Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1899-04-28

Manila, April 25.-A detachment of
the Fourth United States cavalry, com
manded by Maj. Bell, was surprised
during a reconnaissance carly Sunday
morning. The cavalry, numbering 81
men, had been ordered to scout in the
district occupied by the insurgents east
of Malolos, the old capital. The troop
ers could not see the foe. Aguinaldo's
men were huddled in trench shaped
like a horseshoe. 1t had been dug in
such way as to hem in three sides OF a
rice field at the edge of of a jungle. Maj.
Bell and his soldiers rode into the
midst of this trap by the fourth or open
side of the field. The cavalry was near
ly surrounded when the Iowa and Ne
braslxa regiments in MacArthur's divi-
sion were ordered to reinforce the little
body of horse soldiers. i battalion of
Nebraskans under Maj. Morford ar
rived first, but were unable to drive
the insurgents back. Then the rest Of
the Nebraska regiment came, followed
by the Iowa regiment and four guns of
the Utah battery. To save his COM
mand from determination Maj. Bell
was compelled to order retreat.
Col. Stotsenburg led the Nebraska re
Inducements. Taking in the. situation
he decided that bold charge on the
intrenchments was necessary to drive
the insurgents out, and he ordered the
advance. 1t was a wild charge. Stotsen-
burg was well in advance and the sol
diers behind him cheered his nerve in
the face of the Filipino fire. He was
within 200 yards of the enemy's breast
works when a bullet struck him in
the chest and he fell dead. While Stots-
enburg's body was carried to the rear
the regiment, without halt. swept
toward the trenches. Another NebraS-
ka officer fell, shot through the heart.
He was Lieut.. Sessions, and he was
struck as he was waving his sword and
urging his comrades onward. Two
other lieutenants fell wounded, along
with a great many privates. Just as
the Nebraska boys reached the trench
the insurgents turned and bolted into
the jungle. The Americans pursued
the foe and there was another severe
engagement at the second intrench-
ment.
The American Force Advances.
Manila, April 25.-Gen. Hale at four
O'Clock this afternoon had crossed the
Bag-Bag and had reached a position a
quarter of a mile from Calumpit, thus
commanding the ford. Prisoners cap
tured by Gen. Hale'S troops say Aguin-
aldo, Gen. Luna and the Filipino staff
are at Calumpit with a great force of
Filipino troops.
Before daylight the Fourth cavalry,
with three guns belonging to the Utah
battery, the Nebraska regiment and
the Iowa regiment under Hale, was
proceeding in the direction of KUN
chua, where the BagBag (Tibabag?) is
fordable, but commanded by trenches.
During the afternoon the troops crossed
the river. Gems. Macarthur and
Wheaton, with the Montana regiment,
advanced to the left of the railroad and
the Kansas regiment moved forward to
the right, north of MalolOs. They had
with them long supply train with
two armed cars in front, carrying two
Calling and Colts rapid-fire guns and
the six-pounder which did much eXecu-
ton at the capture of Ma1olos.
The insurgents attempted to destroy
the railroad bridge outside of Calumpit,
and succeeded in badly warping the
iron framework. AS soon as the soldiers
gan flocking in, as they did at Santa
Cruz before the last boat of Gen. Law
toms expedition had sailed. Our army
is compelled to abandon all towns when
an onward movement is commenced. be-
cause of insufficient men to garrison
them. This gives the Filipino leaders
a framework upon which to spin stO-
ries of American defeat.