The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-03-25
4 FILIPINO TOWN.
Bargaining With the Natives-Buriai Of a
Soldter-The Padre.


MANILA. Jan. 10 We spent one day in indian
30 rest sad breathe and lie, the iniantry.catch up
-Four troops with the picked horses Of the com
mnnd went out scouting, but the rest Of us sat
around trying 10 get the wild scramble across
from Binan back into focus Curry came In
early with his pack train. When his mule fell
at the fearful gorge and broke it's neck be
wouldn't leave the pack. and II took him two
hours and more To get it to the top and res'owed
on q spare mule. Then II was dark and he didn't
know where To 60 So he hauled out Of the trail
onto the highest ground he could find and made
camp They built up q lot OF fres and kept the
bell ringing all night and Just let on that they
were IA whole lot stronger than they were, for
the benefit Of any struggling insurgent who
might think that was a good chance for some
bush whacking
indian is q fair sample Of Filipino towns The
buildings were mostly Of nipa palm, kept out of
repair perhaps by the exigencies Of war. but all
are poor and small. Along the principal street
a few are Of wood, but they are ramshackle
tumbledowns. The blight that ruined the once
prosperous coffee culture Of that part Of 'avite
province seems to have fallen on the houses Of
indian also But there stands the great church
with heinevitabl e convent, typical Of all the Philip
pines. The frars buildcd their temporal houses
we'll, but they did not use them as models Tor
their other structures, Tho indian convent
was in use as an insurgent hospital Some
forty patients were in 1t when we came. The
little medico In charge s,rutted around in the
uniform Of a Major In one OF the back rooms
were piles of records Of the insurgent hospital
Al San Francisco de Malabon, and in some Of them
there were Interesting disclosures. II will be
remembered that when I.awton started into Cayite
province, in June Of last year, on the campaign
that led TO the fight a. the Zapote River, he had
a couple Of skirmishes on the first day in which
sixteen OF eighteen OF our men were wounded.
These hospital records showed that the battalions
Trias, Noriel and Cayite were engaged on that
day and that more than $50 wounded men were
received at the hospital after those skirmishea
In the middle OF the morning ] went down the
road beyond the town for half a mile or - Ia see
II ! could not buy some eggs and chickens |
got a pass from the Colonel for three NATIVES +"
the road made q turn so that TO go further would
take me out Of sight OF our outpost. ! stopped and
and conditions OF natives crowded around and
assured me that they were all very poor. How
ever, very few Of them cared TO undertake 10 find
eggs or catch chickens for me Only the boys
went of and presently came back with good sized
bundles The three or four bngh, new copper
scramble In the crowd Of children as you can get
UP among the children Of a lot OF storage passen
gers on an Immigrant ship Finally a woman
she vet up a wall that could be heard in the town.
But other women set of Immediately and soon !
had several dozen at that pnce 4 woman came
! said no, she calmly caught another that was
running about. the road and put that with the
three. She was more than pleased with the
Three boys carried all the plumber back To town
for me One ragged little fellow ranged along
side Of me and looked up With a grin "Ameri,
asked why. "Mucho valiente." he said. ! said
the Tagals were mucho bueno also, and We would
all be good friends before long. He grinned
los Indioe, wucho cure" and he laughed so hard
that the bundle Of grass fell of his head and he
nearly dropped the eggs irving TO pick i, up
been killed in the brush Of the evening before
In the tumble down chapel at the gate OF the old
Campo Santo they found a box that would do for
u coffin. Six men carried il down through the
street draped with the headquarters flag, the
dead mans hat resting on H. In the little pro
oession that followed the Colonel and half a dozen
far wall OF the Campo Santo the grave had been
dug. When the body had been lowered into the
grave an officer stepped to its head and said
10 give our comrade such a funeral as We would
have liked TO give him. Let us repeat the Lord )
Prayer.
the officer through the prayer. A corporal $
squad stood a. the side Of the grave.
Load" said the corporal. Aim FIRE" Twice
more he gave the ommAnds and each time the
bullets crashed clear through the stone wall at
the other side Of the holy field, Then taps sounded
and Private Freeman was mustered out
The fat round Filipino padre al the convent
was the biggest bulk of densest ignorance SO far
as affairs Of the insurgents were concerned that
We had met lie announced to me that IL was
Il day oi great blessing when the Americans came
10 indian because the insurgents were great rob.
bers and utterly unprinCipled wre,ches. But
when the boxes, with 5000 of their money were
found in one Of his back rooms he made no delay
in declaring that the money was his own. The
fine pony in his back yard was his, he said when
there was an inquiry as 10 which Of the insur
gents had ownedit But when I asked him for rage
for The ponies that frs, night he said he had none,
a. he never kept. a horse lie was the easiest
but most unskilml liar ever encountered. when
We had persuaded his boys TO let us Use the cook
house on our arrival, by the simple process Of
going in ard using IT anyhow, he came with a
protest that We were disturbing the Colonel. who
was At that minute upstairs. This was So
bald a lie that We could not refrain from telling
him so lie was n very oleaginous padre, who
undoubtedly told the truth when he said that al
though the insurgents had had their headquarters
in the building they had never disturbed him.