The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-07-14
THE. |
DAREDEVIL
Dashing Deed Of Dandy
Sergeant.
KNOWN IN HONOLULU
Captured Eight Hundred Men in the
Philippines With But a
Handful.

with much interest by the many friends -
Of Sergeant Davis in Honolulu. h
Sergeant Owen Davis came to Honolu- "
lu two years ago, attached to Company
[. of the Third Battalion, Second Regi-
ment United States volunteer Engineers. p
He was probably better known in town I
than any other member of that organi- !,
cation, and during his stay succeeded in Ii
cutting a wide swathe among the hearts
of the fair sex. :
After returning to San Francisco last
year to receive his discharge, Sergeant {
Davis again passed through Honolulu on
the stock transport Conemaugh en- route ,
for Manila.
The first authentic news received of
him here since then appears in the APP
pended article.
While serving with the engineers Ser
geant Davis was enjoying furlough
from his old regiment, the Fourth Cav
/ airy, and drawing sergeants pay from /
both sources. This is perhaps unprece-
dented in the history of the American ar
my, and was allowed to Davis on account
of the honor he had brought the Fourth
Cavalry by his signal prowess in feats of
swordSmanShip.
Sergeant Davis is a man of iron ply
sique, sits horse like a Centaur and Isl
absolutely fearless. Among his COM
rades in the cavalry and the engineer
corps he was a prime favorite On account
of his geniaiity and daredevil reckless
ness. strict disciplinarian when there
is business to be attended to, there Is no
man in his company VINO more thorough
ly understands the art of enjoying a gooo
time when off duty
Sergeant Davis, few years ago IN San
Francisco. met and defeated the world
greatest mounted sword experts, fnclud-
ing Duncan Ross, champion OF the
world and others equally famous. While
a hard man to beat on foot, In a mounr
ed contest Davis has repeatedly proved
himself to be invincible.
Sergeant Davis mas on several occa-
sions been recommended for commits
sion but he has heretofore declined the
honor The reward for his late distin-
gu.shed conduct will assuredly be anoth-
er recommendation for shoulder straps
and a gold medal. Sergeant DAVIS owr
story is as follows:
, We had been climbing the Grand Cor
dilleras of Vizcaya, in Northern Luzon
3 rapidly driving every one before US. Law
q ton and Wheaton were closing in on tn
other side and Aguinaldo was in the net
A He was there, but the net was long ant
the mesh large. ] was sergeant OF Troo
= Il, Fourth Cavalry, under Lieut.. Monroe
v Though there were only forty men, the
were of the best and well mounted.
v We had been ascending the river be
. and came TO where the TRAN struck u
the mountain side. AT the foot OF IN
trail was a barricade. defended only b
N bolomen. They lad evidently expecte
an attack by infantry, and seemed to b
completely knocked out by the sight {
us on our monstrous horses. The Poop
of the islands are small, and their horse
are smaller still in proportion.
Beautiful little animals they are-n'
as large as a Shetland pony, but mol
7 graceful and slender. Their weight ruI
from 200 to 300 pounds.
When the bolomen saw our stature ar
VI the size of our horses they believed the
II were in the presence of miracle worker
| They begged us, upon their knees, not
Il kill them. We promise- them their liv
Il and freedom provided they would tell
| truly as to the number and location
al the soldiers behind them.
Il They said that the entire trail to ID
a pax was fortified by stone barricade
81 and that behind each barricade were So
diers with Mausers and bolomen Wi
kris and barangs. ihat was great sy
tenn of fighting they had-tney carried
4 | guns, leaving that TO the rifiemen.
II their left hand was a short kris, in tn,
right long barang. Advancing. with
left hand they present the weakest pa
of their offensive weapons, ana thus {
ludng their adversary into the belief TIL
they are nut HSHtlN lHty
p him into close quarters and give him t
impression that he has easy game; tn
they end the delusion with one long rigl
arm swing of the barang.
n To fight our way up mountain tr
- four feet wide, with a cliff on one s
and a jump-off on the other, and h,
dreds of such deviish bolomen abe
was an impossibility.a
There was but one trail up the moi
tain, but by making detour through
steep canyon, supposed to be full of
gorotes, we could land on the top of
- mesa. A small detail of men was S
- on this risky mission. They succeeded
getting to the top of the mesa and fol
the head of the trail. As they descen
they saw the soldiers sitting with tt
~ rifles pointing down the trail whence
attack was expected. Our men rus
upon them and took them without 81
so unprepared were they for a rear
tack.
The prisoners captured were made
accompany our men and explain the
N cation of the other barricades which "
u, taken successfully in the same man
49, as the first. There was now clear I
u to the top and nothing to hinder our ,
"A ing Dupax except it's garrison, consist
81 of perhaps fifty men.
III Lieut. Monroe decided to take the p
III with rush, as there was no other
~ of concealing pitifully small numl
III from the inhabitants, some of wi
"A would, of course, escape and carry the
n ports to the main body under Gen.
"a nandro Canon, the engineer officer
III was in command at Bayombong.
u Our rush was grand success
III United States forces had licked the 81
~3a ish, and the Spanish had mastered
Sat Filipinos. Stories of the awful An
W cans, mounted on flying monsters
~ came charging through the air in
kSz face of death, clearing all obstructic
stories told them by the Spanards of
frightful ferocity of the white-faced
ils-all these things had put them L
frame of mind such as only a chill
the dark knows.
So when we charged on the garl
of Dupax there was nothing resiste,
=. but the houses and the deserted b
, cades, over which we leaped our he
- without inquiring what was ahead o.
That Is the way to get the good e
of cavalry. 1t was the same story a
of the successful cavalry charges
ever were made. Just sit down and
for all you know, the faster the be
. The expectation of hot fire was a,
ably disappointed. and when the