The Savannah morning news., 1901-05-13
FUNSTON TELLS HIS STORY.
Describes i'm Detail the Capture of
AguinaIdo~ and Gives His Opinion

| Ten Ffed fEnSton arrived IN Mania
this morning bringing as his prisoner
that much sought after and hitherto
elusive insurgent chieftain. Emilio Aguin-
aldo. To say that Manila is all turned
| topsy turvy over this latest achievement
Of the little man from Kansas would be
putting it mildly. The Importance of the
capture has been realized only after its
accomplishment, and to the man who so
ably planned and so fearlessly executed
| this master stroke belongs the credit.
Your correspondent called at the Manila
residence Of Gen Funston as soon as his
presence in the city became known The
General told ME the story of the capture
! as follows:
my first clue to the wherea bouts of
Aguinaldo was received Feb. 8 last,
| through a native courier who came into
the camp at Pantabangan with CORE
spondence of Aguinaldo in which he or
| dered Balderno Aguinaldo to take com
mand of the territory of Central Luzon
| and send him 400 armed men, the bearer
of the letters to serve as guide for the
reinforcement. These letters were dated
Jan. Y. Is, and "A, and they were written
| In cipher, but we had the key to the
| cipher and were able to read them. The
| courier who brought these letters was an
| insurgent and a Tagalo. but when he saw
| that the Americans had all the country
| and how things were going on the out
side, he des paired of the cause of Aguin-
| aldo and was led to betray his chieftain
II got the man to tell all the particu-
| lara AZ to the location of Aguin1ido. and
| ] found that he was at Palanan a small
! town six miles from the east coast Of
| Luzon, Province of Isabella; that he had
| been there for seven months. and that
he had force of fifty men. Then | form
ulated the plan for his capture and sent
it in to Gems. Wheaton and Macarthur,
| by whom 1t was approved
Our expedition started out March g.
and 1t consisted of seventy-eight Mscs-
bebe scouts, three Tagalos, and one Span
| lard who had been insurgent officers
| Capt. Russell j. Hazard and First Lieut.
| Oliver P, NJ. Hazard. cousins, both of
the Eleventh Cavalry. United States
| Volunteers; Capt Harry Newton. Thirty
| fourth Infantry, United States Volunteers
who was taken along because Of his
| knowledge of the country; my aide, Lieut.
| b. j. Mitchell. Fortieth Infantry United
States Volunteers. and myself.
| Having captured a quantity Of Agui-
| naldo's sealed papers some time ago, and
| correspondence Of Lacuna, whose sigma
| ture We practiced until It could he sue
cessfully forged. I wrote two letters to
Aguinaldo, under dates Of Feb. "a and q.
|
and telling him that I was sending him
the best soldiers in the command. These
communications were written on the
sealed paper of Aguinaldo and bore the
| forged signature of Lacuna. Then ! had
a Tagalo Of the command write a litter
| to Aguinaldo. saying that en- route they
| had surprised detachment of ten Amer
| leans making maps, that they had killed
| three, wounded two. and taken five pri-
| Uyhn hrtKa rr4t, gK,k, hi
camp. These Ave prisoners were to ex-
plain the presence Of the FIVE Americans
| in command. and as all the other men
spoke Tagalo well, it was hoped that we
might march right into Agulnaldo's
camp without arousing his suspicion, and
this turned out to be the case
1--WE dressed twenty of the Marcabebes
| In old insurgents uniforms and the rest
| in nondescript Filipino clothes so al not
to appear too trim. We American officers
were dressed In the uniform of private
soldiers and each carried three days ra-
| tions of rice half blanket a towel. and
toothbrush Our arms consisted of fifty
Mausers, eighteen Remingtons and ten
| Krag-Jorgensen carbines. Our original
plan was TO get cascoes and be cast
adrift off the coast near Palanan by the
Vlcksburg. but storm destroyed our
| cascoes and we were forced to land at
night
March II we arrived outside the town
| of Casiguran, and three Macabebes were
| sent into the town to state that we were
| insurgent soldiers with prisoners going
to join Aguinaldo. and to ask for guides.
| Casiguran has never been garrsoned by
| the Americans, and it had an insurgent
president and government. We found the
distance from Casiguran to Palanan nine
| ty miles through a savage country. where
| we could get nothing to eat but cracked
| corn, nails, etc
THE trail was fearful one some
| times through a country OF sand and
| powders, and again through jungles with
deep rivers. which we we're forced to
wade or get over any way we could.
March % we reached a point eight miles
| from Aguinaldo's camp, but our party
was too weak to go on without food, so
| a messenger was dispatched to Agui-
| naldo stating our dilemma. He sent back
| a Negrito with a supply of rice and
| letter. in which he ordered that the
| American prisoners were to be treated
we'll and that they were to be left be-
| hind when entering the town.
ION the morning of the 23d we pro-
| ceeded to the town. and en- route our
| plans narrowly escaped destruction. for
| Aguinaldo sent out guard OF eleven OF
his men to escort the prisoners into
camp. However. we succeeded In lodging
| INTO the bushes ana escaping the en-
| barrassing presence OF this detachment.
Following the main body into the
| town. we found Aguinsldo's personal
| guard, dressed in blue uniforms, with
| white hats, drawn up 10 receive US.
Aguinado never once suspected trap.
and when, after about half an hours talk
and manoeuvring. the Macabebes got into
the proper position and opened FIRE on
| the nsurgent guard at the command of
the Spaniard who shouted Macabebes.
now is your timer he was taken com
| pletely by surprise.
"In the room with Aglinaldo was his
staff and a lively scrimmage took place
there as soon as the firing began. Augi-
nalo was seized around the body by
| Tagalo named Halario Placido. who ex-
| claimed: You are a prisoner of the Amer
| leans In the fight in the room Col. s.
| Viella of Auginaldos STAFF was shot I'm
| the face, and Col Alhambra in the
shoulder Both these officers jumped into
| the river and tried to escape after being
shot. Col Viella was fshed out by the
Macabebes, but Alhambra is believed to
have been drowned. Santiago Barcelona,
the treasurer of the insurgent govern
ment, surrendered without resistance.
All the other officers got away.
at first Aguinaldo was much alarmed
over his capture, and especially at the
fierce and threatening looks OF the Maca-
bebes. who hate him. but finding that he
was not to be harmed at once. he Gained