Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1899-07-26
Those Soldiers Letters From the Philippines

soldiers of its flag was that of the New
York Post and Springfield Republican
in publishing, not long since. a series
of alleged private letters from Ameri-
can soldiers in the Philippines, describ-
ing in horrible detail the atrocities
| they and their comrades had COM
mitted There had been wholesale
murder. robbery and rapine. Women
in muttudes had been outraged, emil
dren slaughtered. prisoners OF war
massacred. villages burned and looteu'
etc, etc, all by the American soldiers.
The letters fairly rocked with foul acts
and dripped with gore. These letters
sometimes with the authors name
given. but more often not, were gwen
wide circulation by the Contemporaries
istic" press. 1t gloatcd with JOY over
this evidence of the awful effect OF
| .'miIitarism' on the American charac-
ter. one Of the principal documents
sent out BY the anti lmpcrialist'
League was a compilation of these
letters.
To all fair minded readers these let
tiers bore internal evidence of wild eN-
aggeration and wilful meEdacity, but
the "anti-imperialistic" orators and
editors declared they were true and
genuine. and based upon them one of
their chief arguments against the ex-
mansion policy of the administration.
But now the bottom has dropped out
of the whole affair. and the papers
which published these letters have had
the notifying and humiliatins ex-
pcriencc of taking back water. 1t
transpircs that some of the letters
were fakes. pure and simple; others
We're written by soldiers who had never
! been on the firing lire and got their
news" third or fourth hand. and
others were private letters sent t.
friends by young volunteers VIII"
sought by drawing on their magma
tons to get the reputation q bad
men" cutting prominent figure amid
scenes of hloodshcd and devastation.
The complete reputation Of all these
| fahricatious comes in a four column
letter to the New York Post from one
of its own correspondents after ser
vice with the army in the Philippines
covering the whole campaign. Tho
story of the publication of these letters
had reached Manila. and he sends back
| sweeping denial and demolition Of
the whole fabric Of falsehood cmhrac-
| inc the alleged atrocities and outraGeS.
The Post publishes the letters in full
and makes 4 half-confesSion and half
| apology concerning its part in tn
whole affair. The correspondent
writes: Most. if not all. of the writ
ers of boastful or bluddthirsty letters
are men who never see the firing Zine.
special duty men, or the class that
straggle in battle The men who do
the real work are not boastful, nor do
| they murder prisoners in cold blood"
| Again he says: II haze heard of no
instance. and do not believe there has
| been one. of the deliberate killing of
Filipino once taken prisoner. That we
do take prisoners is proved by the 20oo
or 5000 that have been sent in from the
| front, nearly all of whom have been
| given their liberty. That do not
kill the wounded is shown by the fact
| that as many as 800 Filipino wounded
have been or are now being cared for
| in our hospitals here. | have seen sol
| dicrs stop while advancing across the
lines from which the insurgents have
just been driven ana bind up the
wounds Of Filipino soldiers with their
hrst-aid packages and give them A
drink from their canteens."
He goes on to deny in toto the wild
yarns of the depravitysand brutality of
our soldiers published in the letters Of
the "anti-imperialist' press. He de
Clares the whole campaign has been
conducted on as nearly 4 civilized plan
| on the part Of both officers ana men as
any warfare can be. There has beer
no wholesale looting. and no burning
except Of houses used as a protection
by Filipino sharpshootcrs. The letter
of the Post correspondent completely
wipes away the vile ISLANDERS that have
been repeated about our brave boys in
the Philippines, and shows them in the
light that the world has always seen
| the American soldier. a man without
fear and without reproach. In its cdi-
tOrial on the matter the Post is COM
PEELED to say, unEraciously enough:
IF we placed too much faith in the
veracity and Importance of some of
the letters at the time of their publica-
ton. and thereby did injustice to the