The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-01-08
STORY OF LIEUT.. GILMORE
HE SUFFERED WFUL H1RDSHIPS WHILE PRISONER OFFILIPINOS.

AguimaQdo Showed Kindness but Gen.
 Tino Was Extremely Bruta1-Threat-
 ened to Shoot Anyone Who Gave Food
 to Americans-Lieutcna Stricken
 With Disease-CompeIIed to Live on
 Horsef1rsh.
 Manila, Jan. T, S:30 p. m.--Lieutenant J. c. Gilmore of the United States gum boat Yorktown, who was captured by the insurgents last April near Baler, on the east coast of Luzon and res- cued few days ago by Colonel Luther R.. Hare of the Thirty third volunteer infantry, sat to-day in the apartments of his sister, Mrs. Major Price. at the Hotel Oriente, in Manila, and told a remarkable story of his eight months in captivity ending with his dramatic de- liverance from death that seemed in evitable The steamer Venus came into the harbor last evening from V1gan, province of South Ilocos, with Lieuten- ant Gilmore and nineteen other Amer ican prisoners, including seven of his sailors from the Yorktown. Lieutenant Gilmore. after reporting, came ashore and hobbled along with the aid of cane, to the Hotel Oriente, where Amer ican officers and ladies were waltzing through the halls to the strains of "Agiunaldo's March,"
 Weak and Nervous.
 Although tanned and ruddy from eX- posture, he is weak and nervous, show ing the results of long hardships He speaks warmly of Aguinaldo and very bitterly against General Tino, declaring that while in the formers jurisdiction he was treated splendidly, but that af- ter he fell into Tino's hands he suffered 1 everything. Colonel Hare and Lienten- | ant Colonel Howze, the latter of the | Thirty fourth volunteer infantry, res cued Gillmore's party on December IS near the headwaters of the Abalut riv- er after they had been abandoned by 1 the Filipinos and were expecting death from the savage tribes around them ] When the rescuing force reached them | they were nearly starved, but were building rafts in the hope of getting | down the river to the coast.
 | GiIImore's sRemnrkable Story. 1 Lieutenant Gilmore made the follow | ing statement to a correspondent of the | Associated Press: "The Filipinos aban- | doned us on the night of December 16. 1 We had reached the Abalut river near 1 it's source that morning and the Fii- pinos rafted us over. We then went down the stream, along a rough trail, guarded by a company of Filipinos. That night we were separated from this guard, and another company armed with Mausers put in charge of us. suspected something and questioned the lieutenant in command. He said: T have orders from General Tino to shoot you all, but my conscience for bids. I shall leave you here
 Left Alone.
 q begged him for two rifles to protect us from savages, adding that I would give him letters to he Americans who would pay him well and keep him from all harm. He refused this however, saying that he would not dare to com ply. Soon afterwards he left with his company
 Ina Trying Plight.
 We had seen some savages in war paint around us and we prepared to fight them with cobblestones, the only weapon that was available to us. The next morning we followed the trail of the Filipino soldiers, feeling that it was better to stick to them than to be murdered by savages, but we could not catch up with them. Then I ordered the men to build rafts, with the hope of floating down the river It was a forlorn hope, but I knew the river must empty into the sea somewhere. I was so weak myself that I did not expect to get out, but I thought some of the men could.
 Rescue of the Party. "On the morning of December IS | while we were working on the rafts the Americans came towards us yelling. | One of my men shouted They are on | us.' He was flashing a raft of bam- boos. l. however, knew it was not the yell of savages, but the yell of Ameri- cans. The rescuing troops thought we had Filipino guards and called on us in English to lie down, so that they could | shoot the Filpinos. That was the fin est body of officers and men I ever saw"
 PeriIOus Raft Journey.
 Lieutenant Gilmore could not speak eHLHuSldSllcdLy SHOuSH dDOuL the l4U picked men who had rescued him and his party. The command spent the day in making rafts Colonel Hare thought Lieutenant Gilmore too weak to live through the trip, but there was no all formative. They shot many rapids, the men losing all their effects and Lieuten- ant Gilmore some valuable papers. Only fourteen out of thirty-seven sur vived the first nights experiences and eighty men were practically unable 10 walk when Vigan was reached
 Lived Horse Flesh. Y Describing the flight from Benguet when the Americans approached, Lieu tenant Gilmore said: "The Filipinos, terrified, left Benguet on December '. They hurried the prison CTS from town to town, often retracing the trail, not knowing where the Amer jeans would attack. After being almost without food for three days they killed several horses and we lived on horse flesh for several days. 1 did not have a full meal from December until 1 reached Vigan. Indeed, the rescuing ,, party lived largely upon rice without salt. There was one day when I was '. reduced to chewing grass and bark.