The Portland daily press., 1898-08-08
CAPTURE OF LADRONEs.
Executive Officer of Charleston Tells How
1t Was Done.

Wheeling, W. Va, August THE de
tails of the bloodless capture OF the prin
cipal of the Ladrone islands reached
Wheeling today in letter to Hon. Au-
gustus Mollak, from the naval officer
who figured in the leading role of the
exploit, Lieut.. Vim. Braunerzeruther,
executive officer of the cruiser Charles
ton.
The letter is as follows:
U. S. S. Charleston, at sea 1000 miles
from Manila, June "a, 1898. 81 4.
We have just carried out our orders
to capture the Spanish authorities at
the capital of the Ladrone islands, Agana.
was selected by the captain to under
take this job and given 100 men to land
with as starter. [ went ashore to have
a talk with the governor about affairs,
and the results were that did not lose
even q single man. The matter was all
settled in one day and we are carrying
with us 81 Spanish soldiers and six Off
GERS. besides lot of mauser rifles and
nearly 10000 rounds of ammunition.
had the whole to handle and did it quick
ly. The captains instructions were to
wait a half hour for his answer to our
ultimatum, then use my troops. l waited
and in just 90 minutes the governor
handed to me his sealed reply addressed
to the captain of our ship out in the har-
Dor about four or five miles Oft. / knew
this was sealed with the sole object of
gaining time and hence l broke the seal
and read the contents, the governor pro-
testing and saying that was letter for
my captain. L replied, IL represent him
here. You are now my prisoner Senior,
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. 4"
l replied: 81 came on shore to HAND
you letter and to get your reply; i'll this
reply now in my hand you agree to sur
render 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 men at Agana,
the capital, tits place was five miles dis
tant) directing him to deliver at this
place at 4 p. m, lit was 1890 a. M,
June 2lst), all ammunition and flags on
the island, each soldier to bring his own
rifle and ammunition and all tina sold
iers, native and Spanish, with their OIL
GERS must witness this.
"They protested and demurrea, saying
said: Seniors, it must be DONE
"The letter was written, read by me
and sent. I took all the officers with me
in boat and at 4 p. M, went ashore
again and rounded in the whole outfit I
was three miles away from my troops and
I had only four men with me. At
o. M, when l disarmed 10S men and two
officers, I had 46 men and three officers
with me.
''The key note to the whole business
was by breaking the seal of that letter
and acting at once. They had no time to
delay or prepare any treacherous tricks.
1.-THE native troops I released and al
lowed to return to their homes unre-
strioted; they had manifested great joy
in being relieved from Spanish rule.
Twenty -four hours wonld have given
them a chance to hide along the road at
Agana. The approaches to the landing
over shallow coral reefs would have made
a landing without a terrible loss of life,
almost an impossibility.
"We have increased by conquest this
population of the United States by nearly
12 GOO people. The capital has popula-
ton of 5000 people,