The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1900-01-08

along rough trail. guarded by COM
pany of Filipinos. That night we were
separated from this guard and another
company, armed with Mausers, was
put in charge of us. I suspected some
thing, and questioned the lieutenant in
command. He said: I have orders
from General Tino to shoot you all,
but my conscience forbids. l shall
leave you here
II begged him for two rifles to pre-
tect us from savages, adding that
would give him letters to the Ameri-
cans, who would pay him well and
keep him from all harm. He refused
this, however. saying that he would
not dare to comply. Soon afterward
he left with his company.
I'VE had seen some savages In war
paint around us, and we prepared to
fight them with cobblestones, the only
weapons that were available to us.
The next morning we followed the trail
of the Filipino soldiers, feeling that II
was better to stick to them than to be
murdered by savages, but we could not
catch up with them Then I ordered
the men to build RATS, In the hope Of
floating down the river. I was 80 weak
myself that l did not expect to get
out, but l thought some of the men
could.
ION the morning of Dec. IS, while
we were working on the RATS, the
Americans came towards us yelling.
One of mysmen shouted: They are on
vs. He was lashing q raft Of bam-
boos. I, however, knew it was not the
yell Of savages, but the yell Of Ameri-
cans. 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 l
ever saw"
Lieutenant Gilmore could not speak
enthusiastically enough about the 14O
picked men who had rescued him and
his party.
The command spent the day in max
ing RATS. Colonel Hare thought Lieu
tenant Gilmore too weak to live
through the trip, but there was no al
tentative. They shot many rapids, the
men losing all their effects and Lieu
tenant Gilmore some valuable papers.
Only IA out of 81 RATS survived the
first lights experiences. and so men
were practically unable to walk when
Vigan was reached.
Describing the flight from Benguet
when the Americans approached, Lieu
tenant Gilmore said:
1.-THE Filipinos, completely terrified,
left Benguet on Dec. 7. They hurried
the prisoners from town to town, often
retracing the trail, not knowing where
the Americans would attack. After
being almost without food for three
days they killed several horses, and
we lived on horse flesh for several
days. | did not have full meal from
Dec. until | reached Vigan. Indeed,
the rescuing party lived largely on
rice, without salt. There was one day
when | was reduced to chewing grass
and bark.
while we were in the hands Of
General 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,
Senior Vera, was probably killed for
befriending us. We would have starv-
ed but for the kindness of some of the
presidents Of the towns and some Of
the Filipino colonies, but others treat
ed us brutally."
For weeks Lieutenant Gilmore was
covered with boils and in great pain.
When the Filipinos found the Ameri-
cans were approaching the treatment
became better.
THE Filipino treatment OF the
Spaniards," said Lieutenant Gilmore,
was brutal in the extreme. ] have
saen Spaniards d. ing at the rate of
two or three per day OF starvation in