The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-02-23
GENERAL GREGORI0
DEL PILLARS DEATH.
A Grim Yet Moving Picture OF war
A Filipino Who Died for His Coun-
try. The Most Glorious
Moment" of His Life.

trv, The Most Glorious
Moment of His Life.
worry strong and moving description
of the engagement in l-uZon iast DeceAh-
her in which the young ana talented
E;Idn;no notriot. General Gregorao del
Pillar was killed. has been lately printed
IN tho Chicago Sunday Tribune. The
wr;ter of this realistic picture of war
Is Richard Henry Little, the Tribunes
reo,tIar CORRESPONDENT. who was with the
battaliom of the Thirty-third volunteers
infantry that won the mountainous pass
whore Pillar fell Aguinaldo was being
botly pursued by the Americans. and
General Pillar with 80 Filipino soldiers,
was irving to hold Tilad pass IN order
70 facilitate Aguinaldo's retreat Taking
M Mr.. Little's story in the midst or the
tight. one reads:
How the first man got on top OF thai
cliff. Tcmpkins says he doesn't know
They had reached its base and were look
ing up. wondering how to reach the top
thirty feet above them, when suddenly
they saw two insurgents peering over
the top, looking straight down at them.
There was no way Of escape for the
company. The insurgents could have
crushed them with rocks before they had
retreated twenty yards. Boys" yelled
Tompkins. get up that cliff. For Gods
sake. men. climb as YOU never climbed
before
and" said Tompkins afterward. Il
am ready to believe the Darwinian the
ory now. You ought to have seen those
monkeys of mine climb" They threw
themselves against that wall like Wild
beasts. They gouged cut rocks and earth
with their fingers and planted their fee;
in the holes. They caught at bushes
with their teeth. they ding their nails into
the clefts of the rock and they got to
the top The first men tore up blan-
ket that some one had carried up that
terrible climb They tore it into strips,
and knotted the pieces and threw them
down to the men below. Finally the
whole company had reached the top.
| The men took shelter behind rocks.
| and without Il moment, even for gaining
breath. opened up on the insurgents be-
| low them. The insurgents seemed dazed.
| and hardly knew what to do. The two
| who had looked over the precipice and
APPARENTLY run away in terror without
| notifying their comrades that the Aneri-
cans were uron them. The men in the
| trenches finally began TO fire at the
! Americans. but the latter were now pro
| tected by the cloud, and the insurgents
| fire went wild. The inSIlrrectos began 10
| run blindly up the trail. Some threw
! themselves over the edge of the cliff.
and escaped by working down into clefts
| in the rock. or reaching the shelter of a
dense growth of bushes of bamboo. Pillar.
! on his horse. was the last to leave the
trench. Company II could hear him
calling to his men TO stop running.
| ALTO, Alto!' he screamed. and some OF
| his men paused. only 10 he shot down
| in their tracks by the merciless fire
| from the cliff. Pilar galloped away up
| the trail. Corporal Perry. the best shot
! in the regiment, looked at Lieutenant
| True
Il can get him." he said. We'll. ge,
| him. shouted the lieutenant. Perry
slowly tinkered with the sights on his
| rifle.
81 guess it must be somewhere bout
| $50 yards" he said.
Are you going to shoot or not?" yelled
| Lieutenant True
| Whats that said Perry, slowly.
Il said, Are You going TO shoot or not
| That man is reforming his mon. and they
are going to kill some of u.s."
oh" said Perry, II didn't hear what
you all said. / guess it mast be 700 yards
| by this time" and he showed his sight
higher.
Still be two miles," howled the wrath
ful lieutenant, as he lodged bullet that
popped close to his head. "Shof, or I'll
have you court-martialed
The lieutenahtis remark stopped at the
crack of Pelry's rife. The man ON horse
back had thrown mp his hands and was
swinging in his saddle. Then he dropped
heavily to the trail and his horse gal
Hoped riderless up the mountain side.
Perry patted his rifle affectionately.
Il done got i'm, lieutenant he said
when are you going to do that court
maftialing?"
We went ON mp the mountain side. At
ter III company had driven the insurgents
out of their second position and killed
Pillar the other companies had rushed
straight up the trail and never stopped
until they were far UP above the clouds
and there was mo longer an i1lsurgent in
sight. As we went up the trail we passed
dead Filipino soldiers. We counted ten
i'll adj. Some had been shot several times
We found bloody trails that led to places
on the edge of the cliffs, where wourSled
men had either jumped or fallen off We
passed the second entrenchment high IND
ON the trail. 1t was built of heavy rocks
we'll banked with earth. Just past this
few hundred yards we saw solitary
body lying in the road. The body was
almost stripped of clothing and there We're
10 marks of rank left on the blood
soaked coat. But the face of the dead
man had look had never noticed ON
the faces CIT the other dead men l had
found in insurgent uniforms on the field
Of battle i'm the wake of an American
firing line. The features were clean: cut
and the forehead high and shapely. j
decided the man must have been an ins1lr-
gent officer. A soldier came RUNNING
down the trail. That's old Pillar he
said. I'VE got the old rascal. l guess
he's sorry he ever went up against the
33rd.'
There amt no doubt about its being
Pillar" ratified on the young soldier.
We got his diary and his letters. and ali
his papers, and Sullivan of our company'e
got his pants, and Finders got his shoes,
but he can't wear them because they're
too small, and a sergeant in q company