The Delta independent., 1899-12-08
An Act Of BrnveFy.

An Act of bravery.
A fresh story of a naval onicer's
courage in the Philippines is brought
20 Washington by Surgeon Stone, late
OF the Bennington. vino is now in the
city. says the Washington Star. Its
hero is Lieut.. Emory Winship. also OF
the Bennington. and now on leave In
this country recovering from the effects
OF i've Aauser bullets gathered in vari-
GUS parts Of his anatomy while saving
a landing party Of 1875 men from being
cut up by a regiment Of Filipinos. Win
ships exploit dates back to last March,
but 1t is characterized by those who
saw 1t as the equal of anything done
by Ensign Davis OF the Helena. who
took machine gun ashore early In
February and fought with the land
forces in the battle OF Caloocan and
the vicinity. 1t will be remem bered
that Ensign Davis and his gun played
an important part in capturing half
dozen Filipino positions. and that he
was subsequently advanced ten num-
bers In his grade on recommendations
OF Gems. Qtis and Macarthur and of
Admiral Dewey. Winship has been ad-
vanced from assistant engineer to lieu
tenant, and At last accounts had got
rid OF all but two Of his Mauser SOU
venirs. 1t happened shortly after the
bombardment OF Nalabon, about March
s,that Admiral Dewey expressed = wish
for some photographs Of the earth
works and houses that had been struck
By the ten-inch shells from the Mon
adnock. Commander Tausig said that
II he wers allowed to land few boat
loads Of men he could get all ths pho
tosraphs wanted. 1t was believed At
that time that the hostiles had all va
Gated that part Of the shore. 70 permis-
sioa was given to land . party. Sew
eral boats with between 125 and $50
men started ashore and ON landing
made for an old church which was the
chief object Of interest A false idea
Of security led them to advance very
carelessly. throwing out NO advance
and taking nothing but their side
arms. Only . boat guard Of two men
under Winship was left to keep up
steam In the launch which had towed
In the landing party, but fortunately
the launch had . small automatic gun
mounted forward and Winship was
we'll acquainted with its working. The
landing party had gone inland some
little distance. when they were sur
prised by . whole regiment Of Fill
pinoe, who suddenly appeared out Of
the jungle. The natives advanced on
the run, shooting wild, but confident
Of cutting OF the whole party. Those
ashore expected little else. but seeing It
was . case Of foot race or = funeral.
they doubled back for the boats. yell
ing Justify. That was where Winship
came ON in . star part. He unlim-
bered his machine gun on the Fflipi-
nos, calculating closely. 80 A. not to
enAlade his own comrades. It was
practically one man against q thou
sand and the natives came on with .
rush, hoping to put the lone gunner
out of action before his fellows could
reach the launch. Winship received
the bulk Of their nre, thereby also con-
tributing to the safety Of the landing
party. and he stood up to his work. Ho
WIS StIuCA uVC ohSc lu lue
shoulder, the arm. the hip and twice
in the leg. He braced himself and
continued to train the gun while his
omen fed 1t ammunition. Thirty Fill
ipinos dropped unde: his fire before
the little Jungle men decided they had
enough. Their rush was checked and
then they ran. pursued by the relent-
less FIRE of Winships lone gun. The
ret-eating boat crews reached the
shore just in time to see Winship sink
down in the bow Of the launch. Tis
closest estimate that could be made
of the enemy's loss was abou: sixty
killed and wounded. Commander
Tansig said that but for Winship the
entire landing party would have bee3
cut on. The young assistant engineer
was taken back to the Bennington.
where he was patched up temporarily
and subsequently sent back to Wash
inzton, where he passed his examina-
tIun for promotion with two Mauser
bnlie.s stiJl In him. But the exam
ininx board said they did not seem to
disasree with hin at all.