Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1899-04-06
INSURGENTS LOSE HOPE
General Feeling That Their
Collapse Is at Hand.
PROMINENT OFFICERS GIVE 1T UP
Del Pillar Leaves Aguinaldo's Ranks and
Accepts the Inevitabie-Two Thousand
Privates Desire to Yield-Many Nom
combatant Natives Are Returning to

MANILA. April 3.-The American
troops under General Macarthur are
still resting at Malolos. where every
thing has been quiet today. Hostili-
ties elsewhere. so far as officially re-
ported. have been limited during the
last twenty-four hours to an occasional
exchange of shots between the insurg-
ents and the troops forming the lines
of General Lawton and General Hall.
extending from the water works to La
Lonia. But the shooting has been just
active enough to make the lives of the
soldiers burden and to compel the
officers to sleep in trenches, clothed
and in readiness to repel possible at
tacks.
Most of the Americans are becom-
ing convinced that the backbone of the
insurgent opposition is broken. There
are numerous rumors pointing to an
early collapse of the instruction. One
of these is that General Pho del Pillar.
the best fighter among the Filipino Of
ficers, will desert Aguinaldo and give
his support to the Americans.
The Spaniards, reasoning from their
experience with the natives, refuse tn
believe the rebellion is anywhere near
p::t down. They declare that the Fill
ipinos will not take their defeat at
Malolos with the loss of the city and
the removal of their so-called govern
went seriously to heart. On the con-
trary, the Spaniards predict that the
insurgents will hover near the Amer
lean lines. botherinC them as much as
possible. and when attacked in force.
dissolve. only to reaDpear at other
points. This sort of tactics, the Span
iards say, will be followed until the
wet season com0els the Americans tn
- be housed in barracks. and then the
Filipinos will return and reoccupy such
towns as the United States troops do
not garrison. With the next dry sea-
son a repetition of the present oper-
atoms will begin. Time alone will
show how much there is in this theory:
but. as against it.. 1t must be borne in
mind that the Philippines never gave
the inhabitants a demonstration of
power comparable in effectiveness to
that given them by the United States.
A priest and two men. members OF
the so-called Filipino congress. who
hid themselves in the woods during
the fighting which preceded the cap
ture of Malolos. returned there this
morning and declared that 1000 Of the
Filipino soldiers were anxious to give
I'D fighting and would do so but for
their officers, who keep them under
arms.
The country between Malolos and
Caloocan is now full Of friendlies
women, children and old people. who
are returning to their homes, carrying
white flags. The Americans are try
ing to gain the confidence Of the in
habitants by proving to them that if
they will return and attend to their
ordinary work, peacefully, no harm
will befall them. Two hundred and
fifty civilians came hack to their homes
in Malolos last evening. Two thousand
women and children, with sprink-
linz of unarmed men. supposed to be
warriors. came to the outskirts of Nal
olos on the sea side of the CITY and
afterward sneaked away, carrying al
the Goods they could.
There has been no little good ma
tured rivalry as to which regiment
the First Montana or the Twentieth
Kansas-is entitled to the honor o.
having raised its flag first in Malolos
Colonel Funston and twenty men Of
COMPANY r.. Kansas volunteers, claim
the distinction. on the ground, as al
ready cahled. of having entered the
town at double quick and raised the
company's flag. but the first flag to b.
recognized officially was that Of Com
pany G of the Montana infantry.