Omaha daily bee., 1899-12-03

A Nebraska Boy Who
Fought with Dewey
December 8, 1899.

Lieutenant Arthur Kavanaugk o, the navy,
who served with Dewey on the Olympia
during the battle of Manila, is a native of
Nebraska, his parent1 residing in Johnson
county, from where he appointed a
cadet in the Naval academy in 1890. He is
now % years of age. He 81 aduated from the
Tecumseh High school and from there went
to the State university at Lincoln, which
school he left to enter the Naval academy.
After a four years course in 1894 he went
on two years cruise on the Cincinnati.
Returning from this cruise he resumed his
studieu at Annapolis graduating from the
completed course at the head of his class.
His first assignment to service was on board
the battleship Oregon. In March, 1897, he
was detached with seventy men TO reinforce
the Asiatic squadron, being assigned to the
Olympia, on which vessel he served until
its return from Manila with Admiral Dewey.
He held the rank of ensign on board the
Olympia, but was promoted to his present
position for gallant conduct in the battle
OF Manila bay and tho subsequent opera
tions OF the fleet in these waters.
His return to his home town of Tecumseh
was signalzed the 21st of November by a
reception such any man might be proud Of
In addition to words of praise his fellow
townspeopl0 presented him with a beautiful
sword as reminder Of the appreciation in
which he is held
Personally, he is bright, as is evidenced
by his graduation at the head of his class,
which is no small achievement in view of
the many bright men in the academy. Phys
isally he is an athlete. He captained the
foot ball team of the Naval academy one
year during his stay there, winning from
West Point.
The lieutenant's descriptions of the battle
are decidedly stirring and interesting He
speaks in the highest terms of Dewey, says
that he was very cool in the time of action
and that. although he is a strict disciple
marian on shipboard he is also pleasant and
cordial to his officers and men. Speaking of
the war in the Philippines as whole, the
lieutenant says:
There seems to be some opposition to the
war at home, but to anyone fairly we'll ac-
quainted with the conditions in the Philip
pines this opposition seems most absurd. We
have long had strong following in the
islands, and had it not been for the fact that
we occupied so little territory previous to
February this following would have been in
evidence all along through this campaign. The
insurgent government used every means to
arouse the natives against Americans before
February 4. No falSehood was too vile for
them to circulate. The smarter FIlipinos,
who were not deceived by these lies, were
intimidated into opposition to us by the Kat
ipunan agents with their deadly bolos.
Il know perfectly well what the state of
feeling was from my intercourse with the ma
tives only. For my part l like the natives
intensely and in all sincerity wish for their
welfare, but it would be blindness not to see
that their present efforts to attain a So
called independence are a mistake. The end
Of it all, if we persevere in our present
course, will be that these Filipinos will come
to like us and will not be difficult to man
age. The greater part of the natives | know
peacefully inclined and deplore the con-
fict with us.
Race hatred is the most striking of the
characteristics of the natives, especially
against different clans of the same island or
group. This is one reason why in my
opinion, republic is impossible. Not to
mention the various minor internecine feuds
two great opposing people confront each
other at present in the archipelago-the
Christians in the north and the Moros in the