The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-08-13
OCCUPYING SULU.
CEREMONIES ATTENDING TRANS
FER TO THE UNITED STATES.

ple-The Market at Sulu-A Beauti-
full Island and Fine Climate.
Correspondence of the Baltimore Sun.
Z. S. S. Helena, OF Bakoor, Manila Bay,
Philippine Islands, June 10.-On the morn
ing of May 16 our orders came 10 prepare
to get to sea that night. and We had TO
hustle; coaled ship, took in water, took
in OIL started fires in the boilers, secured
things for sea, and got out at p. IN.
That night and the next day we were
steaming along Mindora Island, and just
at dusk were at the north end of Panay
Island, where Iloilo is. We went the
route we did in order to pick up, should
We see them, the crew of an American
ship that was wrecked off Mindora a
short time ago. Didn't find it, though We
saw the wreck. We went first to Fam
boanga, on the Island of Mindanao, and
then to Jolo pronounced Hoo or Suiu on
the Island of Sulu in the Sulu Archipei-
ago, where a detachment of the Twenty
third Infantry had been sent to relieve
the Spanish garrison there. The trip car
RED us up to within degrees
for this May time. We passed
Mindanao, the Island the Moham-
medans are on, and reached Zamboanga.
the capital of Mindanao, on May 10. About
midday the second day out we ran foul
of a Hong Kong-Australian diner, got so
close TO her We could almost distinguish
features, and l saw two women in back
sunbonnets racing after to get a view of
us They were "Australianesses, going
home to England-just the people we read
of in novels. In the evening we ran into
Zamboanga. You can't imagine such "a
condition as exists there. About LOCO Span
ish soldiers have been ga thered there from
the little Islands around, and since the
10th of this month have been really fight
ing for their lives. The place is a small
village, and at present there are no whites
in it except the Spanish, and they have
sent away all of their goods and chatteis
They live in the village and close to il.
In the dense cocoanut groves that sur
round ii the natives have gathered. These
natives are said to be armed with a few
rifles and with guns and ammunition from
the gunboats we bought. These gunboats
were gathered here by a Spanish agent
who bought them for us, and it is said
this agent let our enemies have a rapid
firing guns, ammunition and provisions
from them.
Spanish Soldiers.
At Zamboanga we found the Castine
She has been cunning all about the isl
ands, capturing steamers and trading YES
sells, and is now here watching the town
for developments. In the harbor was a
large Spanish transport, sent to gather in
the Spanish soldiers to Tepatriate them
and when we were there they We're trying
to figure out some scheme by which these
soldiers could be safely withdrawn. The
Spanish officers feared that should they
begin to evaCuate the town, the natives
would mass and rush the last few hun
dreds and massacre them. AT 4 O'Clock
the ship left Zamboanga for Sulu and we
anchored in the midst of a lot of islands,
waiting until 2 O'Clock in the morning
when we could get up anchor and go
ahead. We could see big fire in the di-
rection of Zamboanga, twenty-five miles
away and fighting was probably going on
there.
On the Goth 1 witnessed the final scene
of our war with Spain at the town of Sulu,
Sulu Island, Sulu archipelago, the hauling
down of the Spanish flag in that far-off
corner of our new incubi and the hosting
of the United States flag, the marching out
of the Spanish garrison and the marching
in of ours. To go back to the time of
our anchorage on the shoal in the Sulu,
twenty-five mics from ZdHlDOalSa. i ne
next morning we were in sight of no end
of pretty little green islands with white
coral beaches, and near us was Sulu, a
perfect little gem apparently in quite a
high state of cultivation. By 10 O'Clock
we were in sight of the town, and by il
O'Clock had anchored close off the mole and
close to the Spanish transport Leon XIII,
which had come in the night before TO Ie-
lieve the Spanish garrison there and to
take the latter back to Manila and Spain.
From the ship the town and country were
beautiful.
Taking Possession of SuIu.
Soon after we had anchored a Spanish
army officer came aboard, and later one
of our army officers The latter tod Us
that the ceremony of transferring would
take place at l o'clock, and when the
captain invited the officers TO go with him
to see it | donned my cleanest white suit,
my sword, and went along. The sum total
of the territory TO be surrendered to us
was about one-eighth the size of the naval
academy grounds roper at Annapolis-just
about the size of the parade ground, say
mo eXaggeration). Surrounding il was a
loopholed stone woll rather low and thin,
more like a garden wall than anything
else. On the wall were watch towers, and
short distance outside of the walls were
blcekhouses The town itself is a gem, as
L
covered with clean, white sand; trees line
the sidewalks; flowers of brilliant color
grow everywhere, and enough space is
taken from the limited area TO make Two
pretty flower squares; on many trees are
the most luxWiant orchids growing. Eden,
If peopled, must have looked somewhat
like Suiu, except that in The case of Sulu
I saw but two or three specimens Of the
Eve persuasion" The main body of the
inhabitants we're Spanish roops-are now
American trOops-the rest were Chinese.
No Moros Che Spanish name for the Mo-
hammedan inhabitants of these islands)
are permitted inside the walls after G
o'clock in the evening. All told, l should
say there are less than 1000 inhabitants,
counting in the soldiers Among the crowd
there were a good many Moros, but they
belong 10 a totally different race from the
Taga !os (the natives of Luzon), have diff
feren and more savage features and dress
like the savages they are, using the most
brilliant of colorS without regard to their
matching qualities. They are far behind
the Filipnos around Manila in knowledge
of the world and approach the purely saw