The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-11-03

..:IIS.#A RENEGADE. sPANIARD
AMERICANS AT MANILA IN
8. :. s: s. DIRE STRAITS:
Sickness Among. the Troops Increases
:. and Their Recall by the Gov
.. eminent Would Be. an -. :.
,~.>:.: Act of Mercy.
BY. SOL m. SHERIDAN.
Special Correspondence Of This CAN.

- MANILA, Oct. I'll have proved to
a demonstration that Aguinaldo has no.
power whatever with the ..so-called
revolutionary. government. He is. in
fact. nothing more than a. figurehead
in the hands of "a few. Spanish mes
.tizos or. half.breeds,.. the chief: among.
!; whom is one Juan Palermo: who .sways
the so-called dictator this way; or: that
:, as time: serves. =, -. = ::
:. Juan Palermo is, a. :. man. with
:: a . history: To begin. with. :he
Is cross bred. the son Of. a.. Spanish
father and native mother: and. we all
know that a.. cross bred nnan~:is a, bad.
man. Palermo seems to. have been I'M
fortunate in :the personal as we'll as.
: the racial character. of his ifflne diafe
ancestry, for. his father :was*a traitor
to his own race In one or the. many
: civil :: wars here in. past TIMES
The father had the. misfortune
to be shot by the. =. Spaniards
!: for his treachery, being detected. and.
: the boy, being young at the time, was
taken to Madrid with a. view TO making
not a good Spaniard, perhaps, but the:
best possible Spaniard of him. When
Juan grew old enough to understand
the evil fate which had -.befallen his
father, he began trading upon it. He
became, in effect, a good .Spaniard. And,
as the father had been man of great
influence among. the Tagallos. the son..
threatening to return to Manila and
raise his fathers partisans against bis,
fathers slayers, frightened the weak
p: government at Madrid into giving him
a rich sinecure wherein. he .mended his
fortunes and enjoyed all. the luxuries
- obtaina BILE. at Paris, Berlin and the cap
: ital of the last Of the :Bourhons. j.:
One sinecure: followed another, but
:. Palermo was a restless. man and when
one of the numerous: parties coming
into power in Spain at last mustered
courage enough to. defy him, he did. re-
:. turn to Manila and played small star
: part in the last; revolution Being q
Mestizo. he had the brains and the eriu-:
/. tfen Of the Spapiards, and being haif
:Tagallac he had the. treachery and
the blood thirst of the natives. / do not
!: know. whether Juan Palermo. came
down from Eongkong with Aguinaldo.
). 1 do. not believe he did,. but. Palermo is
"a man whose movements are. difficult
to follow Likes,au men who pull the
strings, he can only be drawn in out
line At all events, he has been almost
. the sole director of the dictator's gov
eminent since Aguinaldo landed at Ca.
wife, the chief of the secret council of
the native inhabitants of these islands;
the man who has set himself all along
to EN- barraSs the American adminiStra-
ton while he fooled the American
>: traders here into the belief that how
. ever circumstances might tell against
!: him, Aguinaldo was true to the Ameri
cans. <Patern0 has really only begun
:: to loom largely since the Americans got.
into Manila. Before. the 18th of August
he seems to have succeeded fairly well
in keeping his personality as we'll as his
Vaccinations hidden. i found him at
search after truth. 1t is not an .uncoTn-:
mon thing to find lie when :one seeks
truth, and Juan Palermo is. a lie in.
carnate. -.
It came about in this way: L had
and have among the Spanish priests
held by the instructors at Bulacan
friend whose liberty he has long desired
to procure. The. Filipinos. 1t should he
understood, hold Spanish priests in:
captivity just as they do Spanish
women and children, despite the fact
that all civilized nations recognize that
neither priests, women nor children are
combatants Not being combataIts
they cannot properly be prisoners Of
war The civilization of AguinaIdo,
Palermo and the rest. 1t will be OBJ
served is, SO to say, tentative.
:" 1 had learned that 1t was possible to
the rebels. The prisoners, 1T should be
understood, are not sold by Aguinaldo's
government At least they are not sold
at retail-aIthough negotiations are now
pending between the Filipino central
leader and the Archbishop of Manila for
;. the release of. all the priests in prison
in various parts of Luzon upon pay.
ment of 100000 in silver: The Govern
;. .Inent, it Will be observed, deals at
wholesale. The. petty leaders at various
points, having the prisoners in CHARGE
will sell you any one of them, great or
small, for the sum Of $1OO in silver.
which amount. of course, goes. into the
pocket of the small leader. AS every
leader has faction Of his own, Aguin-
aldo's people do not dare hold them to
too strict accounting. . The Belgian
Consul here, NJ. Andre, who has acted
ali along as a go-between' in the deal
ings of the various parties to trouble
down here, who negotiated the deal by
which Manila fell into the hands of the
Americans after a merely nominal re-
sistance; and who has filed his difficult
!. role. with rare degree Of diplomatic
skill, told me frankly that If l would
go to Bulacan and lay down 500 before
General Gregario Pillar, the comand-
ante there. I. could secure the release
of "Padre Francisco Garcia without a
particle Of trouble I preferred, for
reasons of my own, to test Aguinaldo,
and Invent to Malolos. l was armed
with a letter from the insurgent Secre-
taTy Of. State and another from NJ
andre for. whom all parties here have
the greatest respect. They made great
difficulty at Malolos to letting me see
Aguinaldo.. He was not well; it was
the hour OF 6 of his siesta and no one,
not even his, private secretary, had the
'tenaer!ty TO disturb him.. I informed the
dictator.s aid. Quietly that I had come
a long way, that my business was i'm
poTfant. that it. would be strange IL
Senol Aguinaldo would wantonly ig-
more letter from his own Secretary CT
State. Then l ran against Paterno. i
had peen suspecting him a long time.
The half-breed came to me coollv
opened the letter 1 had brought and
informed me that what 1 asked was
impossible Would he submit the case
to Aguinaldo? Certainly, but he knew
Padre Garcia could not be given his
: H. -.