The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-03-18
MORAN'S FR|CHTFUL STORY
OF |NHUMAN TREATMENT
Almost Beyond Belief That Such Fiendsh Cruelty Could
Be Practced by American Officers ipses the
Spaniards If the Story Is Correct They
Are Guilty Of an Awful Crime.

since the trouble in Frisco. and Keown
was so beside himself with rage that
he rushed to his state room for his gun,
saying TIL finish the right now
He was only prevented from doing so
by Lieutenant Kennedy, who told him
he should do nothing Of the kind, and
kept him in his room.
Mercer Used a Gun.
IT was placed in the guard house, a
place so hot that l was compelled to
strip myself naked, and orders were
issued that no one should be allowed to
communicate with me, two guards be-
ing placed over me. Notwithstanding
these strict orders, Lieutenant Mercer
came and took gun from one of the
guards and, putting shell in it, told
the guard to let me come out He
wanted me to do SO to give him an
excuse to shoot me. He called me all
manner of vile names, trying to taunt
me into assaulting him, but l kept my
head. When he had gone, I asked the
guard to report the circumstances to
Captain Hill, who was officer of the
day, and he did so. Captain Hill re-
ported to Colonel kesser and that is
how charges were brought aginst Mer-
ser.
They court martialed me, the court
martial being drawn from the various
troops then at Honolulu. The charges
were read to me at the court martial
and that was the first time I knew l
was charged with striking an officer, a
charge punishable by death, if the court
so desires. I was given no opportunity
to get my witnesses, who could have aC-
quilted me. Not one of the witnesses
testified that / struck Mercer, even he
only said ] pushed him, Lieutenant
Kennedy did all he could for me, but l
was found guilty and after several
ballots in which some wanted to i'm
pose the death penalty and others all
the way from seven ITO 30 years i'm
prisonment. my punishment was fixed
at two years This was only brought
about by regular army officer who
was on the board, who said he could
not see where ! had done anything to
merit severe punishment. He finally
had to give in and voted for two years
as a compromise, because he was vir-
tually alone.
Put to Cleaning Sinks.
FINALLY we reached Cavite and was
put in prison. Here my prosecutors
made it hot for me by seeing I was
selected to do all manner of the most
mental duties. If closet had to be
cleaned l was made to clean it. and a
length l was ordered to clean the sink
for the Filipinos AT this 1 rebelled
and told the officer of the guard they
might shoot me, but / would not clean
the sink used by the natives. He hap
pened to be Captain Green, who was
humane enough to inquire into the facts,
and he called the guard and gave or
ders that when there were any such
duties to be performed they should not
discriminate against me, at least while
he was in charge.
Finally my clothes wore out and I
asked for something to wear. l was
sent heavy clothes, while other prison
ers had the light canvas provided for
that climate. 1t was terrible to have
to wear them and work. and they saw
to it that I worked When there was
nothing to do, ], with, others who had
incurred the hatred of their officers, was
required to dig holes and then fill them
up in order to keep us busy.
Some of the boys who sympathized
with me Clipped in and paid to have
some light clothes made for me. They
We're the regulation white canvas.
had grown so resentful through all my
harsh treatment that I sweled around
in my white clothes purposely to tan
talize my tormentors. This produced the
effect of an order that I take off the
white clothes, but the boys had taken
care to have the old heavy ones made
away with, so l could reply l had moth
ing else to put on. Lieutenant Ken
nedy again interceded fer me and went
to Colonel Kessler to inquire what OBJ
lection there could be to my wearing
the white clothes. He got a reply that
it was offensive ito see me. a prisoner
looking SO clean. Lieutenant Kennedy
came back and told me Colonel Kessler
would not mind my wearing the clothes
If l would roll around and get them
dirty. I had reached that state of mind
in which / preferred being shot to en-
during further indignities, and l sent
back word that l would perform any
duty imposed upon me, but 1 would
not soil my clothes except as they be-
came so in my work, even at the risk
of further offending. The result was
that I was confined to a dungeon for
two weeks and given only a broken re-
ceptacle for the convenience of the de-
mands of nature, being refused the priv
ilege all the other prisoners had of 60
ing to closet.
Filth and Vermin.
"At the end of two weeks my dungeon
rocked in filth and vermin which breeds
in that climate from everything that is
filthy One day I managed to commune
cate my condition to a prisoner whose
time was about up and asked him to
send doctor to me when he got out.
rs uiu So, anu Olle cdflle. w men ne saw
my horrible plight he gave orders to
have the cell cleaned out and that l be
allowed the customary privileges in at
tending to the necessities of nature.
Il was at length transferred to Bill
bid, penitentiary, where l was kept in
close confinement, while men who were
there for committing felonies We're al
lowed the freedom of the outdoor in
closure. There We're something over 100
prisoners there, mostly volun-
teers who had committed no crime. We
were given rice and coffee and pots to
prepare them in, but were denied
knives, forks, spoons or even cups to
drink the coffee from and were compell-
ed to eat with our hands and use the
lids of the pots to eat and drink from,
There was an old drain from the
prison into which all offal was dis
We We're told this had not
been cleaned for 100 years or more, and
to find something for us to do we were
ordered to clean it. 1t was something
To do the work it was
necessary down into ba