The suburban citizen., 1900-05-19

cuers 80 The Lieutenanrs Adventures,
" MONG the many adventures
~ of the brave men in our army
~ and navy during the Spanish
war and the insurrection in
the Philippines, none perhaps is more
thrilling than that which befell Lieu.
tenant James G. Gilmore, of the York.
town, and his boats crew, who fell into
Filipino ambush year ago and we're
either captured or killed. The tale
is told most Interestingly by Lieuten-
ant Gilmore himself in Collier 8
Weekly.
1t was on the morning of April u,
1899, that Lieutenant Gilmore left
the Yorktown in the second cutter
with crew of fourteen men and two
passengers-an officer and a man
near the town OF Baler, where they
were to try aud discover the position
Of church in which it was said a
party of Spanish were besieged by in.
surgents. The men were landed safe.
ly, but Gillmore's boat was discovered
by the enemy a little later as he was
going back to the mouth Of the river
which flows past Baler. To throw of
suspicion as to the real purpose of his
trip, Gilmore began making sound
ings across the river, and sketches.
In doing this the boat was allowed to
approach close to the left bank of the
river where there was a swamp COW
cred with tall marsh grass
Gas I was about to give the order
to return" Lieutenant Gillmore's
narrative says, 1--WE rounded a bend
and came full upon an outpost who
hailed us and fred a shot. Before 1
could answer the hail volley was
fred at us at close rangs-about fifty
yards.
'The effect Of this volley was terri.
BILE. Two men were killed instantly,
the brains of one being scattered over
the boat and crew Another man had
the fingers cut of his left hand, but
still kept bravely to his post at the
starboard stroke oar, The starboard
oars were riddled and most of them
shattered. The boat was pierced by
the Remington balls and made water
! fast. As soon as possible after recoy-
ering from the first shock we opened
fire with Colt and rifles. The ambush
was so complete that we could not see
at what to fire, not even the smoke.
The second volley threw the Colt out
of action by shattering the box and
cutting the loading tape. The order
was given to back oars, but as only
very few could beused, the tide drifted
us in on a sank bank. Three of the
men bravely jumped over to swim the
boat out but did not succeed, the tide
setting us in.
"The volleys were now poured in
on us from the left bank in quick sue
cession, mortally wounding two nen
and seriously wounding three others,
and myself slightly. AT this time
was under the impression that most
OF the crew were either wounded or
killed, as the bodies of the men who
were killed and mortally wounded had
fallen on the slighter men in the boat,
in the bottom OF which they were
struggling. The boat was covered
with blood, presenting a fearful sight.
The cries of the mortally wounded,
asking me to shoot them and not allow
them to fall into the hands of the
savages, were heartrendIng. At the
same time there could be seen coming
down the right bank band Of savages
-bolo and spear men-with few
Remington rifles. I then gave the
order to hoist the white flag, This
was done by one of the men, who re-
ceived ball through the wrist and
dropped the flag
"The firing from the enemy now
came faster, and thought they in
tended to massacre us, so continued
our fire. We were now hailed il
Spanish from the left bank by an Off
Ger, saying that il we did not cease
firing and surrender he would murder
, us all. I then surrendered to him
, The savages on the right bank came
up, took us out of the boat, robbed
us, tied our arms behind our backs
} with bamboo thongs and lined us uI
, on the beach to be shot. [ protested
against being shot with my arms tied
and this alteration, which LASTED
, about five minutes, probably saveC
] our lives. They loaded their ride
] and were all ready, when a Tagalol
officer came out Of the brush anc
{ ordered otherwise. We were ther
8 sent aboard the boat, and after stop
! ping up the holes made by the rife
d. balls and pulling the boat out, pro
7 ceeded up the river.
? Two of the crew were dead, tw'
e mortally wounded and three seriousl.
J, wounded The boat was run ashor
B. a little way up the river. The dea
G were left in it, the mortally wounde
' put in the shade ashore aud then tn
e rest of the party were started 70
7 Baler. There orders were receive
!. from Aguinaldo to bring them to tn
capital, San Isidro; and, leaving th
seriously wounded behind, they be
gan a long and weary march into th
: interior over country broken wit
mountains and unbridged streams an
over roads deep with mud. Thei
= guards were bow-and-arrow and spea
!. men, commanded by Tagalog col