Evening star., 1900-09-29
IN THE WAKE OF GILMORE
LEGION OF LIEU7ENANTes .sF'RIENDS.
DISCOVERED AMONG FILIPINOs.
His Captivity and the Subsequent
Events Basis of u Chapter Of
AMUSING Incidents.

cent date contributes the following humor-
Gus story in connection with the American
occupation OF the Philippines:
Lieutenant Gilmore should certainly add
to his story of "A Prisoner Among the Fill
pinos'' the chapter describing some OF the
events that happened in his wake. Officers
Of the Sd Cavalry and of the S3d Volunteer
Infantry could furnish him with enough
material to make another volume.
After we left the town of Namigpacan, on
the west coast Of Luzon, and marched
north along the coast road on the double
trail Of Gilmore and Aguinaldo we were
always running into letters and messages
that Gilmore and his men had left behind
or else see their names scrawled on the
walls of churches and jails
We came to expect a Gilmore letter in
every town we entered The letters were
much alike. They invariably asked the
American troops, who will in time come TO
this town." to treat the person named IN
the letter with the most distinguished con-
sideration, as "he has given us food when
we were hungry and money out of his own
pocket and showed us every kindness
The cavalry troop in advance feeling eau
tiously along to see whether or not we
would have to fight to gain possession OF
the place, would send back word that a
large force Of natives seemed to be gathered
in the road outside of the town, but there
did not appear to be any arms among them
clined. Then the column would keep on
marching straight down the road until We
could see some pompous-looklng man ad-
vancing toward us with a letter stuck on
long bamboo fishpole and waved high in the
air.
There comes the feller that fed Gilmore
when. he was hungry and gave him money
out of his own pocket" some soldier would
remark. wonder if he's got any more
money in his pocket for another poor man."
The pompous man with the letter would
come toward us waving the letter on the
fishpole and shouting viva, viva, braves
Americanos." He would invariably be fol-
lowed by large retinue of retainers and
sometimes escorted by a band Back in
obscure corners or hiding in the paddy fields
there would be another large gathering Of
native citizens who shivered with fright
as we drew near.
The Talismanic Letter.
We always called the people who attend
ed the man with the letter the "Gillmore-
ites," as they counted upon their relation
ship or friendship with the pompous man
who bore the talismanic letter as a guar
antee that no harm would be shown to
them The miserable citizens in the rice
fields were those who could not claim
friendship with the pompous man and
therefore did not come under the mystic
guardianship If the mystic letter. We
called them the anti-Gllmoreites.
The pompous man would extend the fish
pole to the commanding officer Of the col
umn, who became well acquainted with
their contents that he would merely wave
1t aside and say:
"Oh, yes, that's all right You were good
to Lieut.. Gilmore. All right. Then he
would shake hands with the pompous man
and his retinue.
The strange power the letter had of MAX
ing its contents known to the American
soldiers without being opened and read
gave 1t an even greater hold on the venera
ton of the Filipinos, and they would re-
gard 1t with he most reverential awe.
After the usual exchange of greetings we
would enter the town escorted by the Gill
moreites bearing the letter before them,
while the anti-Gillmoreites would sneak
cautiously along in the rear content if
they could only fix their eyes now and then
on the talisman swaying back and forth on
the fish pole. In the town the man who
had fed Lieut.. Gilmore when he was hum
gry, as he was sometimes called, al
though he was usually known to the SOL
ders simply as Gilmore" would take US
to where Lieut.. Gilmore had slept while a
prisoner In that particular town. One man
had the venerated spot marked off with
rope and no profane foot was permitted to
step in It, The "Gillmores' would also
show where the lieutenant had walked
when he exercised in the town, where he
had purchased rice or sugar. told us to
whom he had talked and brought the peo-
pie who had actually spoken to las
grande Americana" so that we might
know who they were and fttingly reward
tnem IL we saw mt.
1 regret to say that in only a few in
stances did we see fit We were willing
enough, but there was hardly enough
money In the whole outfit. except what lit
tie the general had, to have paid the lieu
tenants board a single week at any of the
houses where he had been kept during the
time he had been a prisoner along the
coast road. Still we urged the men who
owned the Gilmore letters to hang on to
them, as some day an American force
might come along with more money than
We happened to have, and then they could
be rewarded according to their deserts.
The Soldier Idea.
1t was hardly necessary to urge any Of
the Filipinos to preserve the letters given
them by 'Senor Gilmore" They trembled
every moment the precious letters were out
of their hands, and when they received
them back they would clutch them as
eagerly as a miser clutching his gold.
The only unpleasant feature of the GILL
more letters was that some Of the soldiers
In the relief expedition conceived the idea
of paying their debts for food secured from
the natives by leaving similar letters to the
ones Gillmire and his party had left and as
suring the Filipinos that when the letters
were presented to the next body of Ameri-
can troops that came they would pay the
bill three or four times over.
We followed in the wake Of a scouting
party that had been sent out two or three
days previously and we turned up the fol-
lowing remarkable missive that was carried
out to us upon our approach as proudly as
the Gilmore letters were brought out of
the bigger towns:
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o- -o-o-o-o-o-o--o--