The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1900-01-12
ON THE
PHILIPPINES
Continued from Fnurth Page.

CuuIpH LeasVt uuI VIC uuLuUor VIII W6rt
showing themselves to us in military
uniform and carrying Mauser rifles.
linus, another point of more or lesl
iterest. was situated about three miles
from RacOor, and hearing that on the
following day there was to be another
feast to some OF their saints, | OBJ
tanned a cariametta and visited the
town. You found the natives in gala
dress; the stores and shops were closed
the military in this town uniformed
and under arms, making preparations
for this great feast. To add a little to
the hilarity Of the occasion the Spanish
and Filipino prisoners that they held
were brought out and compelled to
carry banners and engage in the festiv-
titles. A sight that was u larly
impressive to me was u wherein some
600 boys, from 6 to 10 years of age,
were marshaled under the leadership Of
officers. and with proper acooutrement,
were going through all the manuevers
of q we'll disciplined army. Not only
this, but seeing some Americans on
one of the streets, as they passed they
Saluted the whole crowd Of them. with
one voice, yelling 'independentia.'
Someone tapped me- on tho shoulder
and said, in excellent Spanish: That
means that you Americans will have to
leave the islands. I shook my head
in approval and started for my oaria-
metta,, feeling that at least there was
one American that would get out Of
reach of the four thousand that we're
engaged in these festivities.
"The question has been frequently
asked: How was it possible for the
Filipinos to hold, at the beginning Of
the hostilities, SO many Spanish prison.
ers?' Tt is easily answered, when one
takes into consideration the Spanish
methods of fighting and the country in
which the fighting occurred The
Filipinos simply studied the Spanish
methods, making use of the same. and
frequently would, in their skirmishlnR,
oome across large bodies of Spaniards
who were tired OF fighting. Of the in
sufficient pay they. were receiving, and
were hoping, by laying down their
arms, to obtain food and clothing and
rest. The fact that many of the Span
iards who were in the Philippine isl.
ands were volunteers. who had been
taken over Oh false pretenses, and whose
sympathies were not at all with the
Spanish cause. and they laid themselves
open in almost every instance to cap
ture. We found, iu almost every town
that we visited before active hostilities
began on the American side, anywhere
from 1900 to 5000 prisoners; these
were native and Spaniard. Poor fell
lows, they little dreamed Of the torture
that was to be theirs, for no sooner had I
they become prisoners Of wal than the
same cruelties that they visited upon
the Filipinos were visited upon them.
at linus we first came in contact
with the primitive method of burial.
In our country a funeral is always a
sombre occasion; there, it seems to be
a time for hilarity. You will see four
natives. probably, going along the
street carrying a pink, or red, or blue
box upon their shoulders, with the cover
removed and the body exposed; they
arrive at the cemetery the box is thrust
into a niche; the niche closed, and the
natives will return to their homes for a
big feast. Curiosity prompted me to
emain after the funeral at the GENE.
terry, and I was ushered into the bone. :
yard. Here a pile Of skulls and skele. !
tons, that had been buried for some
length of time, was exposed to Wow. !
I wondered at this and wondered
whether or not it was because the
ground had become so taken up that
there was not room for fresh a~rrivals,l1,
but was told that it was nothing Of the
kind; that the dues had not been paid
and that, therefore, the bodies had been
exhumed. While there I saw another
funeral coming in and thought that I
would watch it, for it seemd to be a
little higher.toned than the one that
had proceeded. The body was most
gorgeously arrayed; the hearse most
deliberately equipped: the four black
horses had immense plumes, and on
side of each Of the horses was to he
found a boy with a high hat and cock.
AIDE, swallow tail coat, knee breeches,
black hose and a pair of enameled shoes ;
the horses were also caparisoned. Fol-
the hearse was a Filipino band,
and the air played on that particular
seemed to me to be a mixture
Of Sweet Violets. On the Wabash,
and "A Hot Time There was little
delay when the niche that had been
bought and paid for was discovered to
be closed. The body was taken into
The mortuary. placed on the altar and
he relatives. with the old sexton, went
tut to the niche in the wall to find out
Just what was the trouble. A ohisel
lnd hammer were brought into requisi. {
ion, the brick aud mortar that closed
he opening were removed, when it
vas discovered that a body. that for
I've or ten years, possibly, had lain I'M
disturbed within the niche, had orum- j
lied away. The sexton didn't do a