The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-01-08


and His Men Shot, but the COM
mander of the Guard Refused to
Execute the Sentence - Rescue
Came When the Americans Were
u Starving and When Hope of
Reaching the Lines of Gen. Otis
Had Been Almost Abandoned-Re-
turn Trip FuIE> of Peril and Hard
ship-BattIe Near linus in Which
Roth Sides Lost.
N MANILA, Jan. Lieut.. ]. C. Gilmore,
5s4f the United States gunboat Yorktown,
gwho was captured by the insurgents last
April near Baler on the east coast Of
Luzon and released a few days ago by
Col. Luther R. Hare of the Thirty-third
volunteer infantry, sat today in the apart
ment of his sister, Mrs Ma Price, at the
Hotel Oriente, in Manila, and told a re-
markable story of his eight months in
captivity, ending with his dramatic de-
liverance from the death that seemed to
be inevitable.
The steamer Venus came into the har-
Dor last evening from Vigan, province of
South Ilocos, with Lieut.. Gilmore and
nineteen other American prisoners, in
cluding seven OF his sailors from the
h Yorktown. Lieut.. Gilmore, after report
Ing, came ashore and hobbled along with
4 the aid of a cane to the Hotel Oriente,
where American officers and ladies were
Waiting through the hall to the strains
of "Aguinaldo's march"
fanOnd nd r11ddV from pYnO-
sure, Lieut. Gilmore is weak and nervous
from hardships. He speaks warmly of
Aguinaldo and very bitterly against Gen.
! Tino stating that while in the formers
jurisdiction he was treated splendidly, but
that after he fell into Tines hands he
suffered everything.
Col. Hare and Lieut.. Col. Howiser, the
latter of the Thirty-fourth infantry, res
cued Gillmore's party on Dec. Is near the
headwaters of the Adult river, after they
had been abandoned by the Filipinos and
we're expecting death from the savage
tribes around them. When the rescuing
Gysorce reached them they were nearly
starved, but were building RATS in the
hope of getting down the river to the
coast.
GlLLMORE OWN oIOR1.
Lieut.. Gilmore made the following
statement to a correspondent of the AS
sociated Press:
1.-The Filipinos abandoned us on the
night of Dec. 16. We had reached the
Adult river near its source, that morning
and the Filipinos RATED 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 was put in charge of US. I sus-
pected something, and questioned the lieu
tenant in command. He said
"T have orders from Gen. Tino to shoot
you ALL but my conscience forbids. 1
sshall leave you here
'I begged him for two rifles to protect
us from savages, adding that I.would give
him letters to the Americans, who would
pay him well and keep him from all
harm He refused this, however, saying
that he would not dare to comply. Soon
after he left with his company
I'VE had seen some savages in war
paint around US, and we prepared to fight
them with cobble stones, the only
weapons that were available to US. The
next morning we followed the trail of
the Filipino soldiers, feeling that it was
Ibetter to stick to them than to be mur-
,ldered by savages, but we could not catch
t,up with them. Then I ordered the men
: to build RATS in the hope of floating down
the river 1t was a forlorn hope, but ]
ANEW the river must empty into the sea
somewhere was so weak myself that
al 4
some of the men could.
"On 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 u.s. He was lash
ing raft of bamboos. I, however, knew
1t was not the yell of savages, but the
yell of Americans. The rescuing troops
thought we were Filipino guides and
called to US in English to lie down, so
they could shoot the Filipinos That was
the finest body of officers and men that
ever saw"
Lieut.. Gilmore could not speak en-
Enthusiastically enough about the 14O picked
men, who had rescued him and his party.
HARD TRIP HOME.
The command spent the day in making
RATS. Col Hare thought Lieut.. Gilmore
too weak to live through the trip, but
there was no alternative. They shot
many rapids, the men losing all their ef-
fects, and Lieut.. Gilmore some of his
lpapers. Only fourteen out of the thirty
,Tseven RATS survived the first nights ex
I periences. and eighty men were prac-
/ tically unable to walk when Vigan was
reached.
y Describing the fight from Benguet,
when the Americans appeared, Lieut..
&Gillmore said:
1.-The Filipinos, completely terrorized,
left Benguet on Dec. 7. They hurried the
prisoners from town to town, often re-
Tracing 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
have a full meal from Dec until ]
reached Vigan In fact, the entire party
lived entirely upon rice without salt.
l~There was one day I was reduced to
chewing grass and bark.
While we were in the hands of Gen.
Tinos men, he issued an order that any
person aiding an American by food or
money should be treated as a criminal.
One citizen of Vigan, Senor Vera, was
probably killed for befriendng US. We
would have starved but for the kindness
of some of the residents of the town, and
some Of the Filipino colenels, but others
treated us hrutally. Whenever there was
p,ison We were kept there. When there
was no prison they would lodge US in q