The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1899-06-14
The Defamers Rebuked.

been bruising the Kissing cpperheads
right and left. Professor Worcester lie
one of the American commissioners in
the Philippines. He has his eyes and
ears open for what is going on around
Mantle, and he seeks opportunity to dis
cover the real state of things existing
there. Without ceasipg the coppers
have their heads in air kissing tales Of
atrocities committed by American col
diers in the Philippines, of pri oners
ruthlessly slain and women and chill.
dren wantonly killeG-and 80 on to the
end of the list of CORY barbarities Gus
tomarily associated with the doings in
war Of South Sea islanders or North
American Indians. OF course it was
all rational to the copperhead brain
and consistent with his code of morals
that the American youth, born and
bred under the most advanced civiliza.
ton, taught mercy by every precept
and humanity by every association,
should suddenly drop into the densest
barbarism and practice its grossest
atrocities, when he became a soldier Of
his government, but there are others,
and they do not need Professor
Worcester's denial of these horrid tales
to set their minds entirely at rest re-
speeding them. Nevertheless, it is
comforting and reassuring to read what
this close observer, in the locality of
the copperheads' alleged barbarities, has
to say in vindcation of American mer-
cy and humanity in the Philippines.
Take, for example, the tales of cruelty
and wanton murder that were told of
the capture of Malabon. OF these the
professor says:
81 was personally present on the occa-
sion in question. The truth OF the matter
is that Malabon was never bombarded
despite the fact that it was within easy
reach Of the feet and the field guns. The
town had been abandoned by the natives
before our approach, except for lot of
sharpshooters who had positions in the
swamp Ou Jub OuO llOJCllhlsb
and one 3.2-inch gun were fired on them
Our troops first moved to the north with
out entering the town. The insurgents
were driven out the following day while
trying to burn the place No women or
children were killed; there were none there
to be killed"
Here is another: Of the wounded
Fllipinos and the prisoners in the hands
of the Americans the professor says:
when cured the wounded can hardly be
driven away. All the prisoners are well
fed and we'll treated, and many say they
are glad they have had the experience aud
learned to know the Americans The re-
leased prisoners and the recovered wounded
are our best missionaries, but many of
them are unwilling to return to their own
people,"
Battle is not the occasion for the
practice of the courtesies or amenities
of civic intercourse. In the delirium
of the fight the sold Adam" naturally
asserts himself in different ways and
degrees, according to the temperament
or provocation of the soldier, but that
is another thing, and thing very diff
ferent from the wanton, -blooded
deviltries some Americans are taking
helish delight in charging upon their
countrymen who are serving their gov
eminent in the Far East. 1t is AL
copperhead venom, of the same ma
levolent brand that was used to poison
the public mind during the civil war of
generation ago.
Among American newspapers, the
Springfield Republican and New York
Evening Post have been most persis-
tent and villainous in slandering tie
soldiers OF the Uuited States in the
Philippines. The bigger the lie, the
more devilish the tale, the quicker the
credence and the larger the publicity
these vipers of the press have given it.
In letter recently addressed to the
Evening Post, Professor Worcester
tells that journal it has been lying,
from first to last, about the conduct of
the American army in the island of
Luzon. His ienials state the truth
plainly and mphatically:
81 have personally inspected all battle
fields from Csloocan to Malolos. Once
was on the field before the wounded were
removed, and repeatedly I was there after
the dead were buried. 1 never saw single
woman or child wounded or dead. I have