The Savannah morning news., 1901-08-08
HOW AGUINALDo WAS CAPTURED.
The Filipino Leader Describes How
He Was Taken Prisoner.
Emilio Aguinaldo, in Everybody's Mag

He Was Taken Prisoner.
Emilio Aguinaldo, in Everybody's Mag
azine.
After talking with Tai Placido and
Segovia for fifteen or twenty minutes,
men be allowed to fall out and go to
rest in the quarters which had been
prepared for them. Capt. Segovia i'm
mediately left the house and returned
to the place where his men were drawn
up waiting for him. AS he came up to
them Segovia shouted, in loud voice,
an order which we did not hear dis
tinctly and did not understand. In
| stantly his men began to shoot at the
soldiers of my guard, taking them COM
pletely by surprise.
When the firing began, not suspecting
any plan against myself, I thought it
was a salute with blank cartridges, and
| having this in mind, l ran to the win
dow and cried out several times,
Cease firing" But seeing that the fir
ing continued, and that the bullets from
the rifles of the attacking party were
directed against me as well as against
the soldiers of my guard, for the first
lllile ISdllL6Q Ludl the HSWCOIucIS WSLS
enemies. l hurriedly left the window
| and ran into another room in the hope
of finding some means of escape, but
saw at once that the house was already
surrounded. Then l seized a revolver,
| intending to defend myself, but DR..
| Barcelona threw both arms around me,
crying out, Don't sacrifice yourself.
Your country needs your life" Thus
L was prevented from carrying out my
| intention. Col. Villa ran from the
house in an attempt to break through
the lines of the enemy and rally our
| men, but he was shot three times and
| finally taken prisoner
When the firing commenced, Tai Pla-
cido threw himself down on the floor
| to avoid the bullets, but now he got
| UP and told US that we were prisoners
| of the Americans, who, he said, were
| on the other side of the river with 400
| American soldiers, and would soon be
| here. Just at this time several of Tai
| PIacido's soldiers came into the house
| shouting "Hurrah for the Maeabebesi'
| and surrounded Barcelona and myself
A little later five Americans, all armed
with carbines, came into the room
where we were. They came up to us
| and one of them asked, (which OF
you is Aguinaldo?" AS soon as 1 had
been identified by the Americans I was
| placed, with DR.. Barcelona and Col
| Villa, in one of the rooms of the house,
| and guards were posted at all the win
| dows and doors, under command of
| one of the Americans. The other four
| Americans then began to search the
| house for whatever papers and docu-
ments might be there.
We were then informed that our
| captors were General Funston, Cap
| tains Newton and Hazzard, and Lieu
| tenants Hazard and Mitchell.
The next morning, March "a, l had a
| conference with General Funston, in
] which 1 was told by him that on the
next day there would arrive in the bay
| of Palanan warship which would
| take us to Manila. In the course OF
+! the day he informed me of the plan
| which had resulted in our capture-a
| fate which l had believed would never
| befall me. 1t appears that my messen-
| ger. Private Segismundo, fell into the
| hands of General Funston, and the let
| tiers which he carried suggested to the
| general the plan which was subse-
| quently carried out so brilliantly. The
| letter which had received on the GOTH
| and which / supposed had come from
| General Lakuna, was a forgery execu-
| ted with the greatest cleverness. Ii
| was complete in all its details, even
bearing the seal Of Lakuna, and there
| never occurred to me the least suspic-
| ion of its authenticity, / had not the
| slightest doubt from that time up to
| the instant of the commencement OF
| the attack which ended in my capture
| 1t was bold plan, executed with skill
and cleverness in the face of difficult
| ties which, to most men, would have
| seemed insurmountable.
Palanan is a little village, of houses
| built of bamboo and matched with
| nipa, situated on the banks of the riv-
er which bears the same name, and
some six miles distant from the sea-
| shore, says Emil Aguinaldo in Every
| body's Magazine 1t Is in one of the
most isolated places in the province
| of Isabella, in Northern Luzon. There
| are no ways of communication with
| the outside world except rough trails
| or footpaths that lead over the noun
| tains to the west, to Ilagan, or south
| to Casiguran, and its peaceful popula-
| ton of some 1000 souls has heard very
| little of the tide of war which for four
years has desolated our country. New
| ertheIess when i first went there with
my companions and our little hand of
| followers, in the month of September,
! 1900, / was received with enthusiasm
| by these simple, hospitable people, and
| everything that they had was placed
| at my disposal. was accompanied by
| DIR. Santiago Barcelona and Col. Simon
villa, my chief of-staff. We had some
| seventeen soldiers, who had followed
us in all our wanderings over the
| mountains and through the forests of
| Northern Luzon. Barracks were fur
nished for these soldiers, and house
was set apart for the residence of my
self and my companions.
| We lived here quietly for several
weeks, enjoying the few diversions in
| the way of amusement that the village
could offer. There was fairly capable
! hand of music, and on Saturday and
| sunday afternoons 1t was accustomed
TO give concerts in the plaza in front
| of my house, followed sometimes by a
| dance in the parish house. next to the
church. for the young people of the
| village.