The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1900-01-16


over or even be burned, and stlll o
good. fat profit be realized. Now that
nearly all the Insurgents have been
driven ont OF Panay 1t sometimes is
found more profitable to Rttemp, the
longer voyage to Cebu. or even to the
southern coast Of Luzon., Many schoo-
ners are missing from the port of IlOilo
to-day. which sailed away on short
voyages ostensibly, and have not yet
been reported at any port. The own
ers naively declare that they fear their
vessels must be lost.
One night, while the raldlng Of Gui-
maras was still going on. the steam
launch Nesan, belonging to the captain
Of the port at IloIlo. was cruising at
night with her lights out, up and down
the Straits. looking for smuggiers. In
the darkness she ran right atop" of n
big hotllls OF canoes, carrying body
Of insurgents from cove on the Pauay
side over TO GuImaras for one OF their
periodical foruys, Immediately there
was great confusion in the feet, the
shouting of men and the cracking Of
bamboo outrlggers. The Nesan turned
ON her search-light and let loose with
her Hotchlliss revolving cannon. The
next morning the water was covered
with the wreckage of the proas, and
the tides rolled out to sea, the bodies
OF most of the raiders. Few IL any OF
the rebels escaped alive from that sud-
den, midnight storm of shot. The pa
troll boats have seized numbsrless prOas
and schooners bent on smuggling ex-
petitions. and destroyed them and their
cargoes. and have sent expeditions
ashore and burned cargoes of kerosene,
which had been landed from smuggling
vessels and concealed In the junsles
and forests.
II articles contraband OF war are
found on board seized vessel the
members Of the crew are Imprisoned.
Otherwise they are allowed to go free
after their vessel has been destroyed.
Not long ago four natives Of 1loilo were
loud in their protestations of loyalty to
the United States. They swore allie
glance to the government and went
about night and day telling how thor
oughty "Yankeehed" they had become.
They were looked upon by the aathorit-
les in the same manner us Sunday
school tencher looks upon his prize pu-
pills. Now, these four men bought a
proa. being poor men and anxious to
make an honest living, and engaged in
fishing and ferrying over produce from
Guimaras and turning a penny In any
other honest way. Oh, they were such
good Amerlcans-much more sanity
thar the real article. One day the pa
troll boat Pampanga saw the proa act
ing suspIciously and slgnaled her to
heave to. Instead Of obeying the proa
turned and flew with n fresh wind
astern at a pace that made 1t inpossi-
BILE for the Pampanga to overhaul her.
Then the patrol BOAT opened with her
guns and remarkable shot from her
three-pounder at distance Of $500
yards, carried away the proa's mast.
She was then an easy prey, and when
the eunboat came alongside there were
two bolts Of cloth such as the insur-
gents uniforms are made from floating
nsterr of the dIsmasted craft and also
two insurgent uniforms. on board the
proa beside the four Americans were
two strangers without clothes, All
were taken 10 Iloilo and locked up. The
two strangers turned out to be lnsur-
gent officers who, when the Pampanga
gave chase. stripped OF their uniforms
and threw them overheard. The four
natives who had been so enthusiastic
in thelr. allegiance to the Stars and
Stripes are not popular with the au-
thorlties any more. Neither are they at
large.
For some time Il was known that the
insurgents In Panay, Luzon. Cebu and
the other islands where there were any
insurgents were in pretty regular COM
munication with one another The
method Of communication was Investi-
.rnted with much interest. as II was
known that somehow something nearly
approaching a regular mall service was
kept up. It was noticed that the little
Inter.Island steamers plying between
I,oIlo, Cebu and Manila often were an
unusually long time In making their
trips between the ports on their timer
ary. and especially between Manila and
noIlo. A steamer that could make the
trip I'm forty-eight hours would occa-
sIonally take four full days for the
same run and then would come in and
report being delayed by heavy wealth
or when everybody knew that over oil
those cleaning seas there had not
passed for a week breeze strong
enough 10 rustic The leaves Of the palm
trees. And some Of these steamers
made trip after trip with practically
no cargo and but few native paSSen-
gers
A close watch was kept on these
steamers. and not long ago one was
caught by the patrol boat Paragun
close in near the Panay shore, a place
where she had no business to be. She
was seized and taken back to lollo
The other steamers were warned. and.
more than all. they are watched so that
II is thought that their Illicit tratiic Is
pretty well stopped. II Is thought
thew have been in the habit
az touching at southern Luz
zon port on their way from Manila
take ON mail. arms. men, or whatever
was held ready for them by the inFnr-