The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-04-23

| fore discovering his error. He then turned
| around and marched back again to bunllu-
| pihan. The natives along the road evil
IDENTIFY knew of his predicament, for they
were sullen and surly, and Stamford was
convinced that they would destroy the
| lines he had that day constructed as soon
as he was out of sight. So at the hamlet
of Hermosa he stopped his ten men and
| called for the mayor.
| III l find my wires have been cut or
| tempered with said the lieutenant, I'm
| burn down your whole village when come
through here tomorrow"
The threat worked. and the wire was not
| molested Such threats sometimes work
: pretty well. Here is another instance.
Two Signal Corps men were captured and
held prisoners in the woods not far from
small town garrisoned by our troops; the
| mayor of this town was loud and cringing
| in his protestations Of adherence and 10y
| atty to our forces. Still, some men doubted
| his disinterested sincerity. He was sent
| for and told that if the two captured sig
| nalmen were not set at liberty in twenty
| four hours his town would be burned and
he himself would be killed. He protested
his ignorance of the rebels whereabouts,
that he could not communicate with them
and that they would surely kill him if he
yentured into the brush. But, just the
same, the two men were in camp within
the twenty four hours time specified to
his honor the mayor.
with Grants Column.
After General Grant had taken the town
of olangapo and Subig, on Subig Bay, Lieu
tenant Stamford went out from Manila TO
establish telegraph line between Subig
and Iba, a town forty miles up the coast,
occupied and defended by Gen. A. S. Burt
and the Twenty-fifth Infantry. Stamford
started out to do this work without any
wire. depending on wrapped cannons, old
Spanish lines, and what he could capture
from the enemy until his proper supplies
came from Manila He found enough TO
keep his men busy during this interim. at
this time the insurgents were reoccupying
towns the American troops had previously
held in that vicinity with forces of from
two hundred to four hundred men. and
were thick all along Stamford's route.
Captain Leonheauser, OF the Twenty-ifth
Regiment, realized Lieutenant Stamford's
danger if he should go out with his Gus
tomary ten men, and allotted him a guard
of thirty-two men from his regiment. With
these and his ten bullock carts loaded with
supplies and his Macabebe laborers SIAM
ford had a fair sized party for the con-
struction of this Subig-lba line. The line
was rapidly constructed from Subig TO
Castellejos, TO San Marcelino. and 10 San
Narcissus; here one evening after a hard
days work the rebels in force attacked the
Signal Corps detachment, and there was
hard fight of three hours before the enemy
had had enough. In this fight our men
were much Handicapped and disheartened
by their defective Krag- Jorgensen am
munition.
On the Subig-Iba trail, about three miles
out OF Subig there is a deep and narrow
cut in the rocks, commanded by the sur
rounding hills, and through this cut runs
the trail. 1t was here that Lieutenant
Schenck, of the Twenty-fifth, was am
pushed and killed, and the spot is popular
with lurking bands of rebels. Coming |
through this pass soon after his San Mar |
cissus fight. Stamford's party was ambush |
ed by the insurgents. The enemy had the |
tops OF this cut lined with heavy timbers |
and rocks ready to roll down on our men |
when they were in the pass, and when they |
opened fire from behind these projections |
their rifles were SO c use that the powder !
burned our men on the faces and hands.
These are but a few of the features OF
the work of establishing that 1851 miles |
of telegraph wire. Such occurrences could |
be multiplied without end.
Other Signal Corps details in other parts
OF the island here had similar experiences. |
Lieutenant Stamford's work around Orani
and Subig is taken as an example OF the |
whole. And the Signal Corps has lost two
men killed and six wounded and taken
prisoner, so the danger is not fanciful or
unreal.
Spreading n Network of Lines.
There is a commercial cable from Ma
Mia to uoilo on Panay, from noilo to Ne
gros Island and from Negros to the Island |
of Cebu Our wires in these Visayan |
islands amount TO 100 miles. From Iloio |
we have a line to Capiz through the in |
terror and then down the coast back 10 |
Iloilo; on Negros we have lines north and |
south to Manalpa and mammalian re- |
spectively. On Cebu We have line from |
Cebu, the capital, to the interior of the |
town Of Karkat.
Not far from Cebu are the islands of |
Samar and Leyte, recently occupied by the |
Forty-third under Colonel Murray; these |
latter islands will be placed in communi- |
cation with Manila by running a cable |
from Cebu to the Island Of Bohul, then a !
land wire across Bohul, again a cable to
Leyte and land wires 10 the principal /
towns thereon. From Leyte the line will
get to Samar by cable across the narrow
straits of San Juanito. and In Samar it
will run as far north as the town OF |
This new branch will be about |
$50 miles long.
With the idea of eventually placing the
Island Of Mindanao in communication with
the corps headquarters in Manila, a cable
will be laid from the southern end of
Cebu Island TO the northern shore of
Nindanao; from those landing points on
wires will be run TO Cottabatto,
Iligan Misamia and Nakajalar Bay; this
projection will require about 200 more
miles of wire.
There are .i31 miles of wire on Luzon,
and the island is thoroughly well covered;
from the twelve trunk lines there are
many ramifications running into practi-
cally every town where we have garrisons. |
Going south from Manila our lines entered
well into Taybas and Laguna provinces.
This southern line will be soon extended |
through the Camarines provinces north
and south and into Nueve Caceres, Abbay,
Legaspi, and Sorsoson, on the southern
end of Luzon. From Manila north the
long line OF the Cagyan Valley will soon
be completed, and then APART on the ex-
IRENE northern coast of Luzon will be in
Another line up the west
srn coast of the island already extends as
Tar north as the town of Laoag. In Ma
lila itself the Signal Corps operates local
system of wires for the use of the several
governmental departments here located, as
we'll as an official telephone system.
The Signal Corps has had and is still
having much difficulty in securing good
operators. A good operator can
10 pretty well at home, and this service
n the Philippines is not attractive enough
o draw good men from positions in the
United States.