The Saint Paul globe., 1899-05-06
GRAPHIC RECITAL OF THE KILL
ING OF BRITISH AND AMER
ICANS AT APIA, SAMOA
GERMAN PLANTERS TREiCHERY
THROUGH 1T THE ALLIED FORCES
WERE TRAPPED BY THE FOL-
LOWERS OF MATAAFA
MONAGHAN DIED A HERO

Fell Defending His Superior OfHcer
From the Murderous Savages-
Sold His Life Dearly, killing
Number of AssaiIants Before Be-
Ing Overcome by Superior Num-
bers-0ficiaI List of Victims.
correspondent of the Associated Press,
writing from Apia, Samoa, under date of
April 20 gives a detailed account of the
fighting in which Lieut.. Lansdale and
Ensign Monaghan, of the American navy,
and Lieut.. Freeman, of the British navy,
lost their lives. On April landing
party made up of sixty American sailors
and marines and sixty-two English sail
ors and about 120 natives proceeded to
Vailele to break up an assemblage of
rebels who had been committing depreda-
tions in the vicinity. The party was un-
der command of Lieut.. Angel Freeman,
first officer of the Tauranga, and with
him were Lieuts. Cave, of the Porpoise,
and Hickman, of the Royalist. The
Americans were under command of Lieut..
Lansdale, who had with him Ensign
Monaghan and Lieut.. Perkins, of the ma
.rine corps. DR.. Lung, of the Philadelphia,
also accompanied the expedition.
When the party had reached the Ger
man plantation, Lieut.. Cave asked Capt
Hufnagel the German manager, If there
were any Samoans in the vicinity
The manager said that none had been
there that day. At the very moment ana
within a few hundred yards of the expe-
dition was large body of rebels. HUFF
nagle advised that return home be made
by way of the main road through the
plantation, as everything was quite safe
and no rebels had been about. Three
other Germans were with Hufnagel and
heard this conversation. No one gave any
warning of danger. The return march to
the beach was commenced, and no sooner
had the men got. out of the plantation
when at a bend in the road, 400 yards
away, large numbers of rebels were seen.
GUNS WOULD NOT WORK.
A Colt automatic gun, of which the na-
tives have great dread was Immediately
brought forward. 1t refused to act. The
rebels got clear and a halt was made to
fix the gun. This took half an hour, and
then Lieut.. LansdaIe fired a few trial
shots. The gun worked all right and the
march was resumed, with the friendly ma
tives in the lead. Misled by the informa-
tion of Hufnagel, it was decided to return
by the main road. The open space where
the Germans had been murdered by
Mataafa years ago was passed and the
troops marched down the road to aar-
row gulley, the sides of which were COW
cred with Buffalo grass. On top of the
slope, just after the last of the troops
had begun to march through the gulley
the rebels fired upon them. The line
was about 300 yards in length. The reb-
els were lying in the long grass while
some were in the tops of cocoanut trees
The Colt gun again refused to act, and
while Lieut.. Lansdale was trying to fix
it he was wounded in the knee.
At the beginning of the fight Lieut.
Freeman was shot through the chest and
fell dead. The friendly natives retreated
at the first fire, and the white force was
too weak to cope with the rebels, and the
whole force was thrown into confusion
To retreat was imperative, and the au-
tomato gun was accordingly abandoned
after the ammunition had been scattered
and the breech thrown away, rendering 1t
more useless. The allied forces were
surrounded on three sides. Through the
scrub and grass the sailors retired, Lans-
dale being assisted by his men. The firing
of the rebels was severe.
MONAGHAN A HERO.
Lansdale, who was being assisted by
Ensign Monaghan and two men, seeing
that he could not get away, urged them
to leave him to his fate. One of the sail
ors was shot dead and the other, seeing
he could not save his officer, retreated
and escaped. Monaghan refused to go
and stayed by his fellow officer. Next
morning their headleSS bodies were found
on the battlefield. Monaghan's revolver
was empty, as was also Lansdale's. Be-
tween them lay the dead bodies of three
rebels. Monaghan, before the last man
left him, shot the chief, Aiono, dead, as
he was advancing on Lansdale Desert
ers from Mataafa's camp relate how
Monaghan stood over Lansdale until that
officer was shot dead, and then tried to
escape himself, but was unable to do so.
When the American party reached the
beach it was found four men were miss
ing besides the officers They were Ed
sell and Butler, of the Philadelphia, and
Long and Prout, from the British ships
DR.. Lung, who had been conspicuous
took command of the American forces
and on the approach of reinforcements
the rebels retired. Several of the Malie-
toan natives lost their lives.
The decapitated bodies of the three Off
GERS We're recovered next morning on the
field and on Easter Sunday they were
buried, with the heads, which had been
recovered by a French priest All the
leading American and British residents
and officials were present. The Germans
were conspicuous by their absence, the
only one attending being Pastor Margraf
who had known Lansdale in the United
States. The German warship Fake had
her flag at half mast, and her officers
sent ashore two wreaths, entwined with
the German national colors.
KILLED AND WOUNDED.
In the fight there were killed on the
Mataafa side forty-three, and fifty were
wounded. A complete list of the white
dead and wounded is as follows:
Americans-Dead: Lieut. Philip Lans-
dale, Ensign ]. r. Monaghan, Coxswain
IT. Butler, Electrician, Norman p; Fdseii
Privates Thomas Holloway and John E.
Nudge, of the marine corps Wounded !:
Coxswain J. H. Wellington, shot in ell
bow; Fireman E. Andrews, right leg:
Iandsman J. G. John, left shoulder
LandSman j. w. Laird, left hip; Marine
John M. Mccarthy, right wrist
English-Dead: First Lieutenant E. A.
freeman, Seaman All. Thornbery, Ed
mund Hauoran, ordinary seaman; Men
Long, leading seaman; John Prout, lead