The Topeka state journal., 1899-05-02
REBELS ON TOP.
The Samoan Insurgents Com
mand the Situation.

Wellington, N. T., May 2.-Advices
from Samoa indicate that the instruc-
tions received from the powers make
the situation in the islands very serious
as the rebels hold the main food sup
plies and are again near the munich
pality of Apia. The correspondent of
Reuters News Agency thinks it is ev-
ident that the home authorities have
misunderstood the situation in Samoa.
The Germans and rebels are already
jubilant, and claim a victory over the
British and American forces. The cor
respondent says that unless the rebels
are made to submit the difficulties will
remain unsolved. The white people in
the outskirts of the city are at the
mercy of the rebels. The American
vice cOnsuPs store at Falifa was looted
last week, while German. store ad-
joining was left untouched The Amer
lean and English residents all strongly
condemn the action of the powers in
ordering a cessation of hostilitieS at
this stage.
Two days after the last battle at
Vailima, Lieut. Gaunt of the British
cruiser POrpoiSe, marched his brigade
lowed by company of British blue
Jackets under Captain Sturdee and
Lieut.. Cave. Inspection of the battle
field shows that the defences erected by
the rebels near the home of the late
Robert Louis Stevenson were strong
and well planned. The loss sustained by
the rebels, it is evident, was much
greater than was at first supposed. The
main section of Mataafa's followers
who were engaged in the battle of
Vailima retreated westward to Lulu
mOenga, where they 1ays in wait for
friendlies. Orders had been given them
to capture Lieut.. Gaunt's head. The
rebels were also anxious to secure the
superior weapons with which his brig
ade is armed
1t is rumored that 13 boats filled with
armed rebels are approaching from the
east. The town appears to be safe.
STEVENSON'S WIDOW INDIGNANT
London, May 2.-Robert Louis Steven
sons widow has written letter to the
Westminster Gazette from Funchal
Madeira on the bombardment of
Samoan villages by British and Ameri-
can warships. Mrs. Stevenson says:
President Mckinley allowed no fir
ing on Cuban towns, unless they gave
active cause of offense and Commodore
Watson was ordered not to attack un-
defended Spanish cities. Does the pres
ident keep his humanity for civilized
countries alone?"
Mrs. Stevenson declares that the
Samoan villages are inhabited in time
of war by non-combatants, who have to
choose between the shells of the war
ships and taking to the bush" Under
such conditions she says, delicate wo-
men can hardly exist, while children die
like flies.
Mrs. Stevenson's letter concludes as
follows:
Chief Justice Chambers has been re-
ported as saying in a letter to his
brother: I never was happier He
must be a person Singularly devoid of
Imagination, if he never pictured to
himself the scenes being enacted in the
bombardment of those villages; the ex-
odus of panic-stricken people rushing
hfther and thither; shells bursting
everywhere, the cries of bedridden and
helpless wounded people burning alive
in their blazing houses, mangled chill
dren crawling on the sands, the sea
before them and the bush behind
them. And we read that the woods
also were shelIed Who is to be held
accountable for these deeds, that dis
grace both England and American