The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1900-10-27
TALES OF GREAT CRUELTY.
FiIDinos Shot in Cold Blood by
American Soldiers.

FfHDinos Shot In Cold Blood BY
American Soldiers.
5. e. De Raekin, who is connected with
i the Literary Bureau of the Democratic
Congressional Committee and who spent q
long time in the Philippines, said to re-
porter for The Times today, that when he
left the Philippines few months ago
there was war on every island where
American troops were CHARTERED, save in
/ the SuItanate of Sulu and the Island of
Mindanao There the Sultan had recog-
nized the sovereignty of the United States,
+ with the understanding that the latter
should not interfere with the institutions
! CT the Suitinate, which included slavery
and polygamy. This assurance was given
! by President Mckinley in the following
words: -
The United States will promise, in re-
| turn for the concessions to be hereinafter
mentioned. not to interfere with, but to
! protect the MoTCs in the free exercise of
their religion and customs, social and do
mestic, and will respect the rights and
| dignities of the Sultan and his advisers.
| AS between Spain's policy in those ISL
ands. continued Mr.. De Rac:1in. '-and
that of the United States, there is little
! difference as regards results The Span
| lard was inclined to be spectacular in his
murder of the Filipino, while the American
is brutally methodical. The principal
slaughter in the old days was on the Luz
| meta, fashionable driveway on the shore 5
! OF Manila Bay, where a great deal of CERT
mony was gone through with.
/ This, however, has all changed No
more martyrs are made in the old way.
I The American does not believe the Fill
/ Pine deserving of a soldiers death. The
denied even the boon of dying while fac
ing his executioner.
Orders went out from headquarters
months before l left Manila, to take no
prisoners-kin everything in sight This
sooa revived the old cry. The only good
Indian is a dead one
Following this order, a company OF
American troops, commanded by Lieuten-
ant Koehler. was sent out from Manila TO
sGour the country near Tarlac in search of
arms Lieutenant Koehler was killed on
| this expedition, together with four mem
beFs of his command. The Filipino forces
making the attack in question succeeded
| in escaping the vengeance of the Ameri-
cans. The latter, however, entered tie
?
nine on-combatants stood them up in
line, and told them to 'vamoOse.' When
! the Filipiaos turned to run, a yolley was
fired. and when they counted up there
were twenty-siX out of the twenty mine
killed-shot in the back.
Following close upon the heels OF this
nameiess mode Of warfare seventy-fiv
bolomen were killed near Cagayan; 125 in
! the CamaFines and $50 in Iiocose NcFte
These are not isolated cases. but the rule
wherever American troops are maintained
In the Island Of Negroes the same con
dition prevails. When Company D. Sixth
Regiment, United States Infantry. was
sent to garrison Isabella, the Americans
introduced themselves to the people of
that city by lining up the police depart
ment, consisting Of ten men and a chief,
telling them that they had but one chance
for their lives. They were then told 10
run. squad of men were drawn up in
a firing line, and as the members of the
police department accepted the opportu-
nifty TO save their lives, the command was
given to fire. The chief of police and
eight of his men were killed In the
meantime, the rest of Company D. under
command of Lieutenant Young, were or
dered to burn all the houses in the town
In one of the nipa huts was an old woman
who was lying on her bed sick with
smallpox. One of the soldiers told Lieu
tenant Young of this fact, whereupon he
replied: 4 don't give d-n; burn her,
too" And ehe order was complied with.
"To a mind andisturbed by the scenes
of var, 1t Is difficult to conceive of such
atrocities being perpetrated by human be-
ings. But the many letters being pub
lished by home papers of our soldiers
throw some light on the matter, in so far
they breathe q spirit of malignant ha-
tired ineXpliCable 10 those who have not
experienced the hardship which our SOL
dier5 conceive to;believe the Filipino re-
sponsible for.
Charles Meyers, of the Thirty-ffth In
fantry, in a letter dated San Isidro. De-
cember 1g, 1893, to VIII Kennedy, of Dav-
export, Wash, says in part: I shot and
killed my first "yuyu' tan insulting name
applied to the nativs) on the night of No
yember 29, killing him as dead as a door
nail. Shot him through the abdomen IN
der the heart. He eroaked Immediately
1t doesn't seem like killing anybody when
you kill one of them. 4 person feels just
as though he had killed a dog.
"A. a. Barnes. Battery G. Third United
States Artillery. in d letter TO his brother
who lives in Kinsington, Ind, after tell
ing Of the wholesale slaughter Of FiIipi-
ncs at Titatia. says: I am in my glory
when I can sight my gun on some dark
skin and pull the trigger
These are bur samples of the thou
sands Of letters received by relatives in
the United States of soldiers in the Phil
ippines.
The question confronting the Ameri-
can people today is whether such a policy
said to be necessary to compel the FL
lipino TO recognize the sovereignty of the
United States-is right Or wrong