The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-01-08
Was Well Treated by AguinaIdO, but
Suffered I'm Many Ways Under
General Tino's Rule.
THE RESCUE BY COLONEL HARE
WARM PRAISE FOR THE MEN WHO
SAVED THE LITTLE BAND.
Nineteen Other Americans Brought in
by Relieving Party-VOyage ON
Rats on the Abalut River.

MANILA, Jan. 2, $50 p. m.-Lieut. j.
c. Gilmore, of the United States gunboat
Yorktown. who captured by the in
surgents last April, near Baler, on the
coast of Luzon and rescued few days ago
by Col. Luther r. Hare, of the Thirty
third Volunteer Infantry, sat to-day in the
apartment of his sister, Mrs. Maj. Price,
the 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
fast evening from vigan, province of South
Ilocos, with Lieutenant Gilmore and nine
teen other American prisoners. including
seven of his sailors from the Yorktown.
Lieutenant Gilmore, after reporting came
ashore and hobbled along, with the aid
of a cane, to the Hotel Orient. where
American officers and ladies were waltzing
through the halls to the strains of "Ag-
uinaldo's March," Although tanned and
ruddy from exposure. he is weak and ner-
vous. showing the results of long hard
ships. He speaks warmly of Aguinaldo,
and very bitterly against General Tino,
declaring that while in the formers juris-
| diction he was treated splendidly, but
| that after he fell into Tino's hands he
suffered everything.
Colonel Hare and Lieutenant Colonel
| Howse, the latter of the Thirty-fourth
Volunteer Infantry, rescued Gilmore's
party Dec is, near the headwaters of the
Abalut river, after they had been aban-
doned by the Fillipinos and were expecting
| death from the savage tribes around them.
When the rescuing force reached them
they nearly starved. but were build
Ing RATS in the hope Of getting down the
| river to the coast. Lieutenant Gilmore
made the following statement to a corre-
| spondent of the Associated Press:
| GILMORE'S STATEMENT.
''The Fflipinos abandoned us on the night
| of Dec. 16. We had reached the Abalut
river, near its source, that morning, and
the Filipinos RATED us over. We then went
down the stream, along a rough trail.
guarded by company Of Filipinos. That
| night we were separated from this guard.
and another company. armed with Maus-
| ers, was put in charge of us. I suspected
something and questioned the lieutenant
in command He said: L have orders from
General Tino to shoot you all, but my con-
science forbids. shall leave you here
'I begged him for two rifles to protect
us from savages, adding that would give
| him letters to the Americans who would
| pay him well and keep him from all harm.
| He refused this however, saying he would
not dare to comply. Soon afterward he
| left with his company. We had seen some
savages in war paint around us, and we
| prepared to fight them with stones, the
only weapons that were 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 muir
dered by savages, but we could not catch
UP with them. Then l ordered the men to
build RATS in the hope of floating down the
river. 1t was O forlorn hope but knew
the river must empty into the sea some
where. was so weak myself that did not
| expect to get out, but / thought some Of
| the men could.
ION the morning Of Dec is, while we
were working on the RATS, the Americans
came toward us yelling. One Of my men
| shouted They are on us He was LASH
| ing a raft of bamboos. /, however, knew
1t was not the yell of savages, but the yell
| of Americans. The rescuing troops thought
We had Filipino guards, and called to us
| in English TO lie down, so that they could
shoot the Filipinos. That was the finest
body of officers and men 1 ever saw"
Lieutenant Gilmore could not speak en-
Enthusiastically enough about the 14O picked
| men who had rescued him and his party.
The command spent the day in making
RATS. Colonel Hare thought Lieutenant
Gilmore too weak to live through the
1 frfr h,f alf
shot many rapids. the men losing all their
effects, and Lieutenant Gilmore some valu-
able papers. Only fourteen out of thirty
seven RATS survived the first nights OK
periences and eighty men were practically
unable to walk when Vigan was reached.
FLIGHT FROM BENGUET.
Describing the flight from Benguet when
the Americans appeared Lieutenant Gil
more said: 1.-The Filipinos. completely ter
riied, left Benguet Dec. Z. They hurried
the prisoners from town to town. often
retracing the trail. not knowing where the
Americans would attack. After being al
most 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 Dec. until 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.
while we were in the hands OF General
Tino's men he issued an order that any
person aiding an American by giving food
or money should be treated as a criminal
One citizen of Vigan. Senior Vera. was
probably killed for befriending us. We
would have starved but for the kindness