Virginian-pilot. (Norfolk, Va.) 1898-1911, 1900-04-10
A MASSACRE FILIPINos.

70 .
There have appeared from time to
time in the press hints and sometimes
direct assertions, that the usages of
civilized warfare have been disregarded
by American soldiers in the Philippines.
and that under the impulse of revenge
war has degenerated into butchery
Not over much credence has been given
these reports In the United States be-
cause the people have been loath to be-
lieve that under any provocation Amer
lean soldiers would engage in the wan
ton shedding of blood.
Now however, there Is one instance
so well authenticated, and given with
such circumstances and detail, that 1t
cannot be doubted. 1t is given in a
letter from an officer in the regular
army. Corporal Mygatt, of Brooklyn,
to his sister. Corporal Mygatt was a
participator in the massacre which he
describes with much particularly, and
without any apparent conjunction or
regret.
The circumstances seem to have been
that. while Corporal Mygatt and four
companions were out on an exploring
expedition, they were attacked by the
natives and only Corporal Mygatt es-
capped uninjured, two of his companions
being killed and two wounded. When
the Corporal returned to his command
Captain Cloman, of the Twenty-third
Infantry of whose company he was
member. started with detail of forty
men for Bayambing, where the Filipinos
who had made the attack were sup
posed to live. On the way the Captain
gave the following order:
Corporal IL I am hurt so that
cannot give command, want 1t uu-
derstood not Il house is to be left stand
ing. not 4 Moro alive"
When the command arrived at Bay
ambing all the male inhabitants were
rounded up and evidence against TEN
was secured. These were sent to the
woods with detail of THIRTY Amer
lean soldiers. under the pretense of
gathering wood. What followed is thus
described by Corporal Mygatt:
There they were huddled together
One of the soldiers sprang forward and
shouted:
:" L claim the first shot
You deserve It, was the answer.
Instantly his Krag- Jorgensen, filled
with bullets, began belching them into
the crowd Of unarmed natives. He had
filled the magazine of his rifle with
cartridges, filed at the end so that they
would split and spread upon striking
body. At the first crack of his soldiers
gun the guns of the twenty-nine other
men in the detail began to speak. and
200 shots were poured into the prisoners
in ten seconds.
1.-THE sergeant OF the guard who ran
out with orders from the captain to in
quire into the cause OF the shooting
went back and reported to his superior:
Sir. the prisoners tried to escape
and the guard fred"
OF such stuff Is the civilization we
are spreading in the Philippines made
OF course the soldier who filed his bull
lets did not do so for the purpose of
mutilation: he was moved only by
plous desire to hasten benevolent
assimilation" in the persons of the
"unarmed natives" Two hundred such
shots in ten seconds, from the guns of
the eager sportsmen, beyond doubt
Civilized the ten Moros who were
"huddled together" If ten Filipinos
can be assimilatcd in ten seconds, how
long will it take to assimilate 10000, 900 :?
Thereafter there would be nothing to
assimilate but earthquakes, hurricanes,
berl-beri bubonic plague and the
plaudits of an approving conscience.