The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1901-06-13
DRYING OUT DEVILS
0es. Thacker Writes q Rlllplnss' De'
LIEF II Hvil Spirits
THE NATIVES As SOLDIERS
Agsisaias's CaBtars- vilipa.ss Dsgan-
.ing TO Apprseaass Oar 0svssnns.s-
Lite and Properly Secure

Ming 70 Apprseiats Oar 0eveennens-
Lite and Properly ssesrs
The IsLANDER IL indebted to Judge
Thacker for permission to publish the
following interesting extracts from .
letter received few days ago from his
son George, still on duty as a member
Of the 18th U. 8. Infantry in the island
Of Luzon. The latter part Of the letter
is Of special interest, giving ~ 1t does =
private soldiers views OF the effect Of
Aguinaldo's capture and Of the prac-
tlcability Of using native troops to re-
store and maintain order inculcats,
respect for American sovereignty and
protect the people from themselves :"
CUyAPO, p. l., April Is, 1901.
DEAR FATHER
expedition, the object OF which was to
force the surrender of . Filipino officer
and l5O men, and although we failed
to make the capture we had the pleas
ure Of the trip and assisted largely in
the surrender Of the guerrilla force
to another command.
AT the present the natives are having
Q blg time during lent. They have
great gatherings every night. While
on our trip q few days ago, over in
San Juan de Gimho, about two hundred
natives. were marching around the
town. They had everything they could
get hold Of that would make q noise,
and Of all rackets / ever heard, the
noise they made capped the climax.
They even had big box fixed up in
the belfry Of the church, rugged In such
q manner that by pounding on it, it
sounded like the smOthered rumble Of
half dozen drums. / inquired Of
some Of them what all the fuss was
about, aud was informed that they
were driving the devil out of town. I
was convinced that il his satanic
pajisty was present and had An ear
for music he would not be found in
that vicinity very long unless he had
important business to look after.
The natives believe that every barrio
town has an evil spirit located there
that IL constantly watching the inhab-
itants Of the place and that his satanic
nibs can convert himself into anything
he desires, from great hide0us giant
down to q crow. / have often been
asked by those natives whose acquaint-
ance have formed II l have ever seen
the evil spirit who resides In this town
where we have been quartered during
the past year; but Of course 1 have not.
and so stated. Nearly all of the natives
carry charms and fully believe that 90
long as they keep their charms on or
about their persons they are safe, but
at any time they should be found with
out them they would at once fall q
prey to this evil spirit, but with this
charm about them the bad spirit will
not or cannot approach them.
was very much amused while talk
ing with one If the most Intelligent
men of our town, native Of course. /
brought up the subject
Of this evil spirit, never for q moment
that my friend believed in
the silly superstitiOn SO common among
the native people, when to my surprise
he said to me ia Spanish, "Why, don't
YOU believe i'm the evil spirits?" Then
he told me that our town (CuyapO) had
three devils sure. 1 asked him II he
carried q charm against them, and he
answered by pulling little rag out of
his racket in which were wrapped three
little agates, which he exhibited and
told me he had purchased them many
years ago. He said that very nearly
all Of the most Intelligent and best edu-
Gated people carried charms. Here We
have . people, the most intelligent Of
whom are carrying little pebbles In
their pockets, or little pieces Of red
flannel cloth fastened to some part of
their clothes, a q guard and shield to
protect them from evilspirits that they
fmagine are constantly shadowing
their footsteps.
While on our ten days campaign we
visited several towns where Il0can0
troops are stationed, differed by Amer
leans and armed generally with Spring
field rifles. The only white men with
each attachment or post Of these native
troops are two lieuten&nts, one surgeon,
two hospital men and one to three
scouts. We were all very much sur
rrised while looking ut them drill to
hear all the commands given In Eng
lish and to note with what alacrity the
commands were obeyed. The great
Trouble appears to be their tendency to
treacbery aud assassination. IL drill
and discipline overcome that we Of
the army believe they will make good
soldien.
With the capture Of Aguinaldo the
spiual column Of the instruction was
broken. Our fighting, I believe, IL
finisted. What little lighting IL here.
amer done will be for the most part
aonlnst the bands Of ladrOnes that In
feat the mountain Businesses, and they
can be exterminated by properly drill
ing, arming and offlceFing . sufficient
number Of the natives and then sc0ur.
inn the infested regions; and this ]
think d the Intention Of those In con.
troll. Whenever these natives feel ~
cured tina. the law can and will be en-
forced. the guilty. punished aud that
life and property b secure; that thieves,
r0bhess and murdere3 cannot buy
themselves Oh, - am informed has
always been the case, then will they
bexin to appreciate what our
eOvernment has done aud b d0ing for
shem. The better element that has
heretofore been tesrorized will come 70
Tire ffont. some Of this awful supersu.
tion at least must give way to common
se,lse and then but few soldiers from
the United States, comparatively, will
81 REQUIRED to protect the people from
Themselves.
GEOR0E.
no CURE a COLD IN ONE DAY
Tske laxative Dr0mo Quinine IabletA All
S-.Svssfs refnnd the mon~y II Il fails 70 cure.
n. III. Groves signature b on each box s5e.