The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-09-24
DEsECR ALTON OF CHURCHES IL


LUZ0N.
Through various channels lately there
have come from Manila charges that
churches had been desecrated by American
soldiers. A week or two ago New York
illustrated paper published half-tone pic
ture, made from photograph, showing a
signal corps squad in the act Of using the
altar of a church as a telegraph station
The signal men posed for the picture, and
the commandant Of the squad, a captain.
smoked "A cigar as the photograph was
taken The paper publishing the picture
vouched for its authenticity. Private Rob
ert II. Knight, of Company D, Twelfth In
fantry in letter to a friend in this coun-
try, said. among other things: The worst
Of all is In the ruins of the Guadeloup
Church, in the vaults where the dead are
buried. The volunteers broke them open,
pulled out the bodies, broke open the cof-
fins and robbed the dead. You can see
the skull where the feet ought to be, and
the ribs all mixed up One body lies half
pulled out of the vault, and just where the
hands crossed on the breast was all poked
over, looking for gold rings and crosses"
The attention of President Mckinley
was the other day directed to the picture
and the extract from Private Knights let
ter by the Metropolitan Truth Society,
Catholic organizations and number of
other Catholic organizations have held
meetings and passed resolutions calling
upon the President and the military au-
thorities to put a stop to such desecra-
tons and outrages. The Metropolitan
the President that 1t thought the fault
lay "in a deplorable lack of military disci-
plne" in the Philippines The President
directed an investigation of the matter,
and applied to Gen. Otis for information.
The reply of Gen. Otis was TO the effect
that there had been sixteen churches and
three converts occupied by our troops, but
that number of the churches had been
previously occupied by the insurgents The
specifications in the complaint to the Pres
ident were not touched upon. Presumably
full details will come later by mail.
Meantime it is possibly true that there
have been instances of looting and desc
Grating Philippine churches. Such things
seem to be almost inevitable accompanl-
ments of warfare. The people of the South
have some recollections Of churches used
as stables and affairs as hangers for the
horses of officers, while the horses of pri-
Yates were corralled upon graves and
among gravestones. Still, that such things
have occurred ever since there were wars
and churches Is no palliatlon of the offense
against decency and civilization. Stress
of circumstances might make 1t necessary
to set up a temporary telegraph Office in
church; but there is no possible excuse
for such an outrage as that reported by
Private Knight. But is his story true?
Many of the most sensational stories that
have come from the Philippines have turn
ed out to be without foundation. His may
not be in that category, and we do not
mean to say that it is. At the same time,
it Is to be remembered that President
Schurman of the Philippine commission,
said not long ago that it was impossible
to produce any proof that churches had
been desecrated by American soldiers He
may not have considered the setting up of
telegraph instruments, or making tempo
rary Judgment in churches, as Decorating
them. But he would certainly have con-
sidered the breaking open of vaults and
the robbing of bodies in that category It
ought to be possible for the Investigators
to trace Private Knights story, and as
certain what there is in it, If 1t should be
found to be true, the perpetrators of the
outrage, even though they were volun-
teers and have been now mustered out of
the service, ought to be made 10 feel the
weight of public disapproval of and dis
gust at their act if they are beyond
the reach of the law