quickly.
The captains Instructions were to wait
a half hour for his answer to our ulti-
matum, then use my troops l waited,
and in just 20 minutes the governor
handed me his sealed reply addressed to
the captain of my ship, then in the
harbor about four or five miles off.
knew this was sealed with the sole
object Of gaining time, and hence I
broke the seal read the contents. the
governor protesting, and saying that
that was letter for my captain. l re-
piled: II represent him here. You are
now my prisoners. senors, and Will
have to come on board ship with me-"
They protested and pleaded, and finally
the governor said you came on shore
to talk over matters and you make US
prisoners instead" I replied: Il came
on shore to hand you letter and to
get your reply; in this reply now In
my hands you agree to surrender all
under your jurisdiction If this means
anything at all, it means that you will
accede to any demands l may deem
proper to make.
You will at once write an order to
your military man at Agana, the cap
ital (this place was five miles distanO,
directing him to deliver at this place
at p. m. Git was then 1890 a. m, June
2D all ammunition and flags on the
lSldnlt edCu SOlQleT TO DTlnB MS own
rifle and ammunition and all the SOL
diers, native and Spanish, with their
officers, must witness this" They pro-
tested and demurred, saying this was
not time enough TO do It, But | said:
"Senors, it must be done"
The letter was written, read by me
and sent I took all the officers with
me in boat and at p. m. went ashore
again and rounded in the whole outfit.
was three miles away from my troops
and had only four men with me. At
4 p. m, when l disarmed los men and
two officers, I had 46 men and three
officers with me.
The keynote to the whole business
was my breaking the seal Of that let
ter and acting at once. They had no
time to delay or prepare any treach-
erous tricks and I got the drop" on
the whole outfit as they say out west.
The native troops / released and al
lowed to return to their homes unre-
stricted they had manifested great Joy
in being relieved from Spanish rule.
While it was harsh it was war, and in
connection with the Spanish treachery
1t was all that could be done. Twenty
four hours would have-yes, l believe
even iOuI HOuIS, Win d IedueI SuCu as
the governor was, a lieutenant colonel
in the Spanish army-given them a
chance to hide along the road at Agana
and at intervals in the dense tropical
foliage they could have almost an
initiated any force we could land. The
approaches to the landing over shallow
coral reefs would have made a land
ing without a terrible loss Of life al
most an impossibilitv.
We have increased bv conquest the
population of the United states by
nearly 12 600 people. The capital has a
population Of 6 900 people. This barbor
in which we were is beautiful. easy OF
access. plenty of deep water. admitting
of the presence of a large number Of
vessels ar the same time and ia an
governn,ent decides r. boId tbe PbtIin.