The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1900-12-20
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sea ssVu MS son george. writ
Ten over six weeks ago amone thu
mountains Of Lazon, where the s.bov,
~ blue" are warning with little band,
Of Filipino baudits and guerrillas. The
following extracts give q good ide. 4
the sort Ut warfare that Is now heino
waged there:
DElr RaI IL Pl,u ISLANDS. Nov. 5.
The dry season has come aOain and ~
are awful busy. We have rad All the
eiltes, or the most Of them, in the guard
mouse l0r trying to reOrganize. Two can.
tains, Mareellus and Mendosa. who s,,r.
rendered to us last spring, were suDposer]
70 pc mixed up in the affair and were ar
rested. This Captain Mendoza is one OF
Inc pravest and most daring natives in
Ills pars OF the country and is highly re-
sPccted among the people. I have per
maps written you before Of how. while
scouting In the mountains before he sur
rendered, Captain Mend osa on ona o.
caslon had our little band of eight scouts
covered with fifty rifles from an ambush
not forty yards distant. All that was
needed was the word 'sfire'' and eight
men would have passed over the Ozark
river" but the gallant fellow did not cav
the word and we rode on down the monn,
tain SIDE In safety. little knowing how
near the angel Of death had lowered over
US with widespread wings. Mendoza l,as
Deen with US since his surrender on sew
erai scouting expeditions; on one of these
occasions ne showed us the exact posi-
IONS where his party was concealed "a
we, al unconscious OF danger, passed by.
AS we stood there on that dark mountain
trail and saw how impossible it would
nave been for single one of us to have
escaped. don't think there was one of
us that did not feel the cold chills Green
down his spine, and we all felt that this
brave Filipino saved our lives, for any
other OF their leaders would have MUIR
dered us. Yesterday Mendosa proved
that ne bad been true to his oath to the
United states and was released. It is
needless to say that we were all very
much pleased. 1t was evidently made
scheme of Marcelius and some other fell
lows who feared MendOsa and wished to
get .himsOut of the way. This Marcellus
Is different type of man from Mendosa;
ne Is q shrewd fellow and in all probable
ity would have been the next presidente
OF this province had his plans carried.
He has had the name of being a ladrone
lrobber) all his life and is feared by both
the higher and lower classes, and up to
this time has always been clever enough
not to get mixed up in any affair: but
heretofore he has not had Americanos to
buck up against. Whenever the Span
iards caught him he bribed them and got
clear. He tried the same scheme Oh our
officers, but 1t didn't work. Two thOus-
and dollars, l think, he offered them.
They have evidence enough now to send
him lover the rOad'' for long time. You
see, our greatest trouble here is to get
one native to say anything against an
other and no one can realize the danger
in SO doing as they do themselves. They
know very well that swift bOlO swing
or quick stab in the back on dark
night awaits any infOrmer, and each and
every one Of these captains has great
many followers who will revenge them
II informed against and stop at nothing
where natives are concerned, but are
very mu CHI afraid of the AmericanOs.
The night Of November ] and the fol-
lowing day are great day and night
ing and feasting. All night Of the LIST
they remain up, stealing pigs, chickens,
etc and drinking great quantities of
bin0, nasty intOxicslnt. While their
fathers, husbands, brothers and lovers
are engaged in this stealing for tha cOir-
ing feast tho women and girls, in bands
Of five or six. 60 around from house to
house singing and chanting religious
songs. On the night of November 1
was in charge of tho mounted patrol Of
the town of CuyapO from 10 p. III. until 2
u. M, and while riding through the dark
streets we saw many coImcal sights.
Every now and then we would catch
glimpse of Il tlusky form fitting along in
the deepest shadows or trying TO conceal
itself i'm the most mysterious manner.
You see, the funny part of it is that while
they believe that it Is not sin to steal on
this night, they go aboul it as earnestly
as III they were committing the greatest
crime on earth. Sometimes when we
saw one more anxious than the others to
dodge us we would halt and search him
for weapons. AS weapproached him he
would offer us share Of his spoiis, which
of course we would decline. When we
halted one he never tried to escape,
knowing full we'll that such an act would
call shower of steel-capped bullets
after him. There is, too, a generous side
to this joyful occasion, as they always in
vite the victims of their thievery to come
and help eat his own, or rather the good
things Of which s they had robbed s bed them;
away and eat and drink and are merry.
aud then go back to their little pot Of
rice, 1.-The staff of their lives, the happier for
having had one good square meal.
think never told you how they roast
pork, and yet you may have. seen the
same style Of cooking in earlier days OH
the frontier, in the days when stoves were
not SO plentiful; but / think these peO-
Die get 1t from the Chinese. They take q
big weighing as high as loo pounds, dress
It without cutting off the head or feet,
sew up after the insides are taken out.
A pole is then stuck through it endwise
and the pig tightly dashed to the pole.
A fire is then kindled: two forked sticks
are driven into the ground, one on either
side, and the pole to which the pig Is at
tached is laid in the forks, bringing the
BODY over the fire, when it is made to re-
yolye like q shaft. And then q native
will ait hour after hour, bare-headed and
naked to the waist, in the suns hottest
rays, slowly turning his hog over the hot
fire. and, when done, you have 9 hog
roasted whole. Chickens ana hsli are
also cooked in this manner. have par
taken Of these native fea~ts and the food
is good, but not delicious like mothers
cooking. It makes my mouth water
when j think of ono Of her dinners.
Hnrdtack and bacon are O. X. once In .
while. but when 1t comes to living on y
for four straight months it's-Oh, well, all
you old soldiers know what It'll But we
will soon be able now, as the roads are
driving ND. to get fresh meat and spuds.
< few mornings ago we gave the ma
lives 3 surprixe party at Nampaquam,
alnout ak miles from here, and met with
a partial surprise ourselves. had gone 10
he'd at midnight and been waited away 20
the land of dreams, thinking was in
that cIorious land, Goods Country" -
the boys call it here, when ! was rudely
AWAKENED by being rolled out OF my
Liankets and bumbed up and down on
the floor. When l got myself tagetneI
@asnt standing over me, asking III no
verv polite terms IL I was going with the
.ouadf or course was going. and jump.
inr into my clothes and grabbing my belt
I ran TO the stable, to find that had been
In bad only two hours. We were soon
saddIed and after eating our breakfast OF
hardtack and coffee, which the COOK nao
nrepared, we took the trait Tor Our 49,