Omaha daily bee., 1899-12-24
COL, STOTSENBERG'S DEATH
Capt, Harry L.. Wells of the Second Oregon
Relates Interesting Incidents,
TELLS OF AN INTERVIEW WITH GsN PILAF
IL Was in an Engagement with pilnr,
Vow Dead, that The Nebraska
Colonel. with other Ne
brnsknns, Was kiII,d.


Captain Harry l.. Wells Of Portland. Rho
served with the Second Oregon regiment In
the Philippines, spent a day in Omaha last
week and met several members OF the First
Nebraska regiment whom he knew at Ma
Mia. The Second Oregon and the First Ne
braska were close friends. Captain Wells
relates an interesting story in connection
with the death Of Colonel Stotsenbsrg
The announcement some time ago
of the death of General Gregorio del Pillar,
commanding the rear guard of the Filipino
army covering the retreat Of Aguinaldo,
president of the rapidly waning Republica
Filipinos, would have been received by the
people OF Nebraska with greater interest
and pleasure had they but known the iuti-
mate connection that little bunch of con-
eeited humanity had with the death Of the
gallant Stotsenberg and the brave Ne
braskans who fell at his side.
1t was while commanding a company of
the Oregon volunteers in Lawton's long
raid into the interior last May that | learned
from the lips Of Pillar himself the story Of
his slaughter of the Americans near the Bag
Bag river" said Captain Wells, "and if ever
l had murder in my heart it was when / was
compelled to listen to his boastful narrative
OF that sad affair.
General Gregorio del Pillar was a very
small man to support the dignity Of so long
a name. He was but 81 years of age, and
possessed in an excessive degree that
b%oastful, bumptious nature which is a
marked characteristic of the Filipino. He
was a mcstizo of the Chinese cast, as indeed
are nearly all the leaders of the insurrection.
This Is the class that has most of the brains,
education and wealth Of the Islands. Your
I full hlOO1 Eiipirn hns 1itt1a n1,cotjo, az,
ambition or enterprise, is devoid Of the ccGn-
mCrcial instinct and is content to live from
hand to mouth, the common laborer and the
servant of the comparatively small educated
and wealthy class Of mestizos, who derive
all their brains and energy from the foreign
blood in their veins. They are servile BY
nature, and are excessively deferential. even
bringing, to those above them. but go to the
opposite extreme and become unbearably
domineering and arbitrary when themselves
in power. 1t lie this trait. more than any
other, that will tend to wreck any
government they may undertake to estab-
lish for themselves, and will KEEP them in
constant turmoil. Pillars manner in this
respect was especially offensive to one who
easily took his full mental measure. He
was small of stature, not more than five
feet two inches high, and slight of figure.
and, when dressed up in uniform and
sword, forcibly reminded one Of an
unusually intelligent monkey. He gave
one about the same impression as would
a boy OF IA who was thoroughly convinc d
he knew more than his father. General
Pho del Pillar, the extremely active COM
mander OF the insurgents in the L1gunl
district, is a cousin CT Gregorio. though not
so mixed in blood. and before the war wa )
only a waiter, or muchacho, at the English
hotel IN Manila pafpr, Tho C,,tbr-o1- - .Lo
insurrection l met Gregorio at a ball given
on New Years eve at the Filipino club.
which was attended by tho wealthy and
prominent mostizos Of Manila, and he gave
me the same impression Of being a mere
boy with the 'smarties' at that time.
Ran Into an Ambuscndc.
at was one day near the end of April that
a accommodating force, near the Bag Bag
river, ran into an ambuscade and was fired
upon by a strong body of Fllipinos in
trenches on both TANKS and in front. Here
Stotsenberg fell. and with him many others.
but the boys CALAMITY held their own even
against a greatly superior force. This was
what Pillar boosted to me about at San
Isidro a month later.
"Our column pushed steadily to the north,
about twenty miles east of the railroad. and
parallel with it, for six weeks, constantly
driving Pillar. We would have covered the
sixty miles in less than half the time il
Otis had let us go ahead. but we frittercd
away valuable time under orders from
headquarters, thus giving the enemy timp
to construct new entertainments fer US 10
attack at every advance. The volunteers
so d~cspised the insurgents and had such an
utter contempt for the fighting qualities o.
the Filipinos that they did not hesitate to
assault any position, no matter how strong
CT how many OF the enemy occupied It.
Twenty-Five times our column struck Pillar
and drove him back, and several Of those
times less than thirty men routed his whole
army.
This feat was accomplished by Lawton's
scouts, a small body of volunteers under the
command CT w. II. Young, a civilian. At
San Ildefonso Pillar had 1900 men in a
strong position, apparently a task for our
whole column OF 5000 men, but twenty-S.x
scouts went out before daylight one morn
ing and BY 10 o'clock the whole of Pillars
army was on the run. The scouts were sup
ported by one company Of the Oregons and
one of the Minnesotas, but the support was
well in the rear under cover and did not
fire "A shot. Keeping we'll screened by the
tall grass and brush the scouts maintained
a sharpshooting fire upon the Filipinos line
for several hours, first attacking their right,
then the center and then the left, working
backward and forward along the line and
drawing the fire Of the whole Filipino force.
The noise OF the guns was as great as that
OF any battle ! have heard, yet the FilipinOs
were simply wasting the thousands of bull
lets they fired at random in the direction of
their handful OF concealed assailants. who.
on the contrary. took deliberate aim and
never fired a shot without a good mark TO
shoot at. Finally, utterly demoralized.
Pillars army abandoned its position and fell
beck seven miles to San Miguel. Young's
scouts followed and renewed the attack,
pursuing the same tactics, and before night
Pillar evacuated the town and Lawton's
scouts occupied it, followed soon by the
whole of General Summers brigade. Near
the bridge in San Miguel Young was shot
in the leg and died the next day.
Daring ana Brilliant Feat.
THE capture of the burning bridge at
Tarbon a few days later was even a moro
daring and brilliant feat at arms. The scouts