The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-08-14

Immediately came the command to
cease firing and silence relgned, While
suspicion and distrust existed on each
side of the imaginary line separating
the two forces.
Investigation showed that soldier of
the Utah battery of artillery. while, it
is presumed, under the influence of
LIQUOR, sought to force the guard sur
rounding Aguinaldos camp. When
stopped by a sentry he had tried to
draw a gun, but had been shot dead in
his tracks by the Filipino. Other Utah
men had rushed forward, one more had
been killed and several wounded. Then
the firing became general all about Ca
yite. So far as could be learned no Fill
pinos had been hit, they all taking to
cover at the first shot.
To depart from the narrative. it might
be remarked at this time that Aguin-
aldo, on an investigating being made,
determined to sacrifice the guard who
had killed the Utah boy, and SO ordered
him shot, thinking thus to placate the
Americans. General Anderson, hearing
of this, sent personal request to
Aguinaldo begging that the mans life
be spared, as he had only done what
he conceived to be his duty. Aguinaldo,
however, thought one Filipino life of
little account in comparison with main
tanning friendly relationships with the
Americans, so ordered the execution to
proceed. Hearing this, General Ander-
son sent peremptory order to Aguin-
aldo to desist, just in time to save the
mans life.
To resume the narrative: When firing
had ceased the Montana boys were al
lowed to proceed to their quarters in the
damp stone barracks. Upon the sweat
ing rock floor they laid their blankets
and made their beds where, only few
months before, rows upon rows OF dead
~ yxxrs. Five 10 RI
been laid. The bloody marks on walls
and floors were there, no cleaning hay
ing taken place. A hole in the barrack
wall made by an American shell served
as entrance. Some of these buildings
were more than two centuries Old
The remainder of the regiment came
ashore and were housed in similar quar-
ters
All night long as the weary Montan-
ans law on their stone floors trying to
sleep they could hear the frequent chai-
lenges of the sentries, giving not Halt,
who comes there?" but Halt
bang, bang-"Who comes there?' The
sentries shot first and asked afterWard.
They took no chances, for these were
rumors abroad of a possible massacre.
And now to the hitherto untold story
of the shots aboard the wreck of the
Don Juan de Austria and the killing OF
the first Filipinos to fall victims to
American soldiers guns.
Fifty feet in the rear of the Mon
tapans quarters was the sea wall and
about 100 yards out from there were
the wrecks of the Spanish warships
Dewey had destroyed. Admiral Dewey
had discovered that the Filipinos were
stealing out there at night in boats ana
cascos and stripping the wrecks. They
had carried away much metal work ana
even some small machine guns.
Acpardinylv orders had been given
that the officer of the day on shore in
that vicinity should be held RESPONSE
BILE for the safe keeping of the wrecks.
The guard that night was made UP
chiefly of Montana men and the offlcer
of the day was Captain Andrew Jensen
of Z company.
Imagine the setting of the scene as
late in the evening the firing of chal-
longing sentries came less frequently
and the stiffness of a tropic night came
on. Gazing out across the strip OF
ebony -hued sea the hulks of the Span
ish warships could be indistinctly seen
against the sky line. All about were
sleeping soldiers, ready to spring at an
instant's warning into the carnage of
warfare.
Standing on the sea wall at II o'clock
looking at the wreck, Lieutenant Ken
nedy became conscious of the tapping
of a hammer and the sound of men at
"
de Austria. He called the attention of
the guard to it, but the latter thought
the noise was caused by the rising ana
falling of sea waves against the wreck.
Captain Jensen was summoned, and
as the little group of soldiers peered
out into the gloom they saw boat
leave the nearby native village OF san
ROGUE and pull toward the wreck 1t
might be remarked parenthetically that
San Rogue was the first town destroyed
during the war with the insurgents and
the Montana soldiers did the destroying.
First reporting the occurrence to Gen
eral Anderson, Captain Jensen took
squad of picked Montana men-several
of the crack shots-borrowed large
boat from the navy yard and, with
darkened light silently rowed out to the
Don Juan de Austria.
To the gaze of the watchers on shore
the boat disappeared in the shadow of
the wreck. A moments wait and then
a human voice was heard, followed i'm
mediately by several shots, then vol
ley. A light appeared on the wreck and
rushed up and down. Then all was
silent.
About / o'clock Captain Jensen re-
turned with his squad. He reported that
as he and his men had boarded the
wreck the men who We're working on 1t
had fled. He had called upon them to
halt and had fired. then ordered his men
to fire. After this he had diligently
searched the wreck as best he could with
one lantern and had found no one. He
had been forced to the conclusion that
the Filipinos had a secure hiding place
aboard or had jumped overheard, de-
spite the presence in the water of
large number of sharks.
The following morning American
sailors who had boarded the wreck
came ashore and reported to DR.. Brun-
ming of the Montana regiment that
there were two dead Filipinos and two
or three wounded ones in an obscure
place on the deck of the Don Juan de
Austria
Jensens fire had been true.
DIR. Drumming visited the wreck and
found the wounded unconscious and in
a deplorable condition, exposed to the
hot sun with huge blue flies attacking
their wounds. One mans leg was COM
pletely shattered below the thigh.
The bodies and the wounded were
brought ashore. the wounded attended
to, and then Colonel kessler ordered
W. Z 10 the dead and