New-York tribune., 1900-09-02
BULLETS OF FILIPINOS.
DEVICES OF THE INSURGENTS TO GET
DEATH DEALING MISSILES.
VARIOUS WAYS IN WHICH BALLS ARE CUT
BAMBOO SHELLS FILLED WITH
STONES AND GLASS SHOT
FROM OLD CANNON.

Ioflo Jlrne z CSpecaD.-As a body
OF insurgent troops IS captured every prisoner is
searched with the result that a varied and large
collection Of ammunition and arms of all descrip-
tfons is obtained. Some OF these munitions Of
var although most deadly IN their effect upon the
enemy. are exceedingly crude in their construction
and very untrue IN adjustment. Take the sample
IN Figure ! for illustration Probably half OF the
cartridges IN the possession OF the rebels at the
present time consist OF refled shells OF this sort
The writer recently returned from expedition
over the mountains OF the Isle de Panay in which
we drove the insurgents from several strongholds
where the chief business consisted in reing shells
for the forces engaged in warfare against the
American troops IN the neighborhood Of the cities
and towns OF the island In some OF these crude
arsenals, IN which the apparatus for filling shells
consisted mostly OF some hand made pieces OF RODS
for packing and some III working devices for press
ing the bullets into the shells. a handful OF
wounded soldiers some women and boys would be
found engaged AS the Americans ad-
vanced people would try TO conceal the imple-
rzaer1ts In their possession and pretend to be
friendly. A search Of the surroundings. however,
would ordinarily reveal the concealed munitions of
war. The principal difficulty most Of the rebels
seemed have IN refIling to get the bullet
true with the she'll The writer examined great
many rehlled cartridges. and found that practically
al OF them were fitted in Figure No. l, the
dotted line A indicating how far out OF line the
bullet IS. OF course. such a bullet will not leave
the rife true and win take a straight course
through the air 1t viii BE DETECTED to one side
the other. This probably accounts for the bad
shooting the part Of the insurgents who hap
pen to be provided with This kind Of ammunition.
MATERIAL OBTAINED FROM TEA LEAD
Although many Of the richer classes of natives
willing TO furnish money TO aid their cause.
their money cannot be used for the purchase OF
ammunition, for the reason that the Americans
prevent the landing Of munitions Of war. But the
natives are able to buy vast quantities Of tea lead
get IN rbe 0fI1
OF packing materials for teas, sugar and articles
OF merchandise OF all kinds. This sheet lead IS
collected and used IN the cartridge making plants
for bullets. The lead Is seldom melted and cast.
but the sheets rolled and pounded into the form
OF bullet like that Figure 2 Much time is spent
in forming the bullet and when discharged usually
breaks open. The drawing shows the lines Of
Encture OF the metal where Il IS pounded together
as at c and B, and these figures open with the
discharge, shown IN Figure 3, so that when the
bullet strikes a ragged and dangerous wound re
suits. In one stronghold which the column cleared
out we noticed several WagOnloads of this sheet
lead. which was intended for use in the making OF
bullets & for Hgqg 2e the AoTe 4 ba ana & Hes ea9 s9
was for packing purposes. The ground near by was
Ing bullets from sheet lead were unearthed.
Almost SgeTy a one mas n@aFo @ OF @ me Tine whiG9
the bore larger to fit certain cartridges, only TO
70 .fs being reduced in strength In the insurgent
quarters here are men who will devote hours in
packing bullet with paper as al D. Figure T. so as
bag Of ammunition captured from the Delt OF a
native soldier a dozen or more Of these wadded or
paper packed bullets found in shells which
were originally large. In the battle OF Balan-
tang. near nolo, several hundred rebels fired ur
our advancing troops from the trenches, ana @ y
they had been supplied with the proper cartridges
they might have killed wounded hundred OF
Us for We were directly in front Of them with
out any protection whatever. But, as afterward
ascertained many of They ansurgents had only re.
filled cartridges. and the bullets from most OF
these passed over the heads of the Americans
without doing any harm.
There are brass bullets in the possession OF the
enemy but not any great extent In a lot of
several hundreds of rounds of ammunition there
viii be found perhaps brass bullet These brass
bullets one Of which is shown in Figure .. are inn
ported from other countries, and they are as well
made they are atsastTous in their effects when
they strike any In Figure 6 is a form Of
bullet made by ingenious natives from pieces of
iron. forged out and adjusted into shell. This
makes one Of the crudest sort of remanufactured
bullets and is used only when the better forms of
ammunition exhausted.
MEANS OF ''DOCTORING" BULLETS.
The rebels 90 not hit the American soldiers very
often. and they frequently waste many hundreds
OF pounds of lead before they kill any one. But
they want every they hit TO die. They doc