The Forrest City times. [volume] (Forrest City, Ark.) 1871-1919, 1898-12-30
THEPH|uPP|NE SITUATION.
The State and War Departments,
Puzzled Over the Dispatche.
Concerning Iloilo.
THE SPANISH HAVE EVIDENTLY LEFT
whether the City Is In Possession of the In.
surgents or the Americans Is the On..
tion. with tho Presumption In F.vo.
the Former-Gen. Otis May Yet h..
Trounce the FilipInos.

Washington, Dec. 29.-There e
good deal of anxiety in official circ,..
here over recent events at Iloilo. IT,
official dispatches have been reee;r.s
by the state and war departments Inn,
ii is impossible to gather from thor
an accurate knowledge as to the con
dition there. 1t is not even possible ~
learn whether the insurgents or the
American forces have taken the Mac
United States Consul Pratt, at SIM.
pore. cabled the state departmer,
"Iloilo taken cath. Spanish fled ,s
Borneo.'
OFFICIALS IN DEEP DOUBT.
This threw the officials into daon..
doubt than before. The American ey.
petition which left Manila TO % -
lloilo-2,O0O troops and the warsb;no
Baltimore and Callao-would scarcelr
have had time, il is said. to bav.
reached Iloilo by the gath. So the IN.
ference is that the insurgents are +,
possession. Color is lent to this he.
lief by the fact reported in one tela.
gram that the Spaniards had retrea,ea
TO strongly fortified town on the ;s.
land of Mindanao. This does not aora.
with Consul Pratt's statement tba,
they fled to Borneo, the north coast =,
which is a British possession; but II !,
believed that the consul is in error ON
this point. which might easily be IN.
case in view of the distance from hi.
post to 1loilo. The fact that the Snan.
iards have retreated at all is also con.
strued as an indication that the TOWN
was abandoned TO the insurgents for
il is believed that Col. Rios. the Snar.
ish commander. would have cheerfully
surrendered to the American forcs
with view to securing the safety Of
his men and their ultimate return To
Spain by the American government
according to the terms of the treaty
GEN. OTIS DELICATE TASK.
The officials at the war department
still decline to make public Gen. Otis
telegram of Tuesday. but there is no
doubt that he is meeting with greatdif.
f1cuity in his effort to secure the 70.
lease of the Spanish prisoners held bv
the Filipinos. 1t begins to appear
clearly that a considerable element
among the Filipino leaders-probably
a majority-aro disposed to use these
unfortunate prisoners as a ~ Is for
negotiations W n the United fates
government, making their release con-
dltlonal upon certain more or less i'm
portant concessions demanded by
them. 1t is not yet foregone conclu-
sion that terms can not be arranged
by private conferences in Manila to Sc
cure the release of these men. but the
United States government being now
pledged by treaty to free them, must
resort 10 other means if peaceful rep
RESERVATIONS fail.
IT'S Up TO OTIS NOW.
Gen. Otis has been instructed on this
point, and the war department has
confidence in his experience and
sound Judgment and believing that,
from his presence on the scene. he is
better capable of dealing with the sit
uation than officials here. has confined
Itself to statement of what is ex-
pected to be done towards securing
prisoners, leaving il to Gen. Otis to de-
wise the ways and means and carry out
the plans.