The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1900-06-27
SOLDIERS As HEAPlRSBANE OF HAWAI- IT'D
THE AMERICAN TROOPER rs
NEW ROLE.
The Boys in the Philippines Must Sow
Teach the Tugals Good Manners The
Krag-Jorgenson Bullet


ANlNN Jul NNllN'N A'hil'Nt
Special Correspondence of The star
BALlGNAG. =. h. June al wrote
you last from Quingua, where our come /
pany. II, Thirty-nfth United states Vol I
unteers. was stationed for upwards OF
two months doing the regular routine
work Of garrison duty and scouting,
frequently making incursions into the
heart of the enemy's country, capturing
ladrones and bolos, and a few ancient
weapons probably handed down by the
descendants of SanchO Panza. on the
occasion we charged into a band of
ladrones and shot two old women
through the back: the same bullet going
through the body of a caraboo and kill
ing two dogs, which shows the great
power of the krag-Jorgensen rifle, and
the great danger one Is In If he happens
to be in their direct line of operation.
January p we bade farewell to Quingua
and come to Balinag, where the rest Of
the First Battalion is stationed. Here
our work commenced in earnest, Tor
the order has recently been issued to the
army here to get what guns there are
concealed throughout the country, as II
is pretty well known that the natives
have a large number, and are only wait
ing the advent of the rainy season to
begin hostilities on a larger scale than
Il
heard OF the order and determined TO
make one last stand before parting
with their arms. At least they attacked
us with great force April 49, killing one
private from NJ, one from /. one from
y, and wounded First Sergeant lie
DouX, also of NJ. This hurried matters
along, and the Eighth Army Corps was
soon ready to move with concerted ac-
ton and hunt out the Sandatahany and
the Katapuchian in his secret haunts
and wrest from him his t(rusty) rifle.
You have heard of the Macabees.
They are a tribe of Filipinos who from
time immemorial have been the dread
of the Tagalos, the leading tribe Of Luz
zon. Their ancient antipathy had been
suffered to cool somewhat when Aguin-
aldo applied the bellows to the dying
embers and famed them into a fury.
Like King Lear he invited them to
banquet and there, over bowls of vino
dulce and repugnant cigarillo he pledg-
ed eternal friendship. He then told them
of the great wooden cannons that were
! frowning beyond the parapet over
| against Manila, and how they belched
! forth great volume of smoke and
thunder but no missile. So the poor,
unsophisticated Macabees with as
much confidence as a Boer farmer, re-
I quested to be sent up against the pale
! invaders.
| Aguinaldo, from a church tower many
| miles in the rear, directed the move
ments, while the plucky Macs" charg-
ed and great was the fall thereof. The
/ few thousand that were left Immediate
! ~ joined our ranks and are now very
valuable adjuncts to the army in ali its
operations against the treacherous Ia
| gallo. Last week detachment of these
scouts arrived in Balinag and joined
| six companies of the ThiTty-fifth, and
together they left for the Candaba
swamps upwards of fifteen miles from
here, near Mt. Arayat, where the la
drones were known to exist in force.
| Our company and twenty Macabees
rounded up fifty-one of them in the
/ Barrio de San Louis, none of them,
! however, with arms. Several shots had
| been fired at US while in pursuit, but
we found no guns to show for ii. To
| find those guns was our mission, and
! instead of injuring our optic nerves In
| looking for them we treated the natives
| in such a manner that they were glad
| to get them for us This was done by
an application of water, very harmless,
/ but wet.
The result of this expedition was g.
guns, consisting of old rifles of various
| makes, shotguns and blunderbusses,
and over one hundred bolos, an ugly
| looking weapon somewhat resembling
/ a sabre.
We brought in number of prisoners
and found among them several valuable
ones who were wanted for past crimes,
| or for the conspicuous part they played
in the recent Instruction.
| A swamp is not an ideal place to man
euver in, especially when you have to
slop around in the mud and gather up
wet sticks to burn; but this all goes
with the lot, and one must not kick too
| hard this hot weather. We really have
a brilliant array of sunlight here in the
| Philippines that does a fellow good to
see from a distance, and much more to
| read about.
Our mission of war being over we
have now assumed the role of fostering
| mothers, and all of us are supposed to
! set the native a wholesome example
| in ultramarine urbanity. In other
words, we must teach them manners,
and can't even call them "gOogoos;" a
very harmless pseudonym, but more
| appropriate for the lunatics who origi-
mated the idea and who imagine we can
| produce a few Chesterfields out of a lot
of untutored savages.
General Otis has gone and thereby
done a good turn which will be lasting
in it's results. The new commission is
supposed to give us a better system,
and if the climate doesn't affect their
minds, and from sedate law makers,
transform them into gibbering idiots,
| it is probable they will be an improve
| ment over their predecessor.
GEORGE c. COOK,
Company d, 35th u. S. Vols.