Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-11-23
Circumstantial Rumors Regarding
Aguinaldo's Fate.
TRIAS NOW COMMANDER IN CHIEF
Details Of the Brave Fight Of Cap
tain Shields.
NAIL NEWS FROM MANILA

The latest mail from Manila received at
the War Department brings an interesting
budget of news from the Islands, some or
which has heretofore been touched on in
press dispatches, but without any great
amount of detail The Manila papers of
October IS devote considerable space to a
renewal of the report concerning Aguinal-
dos death In northern Luzon. They say
that the circumstantial character of that
report, together with the fact that Gen.
Trias has been recently signing himself
"commander-in-chef of the insurgent
forces lends strong color to the belief that
Aguinaldo may be dead after ALL The
latest account in that line comes from
Nueva Ecija, in northern Luzon, where, In
an outpost skirmish, Aguinaldos horse was
killed and his saddle bags, with number
of personal papers, were captured.
1t seems that a non-commissioned officer
at that place had gained the confidence of
a native woman, Maria Ramirez, wife of
general on AguinaIdo's staff. Owing to her
relations with the sergeant in question he
was able to obtain considerable informa-
| tion as to the movements of the insurgents,
| much of which had proved to be correct.
The woman Ramirez told him that In the
fight at Nueva Ecija, Aguinaldo was shot
from his horse and severely wounded. He
gle, and subsequently was reported to be
i'll with fever His body was afterward
carried down the river raft, slung in
! hammock and completely covered with
palm leaves, but the natives who saw the
passage of the raft were uncertain whether
he was dead alive.
| This, together with the claims Of Trias
and others of the insurgent generals to the
chief command of the army led the local
Manila papers to give considerable ere
dence to the story Of his death.
Activity of the Missionaries.
Missionary activity in the Philippines is
| indicated by a recent report received at
the War Department, which says that Rev.
J. c. Goodrich, the agent of the American
| Bible Society in Manila, has established
headquarters there and is busiIy engaged
| In distributing the Scriptures in native dia-
| lect among the various islands. A thou
sand copies of the gospel according to St.
Matthew, translated into Tagalo. have al
ready been distributed. DR.. Goodrich is
now working on other translations of the
gospels into Visayan Cebue- Visayan, Illo-
| cano and Pampango. The natives said
to receive reading matter of that sort with
great eagerness.
Capt. Shields Brave Fight.
! Mail advices from Manila give in consid-
| cradle detail the story of the rescue Of
| Captain Shields and fifty men of the 10Th
l
| gents in Martinique. The fight that Cap
! tain Shields and his party put up against
| an overwhelming force is declared to have
been one of the most brilliant incidents in
| the history of bush fighting in the archi-
pelago. The fifty men in question We're
pursuing a party of insurgents of superior
! force into the mountains, when they were
| ambushed in box canyon by force of
$50 rihemen and l 800 bolo men. They
| made continuous fight for eight hOnrS
| killing large number of the insurgents.
and were overpowered only after they had
| fired their last shot and We're practically
| smothered in a hand-to-hand fight with
| their 1000 adversaries.
| Sergeants Williams and Mccarthy, who
| were In charge of some Of the wounded,
| come in for particular praise. They were
| cut off from the rest of the party during
| the retreat. and intrenched themselves on
| the hillside, where they stood off their as
| saiants for about three hours, surrendering
| only after every cartridge had been ex-
| hausted. Scarcely a man in the expedition
escaped being grazed or slightly wounded
| during the fight.
The total list of killed, amounting to only
| five, was very small. Captain Shields was
| wounded early in the fight. He continued
| to direct the onerations of the rear guard
during four miles of the retreat. but was
| finally knocked out by bullet through the
! jaw, neck and shoulder, which was thought
| at the time to be a fatal wound.
| Rescue of the Party.
| 1t Is interesting to note that the rescue of
| the party was effected by General Hare,
| who some months before. when only a
| colonel, led the party which effected the
| rescue of Lieutenant Gilmore, and the men
| from the Yorktown, after their long cap
| tivity in northern Luzon.
| Captain Shields and his men say that they
| had nothing to complain of in their treat
| ment during captivity. MaXimo Abad was
| the insurgent in command, and in response
| to Captain Shields request allowed some of
| his men to obtain medicines and dressings
/ for the wounded soldiers. The release of
| the party seems to have been due in some
| part to the object lesson which General
Hare gave to Lieutenant Gillmore's captors
| during the long and persistent chase
| through the almost impossible mountains
| of the northern districts