Evening star., 1900-04-12

off, leaving nineteen dead. Our loss was
three killed and seven wounded. Belts him.
self had close call. A bolo man attacked
him in the mlx-up they were so close at
times that our men colrld not fire into them)
and took a clean swipe at him. Belts saw
him just in time to shoot. The bolo dropped
on the cylinder Of his revolver with such
force as to leave a clean cut an inch long
and an eighth of an inch deep in the steel.
You can imagine what would have hap
pened to Belts head If he hadn't got in his
shot In time. Another case was that of a
sergeant-Barton by name-who was wound
ed and on his knees trying to fire his rifle,
Wnen bohO man jumped on him. Barton
saw him in time to parry with the head
parry and caught the stroke on the stock of
his gun. the wood of which was cut through
to the barrel. This deadened the blow some
what but Barton got part of it on the
head, and the man next to him finished the
bolo man with shot.
brush With the Rebels.
This was the condition of things when
we landed. We took one day to unload our
property, and the next morning, with our
two fresh companies. l and l., and Belts
company, we started off to round up few
of our friends, leaving this place at day
light and going east along the beach. We
got our first stand within a mile of the
town, and by noon had covered good
stretch of country. and swinging around to
the south reached Albay after several little
tussels. which resulted in twenty-three dead
FilfpinoS and no casualties on our Side
which seems odd considering that it was
necessary to charge trenches more than
once. Our men had been thoroughly IN
structed in the care and use of the rifle. and
in addition to the practice on the range at
Camp Meade had had ample opport rtunity to
learn a few things during their tours of
guard duty here, and the result is manifest.
They have had so much of that sort of
thing that they are cool and collected under
fire and easily controlled.
'WhpQ reached Alhav treated
to a surprise, for we found the town in
ashes, only two buildings besides the church
standing. The insurrectos had attacked the
place in large force at L o'clock in the morn
ing and storTned the church. Capt. Simons
had his company Co we'll in hand within
the building, and drawing his outposts in
side he kept the natives busy until daylight
by firing from the tower and from the win
dows. Another force however, had gone
about the town setting fire to every build
ing, trying to burn Simons out. A number
of attempts We're made to take the church
by assault, but all were repulsed. The
leader of the Tagals here was an American.
whose voice was frequently heard urging
his men on. and who several times called
to our men in the building daring them to
come out, asking them il that was the
best you can do, &C.. &c. Simons con-
tented himself with keeping the attacking
party busy until daylight. when he took the
offensive.
bad Offensive Movement.
LOCduIS uc tooh ten IHeH
himself and sent out another squad of ten
men under his first lieutenant, Sam Riggs of
Rockville. They started out from the
| church on parallel streets leading toward
the mountains. and caught the Filipinos on
both tanks within twenty-five yards of the
| building. There was total force of twen-
ty-two men GSimons being unarmed and
Riggs carrying a rifie). but they attacked
the entire force Of Filipinos on that side,
the enemy being under cover of the fallen
walls of the burned buildings. At this place
the fight lasted fifteen or twenty minutes,
but Simons' people carried 1t by assault,
and when quiet was restored there were
forty-four dead Fflipinos in a bunch, Riggs
alone having been known to get four Of
them-two with one shot. On the other side
Lieut.. Purington had gone out with ten
more men and drove the insurgents of,
| while sergeant stationed in the town with
the remainder of the company. except the
few left to guard the doors and windows.
had assisted in keeping things moving. AL
together this Qna company stood off an at.