The times., 1899-04-08
THE THRILLING Tale
OF MANILA'S MUTlNY
Graphic Description of the
Night Outbreak.
The Filipinos' Surprise Proved q
Shocking Surprise to Them.
The COurnGe, Activity. and Mar!ss-
mnnship of Our Troops Made the
Plot Fatal to It's Authors.

Plot Fatal to Its Authors.
Under date of February 25 Manila
correspondent of the New York Evening
Post" gives a graphic description of the
rebel outbreak against American rule on
the night of February %, and the coinci-
dent attempt to burn and loot the capital
of our Philippine possessions and massa-
ere the American residents, women and
children included. He writes:
THE threatened uprising in Manila has
occurred, and 1t has proved most disas-
trous to the Filipinos both in the great
destruction of the property of the native
sympathizers with the insurgents and in
the loss of life among the ignorant and
foolhardy men who are responsible. Pos
sibly a million dollars worth of property
went up in flames and smoke, and from
200 to 300 of the savages were killed, both
estimate being uncertain for lack of any
means of procuring accurate statistics.
Some twenty blocks of two and three
story wooden houses, many of them con-
aining stocks of goods or small factories,
were burned, and a wide area of nipa
huts, containing a thousand or more of
these bamboo and palm residences of the
natives.
with the exception of the Chinese, who
lost quite heavily in merchandise and
something in buildings, the loss and the
personal distress fell almost entirely upon
the Mestisto and full-blood Filipinos. who
are either actual participants in the insur-
rection, or support it with sympathy, ad-
vice. and financial contributions. Few
Europeans have suffered, and Americans
not at all. save the two men killed and
half-dozen wounded in the fighting that
suppressed the uprising and practically ex-
terminated those who participated in it.
Much of the income of the burned property
was contributed to the support of the revo-
luton. and this wanton destruction of it
seems like committing hari-kari, a species
of running amuck characteristic OF the
Malay savage when friend and foe alike
suffer from the uncontrolled frenzy of the
hour
0minOus Warnings.
Ever since the attack upon the city on
the night Of February the Americans
have received daily warnings that there
would be an uprising in the night, when.
amid fires that would blaze out in all quar-
tiers Of the city, thousands OF armed Fill
pinos would rush into the streets and ex-
terminate the Americans. Indeed, this
warning dates back several months. The
provost guard, consisting OF the Oregon,
Minnesota, and Twenty third Regular reg
iments under the command of General
Hughes, has been constantly under arms.
patrolling the streets night and day,
searching houses for Mapous, arresting
suspicious characters, ard keeping the peo-
pie in continuous and necessary fear. The
fra0uaptly nnllpn
in the middle of the night and stationed at
points of vantage in the worst districts till
morning. All this activity and show of
preparation and strength, with the prompt
ness with which revolver and rifle have
been used with deadly effect, have had a
wonderfully subduing effect, and when the
organized outbreak occurred the natives
generally were afraid TO participate in it,
and We had to deal only with a small
number besides the few hundred who came
into town secretly and began the trouble,
very few of whom were lucky enough to
get back again to their friends in the
woods
Three fires were set on Wednesday
night. February %. The Tondo district is
composed almost entirely of nipa huts, the
native house of bamboo poles. thatched
with nipa palm, and the fire there spread
with great rapidity. In about an hour an
area half mile square was burned over.
No special effort was made to extinguish
the flames so long as they were confined to
that district, the Americans being willing
that the insurrectionists should burn them
selves and their friends out of house and
home if they enjoyed it. Therefore the
patrols busted themselves fighting the men
who shot at them from behind burning
huts, from the windows and the roofs of
houses, and from the fancied security
of stone walls. This was a business in
which the American soldier excels and in
which the Filipino is a novice. The re-
suit was never in doubt from the first
Good craftsmanship settled it. Dead men
tumbled from roofs and windows, and
wounded men fell behind huts and walls
many of them to be burned to cinders. All
night long that guerrilla warfare was
maintained. Three English citizens were
wounded, two of them seriously.
But One Organized Rand
There was only one organized band to
contend with, the one whose bugles had
This was composed of about $50 soldiers
who had sneaked past our left flank from
Malabon. through the bayous lying between
our lines and the bay. They never got
beyond the burning Tondo district being
driven back into the swamps and rice fields,
where they were left for further attention
in the morning.
LIT was about / o'clock that the really
serious fire was started. in large market
building near canal running north from
the river From this point the city is
substantially built of cement and wooden
houses,.-the lower floors for the most part
being used for stores and the second fioors
for residences. the rapid spread of the
flames and the smell of burning coal oil
showed that the fire was carefully pre-
pared. General Hughes now took active
measures to prevent the fire reaching the
storehouses of the Commissary and Quar-
termaster's Departments along the river
only ten blocks distant, and called out two
companies of the reserve troops to battle
with the flames. There was no special de-
sire to stop the FIRE. for the sanitary con-
dition OF the city was being rapidly i'm
proved, and the incendiaries were only
impoverishing themselves and their friends
but no chances could be taken of the tire
getting 10 the Government stores. With
little practical aid from the city fire de-
partment, by daylight the fire had been
checked, after burning eleven blocks.
During all this time the steady crack Of
Mausers, Remingtons. Krags, and Spring
fields was kept up. The men working on
the fire were the targets Of skulking
sharpshooters from the roofs and windows
of distant buildings, yet they paid no heed
to the shots, leaving the guards and patrols
cattla scnres with the enemy Several