Hutchinson gazette., 1900-04-26
TI,E mACAHEiluS.
They Have Becn Rud Arc GreDI Synls
pnthIzers win the Americans.

In the interior Of the Island Of Lu-
,on and to the north OF Manila live
the Mncabebes, They are warlike
people; many OF them have had milf
AIRY experience In the Spanish army,
and are now well drilled and dlsol-
plned soldiers. They are short,
heavy-set and muscular, and shade
darker In color than the Tagalog,
II was not until some time after
the insurrccton In The Philippines
began that the Macabcbes began TO
know much about the Americans,
and they were maintaining q state
N neutrality when our troops ilrSt
came within their tcrritpryi but
they soon became friendly 10 our
men, und our quartermaster depart
ment gave them employment, paying
them about four dollars II month.
They were hired to handle boxes
for the commissary department, dig
trenches, open up fields OF observa'
tion, do scully work in hospitals,
clean streets and perform many
other kinds OF labor that are re-
guired Of m army in the field,
In addition many officers employed
them rs cooks for their private
mcsses, and ms laundrymen and
Wallets,
Although they always appeared
perfectly willing TO work, their ig'
nomncc OF the most common me-
chanicNl principles and their lack OF
sense Of order made necessary the
employment of a large force OF over
,cers. For example; The commits
snry department in san Fernando re-
aclved n large shipment Of canned
goods, consisting OF corn, condensed
milk, tomatoes, and so forth, II was
lcsircd 10 pile the unbrokcn boxes
so that the labelled sides should be
exposed 10 view The MacUbcbes
we're put at the work The nstruc-
lions Of the foreman We're fruitless,
II was necessary TO station Il soldier
At the place where the boxes were
beng piled, 10 give directions about
each individual box,
Similarly, every detail Of trench
work had TO be repeatedly
shown TO them The one thing which
they did without much, II any in
struction was TO cut down canewhen
we were opening up fields Of fire for
destroying places Of conceolment for
the Tagalog bolomen. This work
they did with the bolo--a knife used
both ms an agricultural implement
and as n weapon of war.
In times OF war il often becomes
to burn buildings that OBJ
struct the view or interfere with the
line of fire. and the wnrlike charnc'
ter of the Macabebes made this work
peculiarly acceptable TO them
They we're not satisfied with as
sistmg us by doing this aud similar
luty, they entrented our authorities
to arm them and let them fight for
their friends, the Americans They
wanted American officers and no9'
commissioned officers over them,
Long rolls Of volunteers, many OF
them having served five. ten and
even fifteen years under the Spanish
flag, and bearing the sears of many
1nttles, came 10 our commanding
officers with petitions for arms and
They spoke of their faithful serv.
ice to Spain, and Of their deeds OF
yalor and gallantry under Common
dante BlnncO. Our officers were sa'
mted by them as smartly as by the
best trained Of our own men, and
their respect was profound and un'
Censing.
A captain of the regular infantry
was sent to the city of Macnbebe TO
see what could be done. He had as
m escort a troop Of cavaly mounted
on American horses. The whole
populace joined in the procession
which was headed by band contain,
ing every kind Of portable musical
instrument. The music was not
bad.
All marched, the cid as well as the
Young men, women and children, and
followed the great American captain
rs he passed through the streets to
The tribunal, the public house. Here
he nlcade. or mayor produced roll
Of volunteers and began to cal OIL
the names. In rcsponSe, welI-knit,
intelligent-ooking men shouted
'Here!" in good Spanish, and salut'
I'd the American officer, When the
roll-cnlI was completed there was n
line of dark-fnced veterans who had
to serve under the stars
md stripes,
Although they were not at the
lime taken into the service of the
United States many Of them are now
numbered with our forces, and are
efficient and valuable aid
in scouting duty in
the present conflict to an
end.
The dress of the MnCabehes Is very !
similar to that Of the other tribes
lf LllZon. The men wear thin cot
ton shirt, worn outside of trousers,
which are OF like material, and reach
lust below the knees. But few OF
the men wear shoes, The women
wear sort Of loose waist called a
and Il large, square piece OF
highly colored cloth, which they
wrap around their lower body and
imbs, making of II u kind Of skirt.
Their shoes usually have thick wood
m soles and high heels, with a leath-
" tip in which they place the toes.
Their walk is necessarily kind of
shuttle, for il they lifted their feet
The shoes would fall off. No stock