Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1899-11-17
CHAT WITH A FILIP!R0.
Story OF i Captive Soldier, as
Told by Himself.
ARMY HELD TOGETHER BY FEAR

How the FiIIpino Viewed the Rush
of American SOIdIer,-wouId Never
RETURN tn tie Insurgents IL lie
Were RrIcaSed. lie rs-FiIipino
Marching song.
/ Here i story Of a clpwred soldier
/ of the Filipino army AS told by himself.
! have made only the necessary idiO.
| matical changes Ia his aCcour.. aud the
| whole may he taken rs u talc setting
! forth Of the situation rs viewed hy the
! eyes of a soldier for independence. says
| the 81. Louis Giobc-Democrat's CORE.
! Spundcnt writing from General Wheel.
! er'S headquarters at Santa Rita. t. /
/ When first saw this man hr was Ia 4
| cart that had tO!lcd through the mud
| from BaCOlOr TO these headquarters
! and there was in his eyes that fearful
| look SO commonly seen among the IL
nOrant when brought before those in
! authority. On that day General Wheel.
/ cr had him brought before him, and II
was only with difficulty that anything
! could be learned from the poor shaking
creature, Notwithstanding the fact that
the general used his most kindly man.
ncr and at first asked but trivial qucS
| tionS.
| To-day, however, when | entered the
! prison room in the old convent that +
! used as headquarters of our interior
| guard. a quick change In look and de.
mrauur had occurred \ soldier, though
n captive. stood before me. He brought
| his hand up smaTly In salute, and
when the courtesy had been returned
| began Il voluhlr but dignl'icd express
| sion Ur the treatment given HIN by our
mon and when explained my wishes
! he stood for moment gazing out OF
the window, then, turning, he spread
| out both hands with quick downward
thrust toward me, saying in his native
| Tagal I'm do IT," With his dctcrmina.
tion all reserve vanished, and he thus
began his story, which Is IN part as
! follows:
Il am Tagalo, and when the war
was talked Of lived IN the Tondo dis
trict Of Manila. ain now - years old
and was formerly fisherman. have
been married now little over year
and have one child, hut have never
seen my baby" he paused briefly,
then continued: Il had not thought Of
going In. but in February got into II.
was not alsSlv IN not wanting war; Il
great many Of us didn't want it, but
we We're forced in hy the generals.
| They threatened us with destroying
our property and killing us and our
families. One day met General Pan
falcon Garcia in the street, and had Il
| long talk with him about the war II
lasted about an hour. He told me
great deal about Independence. He
told me that when we got our ind"-
pcndence We would have good times;
that som" would have fine positions;
that the soldiers especially would have
good fortune awaiting them. He said
that, OF course, some of the soldiers
would hc Killed. hut that there would
not he much Of Il fight and thNt in a
month We would NIL be IN Manila He
also told NE a great deal about the
Americans, saying that they were a
bad people and would commit and
Were committing al sorts of Outragts
on our property and families but he
said nothing Of ttE Americans as sol.
dlcrs.
We'll, ! had n friend, ana II WAS he
who induced NE to go. His name Is
ECliZ Carp!o, and he is now a lieuten-
ant. ! met him at Caloocan in the
street and had talk with him about
the talk Of war and what was 70 be
done. We finished our talk with his
promising to make NE clerk II
would 20, and ! said that I'd 90. No,
| never discussed my going with my
Wife. | simply went off and left her"
Then his dark, strong face was turned
away, II was very still in the guard
room From without came the sound
Of the slow, steady tramp of The Ninth
infantry sentinel as he paced back and
forth under !hC gray stone "rrhWay.
The interpreter. looking down. marked
lines With !-!s tDc On the dust strewn
floor Thus We waited. When he
again turned his face to resume lis
tears, hut we two who sat waiting had
also left somebody miles and miles
away. and we easily pardoned the
weakness Of the harcf0oted man in the
Soilcd blue and white uniform.
"Well," he continued, when decii.
ed TO go the officers kept me with
them. never went home again, but
remained in Caloocan. was put at
some clerical work. had a little drill
and did some manual labor, but for
the most of the day we sat around and
talked. Frequently our officers would
come to rs and tell us how well We
were doing, hut for the most Of the
time we just waited. was still at Ca
loOcan when the fight began. was
sitting talking to Ii friend when the
sound of firing came. He was from
my home and had just been telling me
that my wife wanted ne. At once there
was great confusion. Everybody that
saw was hurrypg Soldiers were
rushing toward Manila. The old men,
women and children were hurrying the
other way. The next morning (Sun-
day. great many people came out Of
Manila. Most Of them carried great
burdens. Oh, how they were strug-
Cling to carry the heavy loads! And
that morning when the firing recon-
meurcd the soldiers were very much
frightened, and the confusion began
all over again. A great many soldiers
were going toward Manila to help
fight. Soon after noon great many
Of the soldiers came running back.
They were much frightened. We could
scarcely stop them. talked with two
or three Of them. They said that there
had been cn awful fight and that the