The record-union., 1899-05-08
General Mascarde Has a Well Armed
Force Of 5000.
BacoIor Well Intrenched and His
Troops Confident That They Can
Whip the Americans-Rebel are
Active at La Guna de Bay
Entrance Into San Fernando
Virtually Unopposed, and Gem
eral MacArthur's Headquarters
Fixed There.

MANILA, May $40 o. INTO
clear the Filipinos out of Bacolor, about
five miles southwest of San Fernando,
will be the next task of the Americans.
The rebel General Mascarde has a force
of 5000 men there we'll armed and pos
sessed of plenty of ammunition. His
troops have never met American SOL
6iers and they think, according to re-
ports carried to San Fernando, they
can whip the whole lot
Bacolor is we'll intrenched and thou
sands of natives are working like beav-
ers digging trenches and carrying, the
dirt in baskets. The enemy uses his
rifiemen for fighting only, but compels
the Bolo men and Chinese, and even the
women, to labor necessarily. The rebel
outpost is about a mile beyond San
Fernando, with trench that holds be-
tween two and three hundred. men.
From that point several volleys were
fired last night upon the camp of the
Twentieth Kansas Regiment.
Near there Major General MacAr-
thur or Major General Lawton moved
to-day although each reconnoitered the
country in his vicinity for some miles
from headquarters, developing the
presence in small forces of the enemy.
In the vicinity of La Guna de Bay the
rebels are extremely active, but the
lines of General Oyershine and Colonel
Wholly, who is commanding General
Kings brigade during the latter's ILL
ness, have been materially strength
ened, and there is no danger in that di-
Tection.
The armed steamers La Guna de Bay
and Cavadonga, under Captain Grant,
have gone to Guagua, about five miles
southwest of Bacolor, presumably to es-
tablish a base of supplies for the troops
engaged on the northern campaign.
1t is rumored that Mabini President
of the Cabinet and Minister of Foreign
Affairs in the so-called Filipino Govern
ment, who is a Radical, is to be sue
-ceeded by Patreno, the Trainer of the
Spanish treaty of 1896. This change
is regarded as significant at the present
juncture The entrance of the Ameri-
cans into San Fernando was virtually
unopposed. The Filipinos, who ex-
pected the invaders to approach from
the sea, had that side of the town
strongly guarded, but there was only
one line of trenches beyond San Tomas.
Two battalions of the Fifty-first Iowa
Regiment which swan the river north
of the city, were smartly peppered while
in the water, but the rebels disappeared
as soon as the Americans reached the
shore. In the meantime the hospital
squad had walked across the bridge in
to the city, supposng the Americans
We're there. They encountered no ma
tives.
The few Spaniards and Filipinos who
We're left there welcomed the Ameri-
cans and opened their homes to them,
General Macarthur accepting enter
tainnent at the hands of Senior Hizon,
a sugar magnate.
If the inhabitants of the San Fernan-
do region are to be believed, there is
little sympathy with the instruction in
that quarter. Before evacuating the
city the rebels burned the church and
the public building and looted the Chi
nese quarters. They drove rich Filipi-
nos, with their families, out of the city
before them, as we'll as hundreds of
Chinese, to prevent them helping the
Americans. They cut the threats of
some. Many Chinese hid on roof tops
or in cellars, and some escaped by cut
ting off their queues. There are fifty
fresh graves in the churchyard.
The country beyond Calumpit is full
of all sorts of ingenious trenches and
pitfalls in the roads with sharpened
bamboo. Fortunately the Americans
have escaped the latter
In the swamps near San Tomas,
where General Wheaton's troops did
their hardest fighting-the men sinking
to their waists in mud-are many bodies
Of Fiiipinos, smelling horribly.
The army is really enjoying life at
San Fernando which is the most pic
turesque and wealthiest town the
Americans have entered since the &C.
cupation of Manila. 1t is mainly built
of stone. the river is close at hand, and
high hills almost surround it, Many
sugar factories indicate a thriving in
dustry in that respect, and there are
numerous fine residences. General Mae
Arthur's permanent headquarters is es-
tablished in the best house in the town.
The troops are encamped around the
suburbs and are beginning to think
they may be quartered there during the
wet season.
After Bacolor has been cleared, water
communication with Manila may be es-
tablished. Along the roads to Calum
pit the fuel wagons and bull teams
carrying provisions have to be ferried
one by one, across two rivers, but the
FiIipinos have several launches in the
river delta
The American troops are much ex-
hausted by the campaign, except the
Iowa trops, which are comparatively
fresh. The regiments of the division
average less than fifty men to a COM
pany, and all have weather-worn APP
pearance.
Senator Beverage of Indiana Is here
studying the Philippines question.
Brigadier General Charles King has
sailed for the United States on board
the transport Pueblo.
GOVERNOR THOMAS.