The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-12-26
HARD TIMES In SAMAR
DIFFICULT PROBLEMS CONFRONT
THE AMERICAN GOVERNORS.
A New and Better View of Gen. Lux
ban-Work of the Native Scouts
GaIIantry of the Soldiers.
Joseph OIL, in Atlanta Constitution.

! CATBALOGAN, Island of Samar, p. l.
Many a letter has gone back TO Georgia
from this little city looking out from the
hilly recesses of what is technically known
as the Tagapula sea. Here for many long
months-too long, 1 imagine-the Twenty
ninth Volunteers were stationed; and the
ground around here is as we'll known to
| the Georgia boys who were officers and
men in that regiment as it can be known
| TO anybody
| 1t is possible there may be men in that
outfit who would like to spend the rest of
their days here, but 1 imagine that when
most of them saw Catbalogan fading in the
distance they joined in a chorus Of
1--WE don't care if we never come back"
Certainly that is my feeling, and 1 have
! had but few hours of 1t under surround
! ings pleasant as army hospitality could
make them. 1t is no want of appreciation
| that leads me to say that there will be
not one pang of regret in my heart If
| never again set foot upon the soil Of the
island of Samar.
My Samar experience is confined TO
! few hours of one day. In that time l
\ have seen everything of this town that
| there is to be seen, have been entertained
at the headquarters of the First Infantry,
| have seen the inside of an attractive
| Visayan house, have shared potluck with
some clever young officers at their mess
and have listened to the tales of genuine
adventure they have to tell. Now l am
back on board ship grinding out one more
chapter of Philippine gossip.
Samar is distinctive because ii is the first
of the islands of the Visayan group L have
visited, and because of all these islands it
is farthest from being subjugated. There
| is real fighting here; a good deal of it; the
island is large any of the Philippines
except Luzon and Mindanao. There have
been troops here for about two years, as L
understand it, and yet there is no safety
outside the immediate environs of the
| towns where American soldiers are sta
| toned. The companies of the First and the
Ninth are scattered over the island and
| their work is being efficiently supplemented
| by organizations of native scouts, but the
| physical conditions make it impossible for
them to bring any greater degree of tran
| guilty than have indicated.
The highest ranking Filipino officer, Gen
| eral Lukban, is in command here. Nobody
knows how many men he has or how many
| rifles are al his command, but there are
| enough to make all kinds of trouble.
The approach to Catbalogan is pretty
enough to suit any artistic eye. You swing
around into small bay 1anked on all sides
| by the little green islands which stick their
heads through the top of the water. There
on the beach, surrounded by hills covered
| with tropical forests and underbruSh, the
| little town is seen. Closer in you begin to
realize the truth of the distance lends en-
chantment to the view" adage, for the
/ white houses which seem pretty when you
| are far out become very ordinary on close
| inspection; there is nothing artistic about
the town; there are many evidences re-
naming of the work of the FilipinoS, who,
| on the approach of the American forces, set
| fire TO their own homes and the homes of
| their neighbors and took TO the woods
GROUND FOR BOLOMEN.
The thing that struck me most forcibly
as 1 looked at the town through the
! glasses from the ships bridge was that
no evidences of roads leading out to the
surrounding country could be seen. There
is the best of all reasons for this. There
! is not single road on Samar. The hills,
which completely surround Catbalogan,
are characteristic of the entire island.
Back of these hills there are others,
then there mountains, then more
hills; there are valleys between, of
course but they exist only to give excuse
for more hills and more mountains.
With this knowledge, ii will be easy
for you to why it is that two regi-
ments of infantry can do comparatively
little in the way of insurrection suppress
ing, even if the fighting men under Lux
bans command do not number more than
few hundred. 1t is estimated here that
he has but 800 rifles; but the Samar SOL
der does not at all depend upon these
modern weapons for his efficiency. There
is always the trusty bolo, and, in addi-
ton. there ways to trap men and
| kill them that were effective long before
the rifle was invented, and are effective
still.
man who goes alone half a mile out
! into the country from any OF the towns
is sure of death by the bolo route or by
some other That will send him just as
quickly to the happy hunting ground. The
| officer who goes with ten men is certain
to be attacked. larger party may or
| may not get into scrap. If his force is
! comparatively small he will be fired on at
! some convenient place-that is, convenient
| to the enemy not to him. The soldiers
cannot get close TO the Filipinos unless
the Flipinos want them to. for the senti-
| nels on the mountain tops see them in
ample time to give the alarm. Reports of
friendly natives or the native scouts. When
| the American boys have "hiked' their
way through almost impenetrable under,
brush, they reach the scene only to find
| that the men they are seeking have gone
off and are probably sleeping quietly in
places which cannot be reached. Perhaps
they have had pot shot at the pursuers
| and have picked off few-that IL not at
| all the unusual thing, but unless they see
party to their liking the Fflipinos do no
LUKBAN's TACTICS.
Conditions on this island are little bet
ter than they have been at any time. The
The Visayans, we are told, were friendly
enough at the beginning of our troubles
out here. They were anxious to have the
| Americans Gust Spain and take charge
themselves. But ii was impossible to send
| anybody down here from Manila until
about year after Manila had been taken
| and in the meantime General Lukban and
some other Tagalos had come over from
the Camarines and had organized a fight
for independence. Lukban seemed to be
| a very foxy man, even if as our officers
contend, he is no general. For one thing
he has succeeded in making his followers
believe that it was he. not Dewey, who
! sank the Spanish fleet at Cavite; that he
is the man responsible for the casting off
! of the Spanish yoke, and the Americans
| are just greedy interlopers who are at
| tempting TO grab the islands, who will vio-
| late the Filipino homes and eat the Fill
! ipino children. The friars are reputed to
have disseminated the same sort of pleas
| ant Information throughout the islands in
| advance of the coming of the American
troops when they were attempting TO In
cite the natives TO take the side of SPAIN
/ and the Tagalos. having been longest under
/ Spanish tutelage, have proved apt schol-
| ars, turning, in instances like this the
Spanish methods To their own account
There are some things told about Lukban
/ which have a tendency 10 offset tales of
Filipino oloodthirstiness told on all sides
For instance, Lieutenant Roy Hoover who
/ was in the Forty-third, told me Of the ex-
1 geant George +. Doe and CORPORAL Fred w
/ Allen-who were captves with Lukban for
over eight months. When they We're cap
tured one Of them had worn through his