Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1900-06-14
THE CATUBIG FIGHT.
Details Of the Attack and Siege
and the Relief.
1 THRILLING INCIDENT IN The war.


most thrilling and picturesque Incl.
dent of the entire Philippine war oc'
CURED at Catubig on the island OF
6amar, where on April Is last party
OF 81 enlisted men Of company X,
Forty-third infantry volunteers, held
st bay force of some 600 insurgents
during four days of fierce fighting,
achievements arriving just in the
nick Of time. The war department
has received reports from Capt. II. NJ.
Day, Of the Forty-third volunteer In
fantry, and First Lieut.. J. 7. Sweeney,
Of that regiment, who commanded the
rescue party, giving all the details Of
the attack and siege and the relief.
According to the reports the attack
on the garrison at Catubig began
without warning on Sunday morning,
April Is. From the hills on all sides,
from every point of vantage in the
town, and from a deserted church d.
-xectly adjoining came a rifle and can
non fire of terrible intensity. On
Tuesday morning handfuls Of burning
hemp were thrown into the barracks
from the insurgents in the church
and soon the soldiers refuge was on
fire. All efforts to subdue the fire
failed and finally the little band made
o dash for the river bank. Some were
killed before the bank was reached,
others fell dead in boat in which 1t
was intended to make the opposite
shore and when trench was finally
dug with bayonets only 10 Of the 81
were left to man It. Here for two
more days Corporal Carson, handling
his men with the Judgment of vet
eran, held out under terrible fire,
until Lieut.. Sweeney's command, which
had been ordered to supplement the
garrison at Catubig and which was on
its way up the river on the steamer
Lao-Aug, arrived. Not until within
quarter Of n mile OF Catubig, says
Lieut.. Sweeney in his report, did they
hear the noise Of the engagement.
Then he realized that he and his men
were sorely needed and he ordred the
captain of the steamer to run his
boat at top speed. The Lao-Aug
steamed up to Catubig under a rain
OF Mauser bullets from both shores
The small boats were lowered,
landing effected. and the rescuers
fought their way through the open
TO their bcsieged comrades in the
trenches, buried the dead within
reach, brought back to the boat the
besieged party, numbering only 10
men, and then steamed down the
river.
Capt, Day bestows the highest COM
mendation upon Corporal Carson as
"displaying extraordinarily good judg-
ment In the handling of his men,
thereby saving the lives of the survi-
vors and protecting the wounded I'm.
I'll relief came" Each little COM
mand and their rescucrs he gives the
highest praise. "'rheir zeal and abil-
n.y." he says, "were fitting example
Of the worth and courage Of the
American soldier"
! pf'rmcn.y towards Three Murdsrers
Washington, June o.-Newspaper
reports just received at the war de-
partment show that three natives
were convicted by military commits
sion Of having murdered Quartermas
ter Sergeant Albert Voltrie, company
X. Thirty-ninth volunteer infantry,
At Bagbag near Tanuaan, in the prov.
ince Of Batangas, February 2. and
were sentenced to death by hanging
In passing upon the case Gen. Otis, as
the final reviewing authority said
that the findings Of the commission
were fully sustained by the evidence
and that the death sentence imposed
by II had the express sanction of the
laws Of war. He was, however, I'M
willing to direct the execution of the
sentence MS he believed that the ac-
cused were influenced to commit the
crime Of which they We're convicted
by local guerrilla chiefs, who. he said,
were the principal criminals in the af-
fair. Moreover. he said the prisoners
were ignorant of the legal conse-
quences Of their act; therefore, he
committed the sentence in each case
to 20 years imprisonment at hard
labor in the Preside De Manila,
Funston's Find.
Vancouver, B. G., June s.--The Ma
mia Times says: ION May 2, Gen.
Funston was making a personal re-
vnnoissance with IS troopers in the
erection Of Bongabon and Ponta-
bagan when he discovered a perpen-
dicular ladder leading up a cliff
crowned with dense forest. The
general and his men assembled the lad
der and found 30 or 40 large wooden
cases crammed full of state docu-
ments, comprising mostly archives Of
the rebel government and all the cor
respondence ofAguinaldo and his chief
official from the time of their earliest
dealings with Dewey down to the
hurried migration from Malolos."
usn. Pho Del Plilar Captured.
Maniln luna Q-Can pia bal pilar