Connecticut western news., 1899-04-27

ciously disputed by thoroughly organ ized troops. who stood remarkably firm even before artillery.
 The enemy tried to wreck our artillery transport train. The attempt was a fail ure, but a span of the iron railway bridge over the river was destroyed hampering the American transporta- ton. The Fflipinos cut the girders. in tending to have the structure fall with the train. but it collapsed prematurely of its own weight.
 The Bagbag river, which is about 10t yards wide, was splendidly fortified, and the Americans were compelled to ap- proach across an open space from which the rebels had cleared every obstruction to sight. The bank of the river, a high bluff, was surmounted with trenches capped with rocks loopholed and partly hidden by bushes.
 General Wheaton's brigade approach ed the river along the railroad, leaving camp beyond Malolos. General Hales S. which started Monday, was earlier on the march and swept westward toward the railroad. The armored train was pushed by Chinamen, the Twentieth Kansas regiment advancing in extended order on the left and the First Montana regiment, with the Utah Light artillery on the right.
 The rapid firing guns on the train opened fire at 11:30 a. m. about a mile from the river. The Montana regiment and the Utah artillery batteries at the same time entered the jungle, from which the insurgents, who were occupy ing a large. struggling village of huts, poured heavy volleys. In the course of an hour the Americans had forced a passage through the woods to the open space in front of the river. and the ar tillery, immediately on wheeling into the open, began smelling the Filipino trenches.
 Kansan's Brilliant Achievement.
 In the meantime Company K, Twen- tieth Kansas. performed one of the most brilliant achievements of the cam paign. The regiment was being held in reserve, and Company K charged a distance of a quarter of mile over a cornfield to the bank of the river, near the bridge, where the insurgents from a trench were peppering the armored train, then about 200 yards down the track. The company found shelter in a ditch. Colonel Frederick Funston called for volunteers to cross the river. and the colon.l, Lieutenant Ball, pri- vate of Company K, private of Com pany k, Trumpeter Barsfield and Cor poral Ferguson of Company I crawled along the iron girders. While this was going on the men of Company K from the ditch were fusillading the trenches in the endeavor to divert attention, but the Filipinos got the range from a trench down the river. and their bullets soon spattered the water under the structure. Having reached the broken span, the small party of Americans slid down the caisson, swam a few yards to the shore and crawled up the bank, the little colonel leading the way to the trenches, revolver in hand. while the few remaining Filipinos bolted.
 General Hale's troops, on the right. had the hardest fighting. They follow ed the north bank of the river, nearest ths town, from the east, with the First Nebraska regiment on the left and the First South Dakota and the Fifty-first Iowa beyond. The country to be trav- ersed was mostly jungle, but the Fili- pinos stood their ground even in the open spaces. General Hale's right join ed General Wheaton's left soon after noon, a curve in the river enabling the Americans to pour an enfilading fire in- to the enemy's trenches.
 About this time the cheers of the Kansas troops announced that the Americans had crossed the river. Gen eral Hale's men began to ford the Chi- co, a branch of the Bagdad stretching to the northeast. The general himself plunged in up to his neck, and the regi- ments. all carrying flags, fionndered acrosa the stream The runs of the ttAh Lixht artillery were arAsxad evI