Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1900-10-18

| them the anu-GllmOreites.
The pompous man would attend the
fshpole to the commanding officer of
the column, who became so well ac-
quanted with their contents that he
would merely waive it aside and say:
"Oh, yes, that's all right. You were
good to Lieutenant Gilmore. All
right" Then he would shake hands
with the pompous man and his retinue.
The strange power the letter had of
making its contents known to the
American soldiers without being op-
ened and read gave 1t an even greater
hold on the veneration of the Filipinos,
and they would regard it with the
most reverential awe. After the usual
exchange of greetings we would enter
the town escorted by the Gilmoreites
bearing the letter before them, while
the anti-Gillmorites would sneek eau
tiously along in the rear, content If
they could only fix their eyes now and
then upon the talisman 'swaying back
and forth on the fishpole. In the town
the man "who had fed Lieutenant Gill
more when he was hungry" as he was
sometimes called, although he was us
ually known to the soldiers simply as
"Gilmore," would take us to where
Lieutenant Gilmore had slept while a
prisoner in that particular town. One
man had the venerated spot marked
off with a rope and no profane foot was
Fpermitted to step in II. The Gill
mores" would also show us where the
Lieutenant had walked when he exer-
cised in the town, where he had pur-
chased rice or sugar, told us to whom
he had talked and brought the people
who had actually spoken to "las
grand Americana" so that we might
know who they were and fittingly re-
ward them if we saw fit.
regret to say that in only a few
instances did we see fit. We were will
ing enough, but there was hardly en-
ough money in the whole outfit, except
what little the general had to have
paid the lieutenant's board single
week at any of the houses where he
had been a prisoner along the coast
road. Still we urged the men who
owned the Gilmore letters to hang on
to them, as some day an American
force would come along with more
money than we happened to have and
then they could be rewarded according
to their deserts.
1t was hardly necessary to urge any
of the Filipinos to preserve the letters
given them by "Senor Gilmore" They
trembled every moment the precious
letters were out of their hands, and
when they received them back they
would clutch them as eagerly as mis-
er clutching his gold
The only unpleasant feature of the
Gilmore letters was that some of the
not mentioned the particular occasion
when he was in the PHILIPPINES. One
letter read.
To the u S. Troops:
This fellow in this house fed me
when I was hungry and gave me mon
ey out of his own pocket under the er-
roneous opinion that l was the son of
the king of the United States. Please
do not tell him the truth when you
come along, as he likes to believe it.,
and it don't do no harm. Bill.
For the credit of the service will
say that these stray bills of an indebt-
edness which had been paid by an
order drawn on the next troops to
come by were invariably paid by the
commanding officers of the various
columns, but stops were taken to dis
courage the men so inclined from pay
ing their debts in this manner. The
prisoners in Gillmore's party also had
a habit of leaving notes behind them.
Some of these notes fell into our hands
and caused trouble. A Filipino, blush
ing as well as a. gentleman of rich
black walnut complexion could, pre-
sented us with letter that he seemed
W. Ihii'N W a. 5OIll6 w ms MN liOl Z
good fortune than the Gilmore letters
brought their owners.
A captain took the letter, opened ii
and read
ITO the first American troops to
come along this way: The man thai
gives you this letter, Perez Mannetto
stole most of my clothes and what lit
tie money / had. He used to stea'
my rice from me, and think he swore
at me, although l do not speak Span.
ish, but anyway that is what it sound.
ed like. Will you please have live
good soldiers run him all the way
from the church to the river and bach
) again for me? He thinks this Letter
says to give him money for being kline
to me- Please be good to him for my
sake, and don't, oh, please don't
drown him"
The letter was signed by one of thu
American prisoners. The captain
merely read the letter and then hand
ed it over to three or four of his mel