Evening star., 1901-04-03

into the mountains. but the local ''presi-
dente," who was lukewarm in his alIegi-
ance to the inSurgent government. planned
to secure himself in the good graces of the
American forces. who were daily expected
/ to arrive at Vigan. So he secretly COM
municated with the American prisoner and
proposed that if Sonnichsen would vouch
for him to the commander of the American
FORCES the presidente would hide him untll
the Filipinos had left the town. Accord
ingfy Sonnichsen was taken at night t.
the presfdentes own quarters and con
cealed, with careful preparations for mis-
supposed escape to q safer place. His dis
appearance from the prison naturally
aroused suspicious and the presidente was
subjected to close examination. Son
nichsen tells of the following incident:
"Aiejandrino had also been to ask for
me, and accused Acosta of being aware of
my whereabouts. I am morally certain he
is somewhere in the building, he had told
the governor, but as l am no longer re-
Sponsible since j delivered him over to you
shall not trouble myself to search the
rooms. However, Senor Acosta, you are
no patriot.
God bless Joaquin Anjandrinor'
After the arrival of the American troops
Sonnichsen executed his part of the COM
pact and presented Presidente Acosta 10
the American officers in a manner to ap-
parently insure that worthy's perpetual
fealty to the sovereignty of the United
States Later in the book occurs the fol-
lowing passage, relating likewise to Ale
jandrino:
81 may here mention that l wrote let
ter to Alejandrino, in which ] thanked him
for the manner in which he had treated me
in Vigan. 1 gave this to a certain party,
who promised to deliver it, and a month
later l met this man again, whose name L
feel not to have the right to disclose, and
he not only assured me that Alejandrino
had received the letter, but gave me a ver-
bal message of thanks from the young
colonel He would have written a reply,
but sufficient reasons forbade it. / have
good cause to believe the bearer of this
message. He, Furthermore, told me that
Alejandrino had witnessed the entrance OF
the Oregon's marines into Vigan from the
window of a private house, disguised as a
civilian, and an hour later followed his
men up to Bangued. 1t was he who had
led the attack on Vigan on the 4th, while
Tino and Villamor fought against Young
at Tangadan On this occasion he had
barely 300 meh, instead of 800, as reported.
all of their ammunition consisting of five
rounds, and poor at that"
AguinaldO at His Ease.
References to Aguinaldo occur through
out the book, although Sonnischen had no
personal encounter with the fnsurgent
leader. The nearest he came to meet him
was to peer through the prison bars at
Malolos at him he sat in the public
garden adjoining. His description follows:
Inere he sat at one OF the taDieS- we
knew him by his pictures-small in stature
and very dark. His dress was black, all
except colored jockey cap. In one hand
he held an empty glass, In the other bot
tie. Gradually he poured the sparkling
beer into the glass, then drained it. Again
he repeated the operation. 1t was inter-
esting. We could almost hear the sizz OF
the foam. We forgot the president: our
interest centered in the frothing liquid
which we had not seen for so long time.
Anyway, 1 think 1t showed poor tact on
the great mans part in holding that spar
king beverage up under the very noses of
four miserable, lf-starved wretches, who
had been obliged to assuage their thirst
with half-putrid water the past month.