Daily Kennebec journal., 1901-02-16
Thrilling Account Of Sergeant
Geo.P. Does Capture.
An Interesting Narrative Written By the
Wateryille Soldier.
Life As a Captive Of B0omen In PHILIPPINES Far
From Pleasant.

clothes. nd our effects divided among
the natives as souvenirs. Reing the.
firSt American soldiers captured on tho
island Of Samar il was considered n
fit time for a general rejoicing. and
as Il consequence the bolomen pro-
ceeded 10 get drunk on tuba. Then
they built large fire about Sxl0 and
worked with the object Of getting 4
lG"ge bed of Goals evidently for our
heneft- Every few minutes the ma
tNeS after working on the fire. would
come to us and flourish their bolos
around our faces and point to the fire
ana say. POGO tempo. POGO tempo" i'll
manner that was very suggestive
our feelings during these preparations
can be better imagined than described.
" hen the preparations We're about
completed for our burning native
evidently a little more tende: hearted
than the rest, swan across the liver
and went to Sanan and informed a
evil tieniente Of the town Of the in
tended doincS. and he came out and
promptly stopped the proceedings
From the cave he took Us back To
Sanan and put us in the Gala boose and
in stocks. our arms still being tied as
at first.
During the night a runner came in
from Borongan with the news of the
number of Insurgents killed by us at
that place. This enraged them to
such an extent that sergeant who
was in charge Of US took Mauser
rifle and came in and struck me on the
back of the head with it. The first
blow knocked me scnscless. Corporal
Allen was also struck once which
dazed him, but did not make him
scnseless. When l recovered my
senses he said that the sergeant nad
continued 20 beat me after was
senseless. This | could confirm BY a
number Of bruised places on my body.
The next morning they took us out to
try and make us find our guns. as hey
thought We had hidden them. While
ont we met a detachment under
Tienerte Cer%cio. VINO had been 10
Borongan 20 assist in driving US out.
At this We We're taken back to town
and put in the stocks again. That
night about > o'clock Tienentc Ignucio
came ana took US ont and started for
Borongan He hyked us all that night
ana all the next day in the fierce
tropical sun. hatless and shoclcss. We
We're continually beaten by our cap
tors. frequently being Knocked down
with their rifle butts.
When We reached BoronGan Il council
of officers was held to see what should
bt, done with us. 1t was decided tnat
we should he turned over to Insur-ent
General Tukhan. in command on the
island Samar. That same evening We
started from Borongan and hyked all
night without stopping for any length
Of time. we were still tied by the arms
ana we've led like cattle with q rope
around our necks. We were qua led
by perhaps % bolomcn half of the
detachment going ahead of us. the re
mainder behind. our guards We're
drunk most Of the time and We're CON
tinually fighting with the people in the
different towns along the trail to pro-
tcct u=. as the natives were all beat on
killing us. The next day we reached
the town Of san Julian. Here the peo-
Die We're having a fieSto to celebrate
the victory of Borongan. the town be-
ing profusely decorated with Filipino
flags. When we reached the con"ent
where the largest flag was flying our
guards ordered US to take off our hats
! and shout. 'Nive Filipinos. which we
refused to do under the protest that
We did not understand what they said.
| was promptly knocked down. and re
fused to get up when ordered to do so
To compel me to get up a native struck
me with a spear in the right leg which
F. .prnetrated to the bone. At this ! got
up very quick. Corporal Allen was
struck over the head with a cara boa hide
belt with a buckle on the end until the
left side of his face was a mass of
bruises and very much swollen. He
could not use his left eye at all and has
never fully recovered his sight.
For the next 10 days we marched
toward General Tukban's headquar-
ters. We were compelled to march at
least IA out of every a hours. Al the
least cause. and often without cause,
we wer ebeaten with their guns. We
were fed on rice, with an allowance of
salt sometimes once a day sometimes
Ten. lust as our captors happened to
feel. and a couple Of days we had moth
ing. For the most part we were kept
tied. but in some places where the trail
was very bad they had to loosen us
entirely in order for US to use cur
hands to help ourselves along. For the
last four days Of the trip we took
canoes and padded up the river
toward San jose. | am certain that -
davs were spent in marching around
through the mountains in order to
gain time until our captOrS could hear
from General Tukban. Often we would
leave camping place in the morning
and hyke all day and return to the
| same place at night. At this time Gen
.raI Tukban was assembling his forces
for the attack on Catubig. During all
this time we had absolutely no shell
1er. and it was quite cold in the
mountains we suffered much. At night
We lay on the ground with our guards
beside us.
About the LIST of April we arrived at
the town of Tami. This was the first
place we saw General Tukban. he hay
ing come down from san Jose to meet
is. We waded through d river ana up
/ onto little mill tomeet him. He was at
tended by his raCi ieta1ies and body