The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-09-20
VANDALISM
By American Troops Anglers the
Catholics.
Alleged Outrages on Churches
Cause Protest.
TIE DEAD ARE ROBBED
Metropolitan Truth Society De-
pIOres the State of Affairs.
Appeals to the President to
Protect Philippine Graves.

Washington, Sept. 2O.-The resent
ment of Catholics throughout the I'm
tied States at the alleged outrages upon
Catholic churches in the Philippines
has been brought acutely to the atten-
ton of the president. Rev. DR.. William
F. McGinnis, president of the Metro
politan Truth society, has forwarded to
the president direct a strong protest,
in which he contradicts Prof. Schur-
man, who said no evidence of such
abuses can be found or produced. This
communication reached the executive
mansion today.
The Metropolitan Truth society was
organized two years ago and now has
branches all over the United States. Its
object is to correct misapprehensiOns Of
doctrine or to combat erroneous state
ments of alleged fact against the Cath
Ollie church, its discipline or practice.
The headquarters of this society is at
No 225 Sixth avenue, New York, and
among its membership are most Of the
prominent ecclesiastics and laymen of
the church in America.
For some time its members have been
gathering and classifying all the evil
dence concerning the alleged desecra-
lions and outrageS upon the churches
in the Philippines. and the thefts of
prieStly Vestments and sacred vessels
and their use in insulting ways.
Beside this representation to Presi-
dent Mckinley, it is intended to lay the
whole matter before the board Of
catholic archbishOps at the Catholic
university on October r.
DR.. McGinnis' letter to the president
is as follows:
LAS president of the Metropolitan
man Catholics extending throughout
the United States, have been officially
directed by the board of said society
to call attention of the United States
70
trated by American soldiers upon Cath
Ollie churches in the Philippine islands.
Said outrages have excited widespread
indignation as is evidenced by the ut
terances in both Catholic and non-Cath-
Ole churches and by reports of commit
tees of the Metropolitan Truth society
coming from all parts of the country.
"Such indignation is based, first upon
newspaper reports and comments there
on; second, upon private letters from
soldiers who have served or are serving
now in the Philippines; third, from
sacred vessels sent by United States
soldiers to this country and publicly ex-
hibited in New York and other cities;
fourth, upon the accompanying copy of
a New York weekly giving a photo
graph of United States soldiers in the
very act of desecrating an altar in a
church by using it as field telegraph
station, one of the soldiers being repre-
scented as posing for the photograph, CT
gar in hand.
Catholics usually are prepared to al
low, first. for a certain amount of loot
ing which is the usual accompaniment
of military invasionS; second, for the
acts of irresponsible individuals; third,
for the possibility of some of the prop
erty having been purchased or captured
by our troops from the Philippine war
riors; fourth, for exaggerated reports.
However, allowing for all this, suf-
ficient evidence of outrages exists to
excite the indignation of American
Catholics and to convince them that the
recent public utteranceS Of Prof. Schur-
man can not be considered a correct re
port of existing conditions For ex-
ample. Prof. Schurman declares it i'm
possible to produce evidence proving
the dissertation of Catholic churches by
American soldiers. Direct evidence is
supplied both by the above mentioned
photograph and by the following ex-
tract from one of the private letters
from soldiers who are now serving in
the Philippines, and which we believe
is thoroughly reliable:
50 The worst of all is in the ruins of
Guadeloupe church, in the vaults where
the dead are buried Volunteers broke
them open, pulled out the bodies, broke
open the collins and robbed the dead
You can see the skulls where the feet
ought to be, and the ribs are all mixed
up. One body lies there, half pulled out
of the vault and just where the hands
were crossed on the breast it was all